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Essay on The Lord Of The Flies By William Golding
| Date: |
07-25-03 2:44pm |
| Subject: |
Novels |
| Word Count: |
2658 |
| Page Count: |
10.63 |
The Lord of the Flies By William Golding
The Lord of the Flies
By William Golding
1. The Author and
His Times
William Gerald Golding was born on
September 19, 1911 in Cornwall England. His father was a schoolmaster
and his mother was a suffragette. His parents had wanted him to study
science, so he did from grammar school until the second year of college.
After his second year of college, he abandoned the study of science in
favor of English literature. He wrote poetry and worked in amateur
theater for a while before becoming a teacher where he was at the beginning
of World War II. At the start of World War II, he entered the Royal
navy and served with distinction on mine sweepers, destroyers, and rocket
launchers. He believed that the horrors of World War II can be based
on some innate evil which he explores in Lord of the Flies. After
the war, he returned to teaching and writing, although had little success
getting published. He was able to get Lord of the Flies published
and it experienced great success.
2. Form, Structure,
and Plot
The Lord of the Flies contains twelve
titled chapters. The plot is simple and rarely splits into more than
one plot lines, although it does sometimes. Occasionally, the story
separates from the general group and follows one child. For example,
the story followed the first of Jack’s hunts into the jungle, and also
Simon’s wanderings to be alone. One of the techniques he uses in
organizing plot is foreshadow. Through the use and manipulation of
many symbols, he gives the reader and idea of what is to come foreshadowing
future events.
2.5 Outline of Events
Exposition - The exposition is basically
all of chapter 1 and the first part of chapter 2. The characters
are introduced and so is the problem. The readers learn that because
of the war, the children was taken to be transported someplace by plane
when the place was attacked and crashed on the island. Ralph is made
the leader of the entire group and Jack is made the leader of the hunting
party. Piggy tries to maintain order. This takes the period
of 1 day.
Rising action - The rising
action starts in the middle of chapter 2 where the boys attempt to make
a signal fire but it rages out of control. One of the boys are lost.
After this, order is slowly lost and chaos slowly takes its place.
Climax / Crises - The climax occurs when
order is completely lost, the conch is crush, and Piggy is killed.
Jack takes over the group.
Falling action - The falling action is
the brief period between the time where Jack takes over and the officer
arrives. We see the innate evil within the boys which is a reflection
of the evil within the entire mankind.
Resolution - The jungle catches fire and
a naval ship spots the smoke. An officer comes ashore just as Ralph
is being hunted by the other boys and all are rescued and taken back into
society.
3. Point of View
Golding write the novel in the third
person perspective. There is one omniscient narrator. Although
the book generally follows Ralph, it occasionally breaks off and follows
another character for a time. This entire book is autobiographical
in that it tells us something the author wants to show us. Golding
tries to teach us and warn us of the evil nature of mankind. He says
through the book that we are evil and that it is only society that keeps
us from committing crimes.
4. Character
Golding’s characters have a depth
and are believable for the somewhat unbelievable situation they are put
in. Each character has his own fully developed personality.
He does this while maintaining a certain symbolism in the characters.
Each characters, while being their own person, symbolizes some idea, but
not to the point where the characters are flat.
Ralph - Ralph is 12 and one of the older
boys on the island. He is the leader throughout most of the book
being determined, rational, and understanding. He is dressed as in
a typical school uniform, but not as the choir boys. He tries to
understand the problem and the people on the island trying to give rational
solutions. However, psychologically, he loses faith in the boys and
decides that he has little hope to restore order into the island.
His purpose is to show the reader through his eyes the degradation of the
society on the island, and thereby show the innate evil within man.
"This expresses his understanding and caring side."
Jack - Jack is also one of the older boys
and about Ralph's age. He starts as the leader of the choir boys,
and develops into the leader of the hunters eventually taking over everyone
on the island. He is dressed nicely in a choir boy outfit.
He is strong, villainous, and proud perpetuating the crimes committed by
the boys on the island. He cares only for his own power and not for
the common good. He disregards order and in him the reader clearly
sees the innate evil of man since he was the one that cast off society
earliest. He becomes Ralph’s most powerful antagonist because of
this. "I ought to be chief because I’m chorister and head boy.
I can sing C sharp."
Piggy - Piggy is slightly younger than
Ralph and in the weakling in the group being overweight and suffering from
asthma. He is dressed similar to Ralph in a typical school uniform
and ears glasses. He is weak, smart, and friendly. While is
put down by the other boys, he is necessary on the island as a source of
intelligence and insight. His insights are often ignored because
of his weak appearance and he is killed by the Jack and his savages.
"My auntie told me not to run on account of my asthma."
Simon - Simon is the saint in the story.
He is skinny and dressed similar to Ralph in the school uniform.
He is kind, caring and sincere. In the novel, he serves to bring
a certain insight into the story. He is the one that seems to best
understand the inner evil, and the first to understand the beast.
He takes care of the littluns. Sadly, his insight is lost among the
boys as he is killed being mistaken for the beast. "Simon, sitting
between the twins and Piggy, wiped his mouth and shoved his piece of meat
over the rocks to Piggy, who grabbed it. The twins giggled and Simon
lowered his face in shame."
5. Setting
The Lord of the Flies takes place
on an island during World War II. This is significant since the isolation
forms a sort of civilization and community, a sort of microcosm to the
real world. At the same time, the island lacks a society and the
societal laws and rules allowing for the boys to run wild and show their
true, ugly, inner selves. Since the island is a microcosm, Golding
uses it to reflect our world and give comments on our world and his view
of human nature. In this book, the setting is used less to create
a mood than to put the characters in a particular situation
6. Themes
1. This book traces the faults
in society to the faults in the individual person. Golding says that
each person has in evil inner nature poorly covered by society. If
the society is taken away, then the inner nature comes out and chaos and
lawlessness erupt.
2. Each person has an evil
nature and is capable of committing heinous crimes. In this book,
virtually every person fell to the level of Jack’s savagery except those
that were able to see that evil such as Ralph, Simon, and Piggy.
3. The beast is human.
In the beginning of the book, a littlun told the others that he saw a beast
in the jungle starting everyone's fears. However, it turns out that
the beast is actually a parachutist and human, symbolizing that what they
should be scared of is not some evil creature, but their own selves and
other humans.
7. Style
Golding makes his novel come alive
with a significant use of symbolism, physiological development, and general
truths. His writing style is simple but the subject matter is deep.
He uses a rather comparatively simple story to convey a weighty idea.
8. Diction
In The Lord of the Flies, Golding’s
language is neutral. However, it is simple and it is as if he is
telling the story himself rather than writing prose. The vocabulary
and sentence structure are simply and easy to understand. Golding
uses a lot of imagery and symbolic devices.
Passage 1 - "The three boys walked briskly
on the sand. The tide was low and there was a strip of weed-strewn
beach that was almost as firm as a road. A kind of glamour was spread
over them and the scene and they were conscious of the glamour and made
happy by it. They turned to each other, laughing excitedly, talking,
not listening. The air was bright. Ralph, forced by the task
of translating all this into an explanation, stood on his head and fell
over. When they had done laughing, Simon stroked Ralph’s arm shyly;
and they had to laugh again." (pg. 25)
Passage 2 - "When you’re done laughing,
perhaps we can get on with the meeting. And if them littluns climb
back on the twister again, they’ll only fall off in a sec. So they
might as well sit on the ground and listen. no. You have doctors
for everything, even the inside of your mind. You don’t really mean
that we got to be frightened all the time of nothing? Life," said
Piggy expansively, "is scientific, that’s what it is. In a year or
two when the war’s over they’ll be traveling to Mars and back. I
know there isn’t no beast - not with claws and all that, I mean - but I
know there isn’t no fear, either." (pg. 84)
Passage 3 - "Ralph looked at him dumbly.
For a moment he had a fleeting picture of the strange glamour that had
once invested the beaches. But the island was scorched up like dead
wood - Simon was dead - and Jack had.... The tears began to flow
and sobs shook him. He gave himself up to them now for the first
time on the island; great, shuddering spasms of grief that seemed to wrench
his whole body. His voice rose under the black smoke before the burning
wreckage of the island; and infected by that emotion, the other little
boys began to shake and sob too. And in the middle of them, with
filthy body, matted hair, and unwiped nose, Ralph wept for the end of innocence,
the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the true,
wise friend called Piggy." (pg. 202)
Golding’s writes in a simple neutral style.
His language is not complicated or flowery. At the same time, it
is not too informal. He uses a lot of imagery as can be seen in his
description of the "weed-strewn beach" that was "as firm as a road"
in passage one. The dialogue in passage two is not at all flowery
and sounds like typical speech for a 12 year old, except that Piggy seems
to show an amount of wisdom greater than your typical 12 year old.
Passage 3 is written clearly and nicely shows emotion while still narrating
in an neutral tone without too much involvement from the narrator.
9. Syntax
Most of the sentences in The Lord
of the Flies are simple. There are sentences that are complex and
the occasional compound sentence. Most characters speak simply and
clearly. Often, they speak fragments and string together fragments
and ramble suck as in passage 2. All the speech is written as if
it were speech.
The first passage contain mostly
simple sentences. One example of a compound sentence is, "when they
had done laughing, Simon stroked Ralph’s arm shyly; and they had to laugh
again."
The second passage contains both
simple and complex sentences. In this passage, the speech is somewhat
rambling and contains several fragments. However, this sort of speech
conveys the idea that Piggy was thinking while he was speaking.
The third passage contains mostly
simple and complex sentences. The writing style here gives the feeling
of desperation and loss of hope. The reader feels how Ralph feels
and understands what he understands about the "loss of innocence."
10. Imagery
Golding frequently uses imagery to
describe the scenery and the setting. A good example occurs in the
first passage where Golding’s writes, "there was a strip of weed-strewn
beach that was almost as firm as a road. A kind of glamour was spread
over them and the scene and they were conscious of the glamour and made
happy by it."
11. Symbolism
Golding uses a lot of symbolism in
The Lord of the Flies. The entire book is symbolic of the nature
of man and society in general as the island becomes a society metaphorical
to society as a whole and the hunt at the end of the book symbolic of the
war. A symbol Golding uses throughout the book is the conch.
It represents authority and order. The person holding the conch had
the power, and it created order and rules since when it was called, everyone
had to listen. Another symbol is Piggy’s glasses. It symbolized
knowledge and insight. While Piggy had them, he was able to give
advice to the group, such as that of the signal fire. It was the
glasses that created the fire. However, after the glasses are broken,
the group loses what insight they had. The war paint is also a symbol.
It symbolized the rejection of society. In a way, when they put on
the mask of war paint, they took off the mask of society and revealed their
true inner selves which was savage.
12. Figurative Language
Personification - Golding uses little
personification in this book. He does use it, however, during the
conversation between the dead pig head and Simon. The head is personified
and given able to speak to Simon. Although it is dead, it is proud
and defiant in its speech.
Simile - Golding occasionally uses
simile. One occasion occurs in the first passage when Golding compares
the sand with a road saying, "there was a strip of weed-strewn beach that
was almost as firm as a road."
Metaphor - Golding often uses metaphor
in this book. In fact, all symbolism is a type of metaphor since
they compare two unlike things. Other metaphors in the book was when
Golding described the choir boy at the beginning of the book as a dark
creature crawling along the sand.
Allusion - Golding has several allusions
in the book. The title itself is an allusion to the Bible since "The
Lord of the Flies" was a title given to Beelzebub. Simon’s name in
the book is also an allusion to the disciple Simon Peter.
13. Ironic Devices
There are several cases of irony
in this book. Usually, the meaning is straightforward. However,
I did find a case of verbal irony. That case is when Ralph and Piggy
are discussing Simon’s death. Ralph says, "I wasn’t scared.
I was - I don’t know what I was."
14. Tone
Golding’s tone is that of a lecturer.
Through his book he tries to teach us and warn us about our own evil.
This tone is carried through the novel. The tone is maintain more
through the events and the characters in the story than by syntax or writing
style. An example is the discovery of the parachutist. The
writing style at this part remained just as neutral as the rest of the
book, but the event of finding the parachutist as the beast teaches us
that it is not some mystical monster we have to be worried about but ourselves.
15. Memorable quotes
"’I ought to be chief,’ said Jack
with simple arrogance, ‘because I’m chapter chorister and head boy.
I can sing C sharp." This shows the early signs of the tension between
Jack and Ralph, and it also shows Jack’s pride.
"Ralph stirred uneasily. Simon,
sitting between the twins and Piggy, wiped his mouth and shoved his piece
of meat over the rocks to Piggy, who grabbed it. The twins giggled
and Simon lowered his face in shame." This quote shows that Simon
is kind and sincere.
"Kill the pig. Cut her throat.
Bash her in." These expresses the increasing intensity of the boys’
savagery.
"It was dark. there was that
-- that bloody dance. There was lightning and thunder and rain.
We was scared!" This describes how the boys’ have gone beyond the
point of fun and games. They are no longer boys playing on the island
but a bunch of savages.
16. Additional Comments
and Analysis
I greatly enjoyed this book.
The story without the symbolism was intricate and emotional. Golding
does a good job showing the emotional states of Ralph and Jack. We
can see Ralph gradually losing hope and understanding the evil, and we
can see Jack become power hungry and savage. The murders add a nice
touch to the story since they are both dramatic and moving. The symbolism
add another level to the enjoyment of the story since I can compare the
ideas developed in the story to my own life and my own beliefs.
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