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How Does Golding Present The Evil In Lord Of The Flies

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Lord of the Flies Essay Level 4 In Lord of the Flies, Golding illustrates how everyone can be turned back to their animal savage instincts. As a matter of fact, even young and innocent boys can be turned into murderous savages in only a matter of months. It can be argued that Roger’s sadistic behavior in Lord of the Flies demonstrates how all humans will revert to their primal instincts when left to their own devices. This is shown through Roger crushing other boy’s sand castles early on in the novel to eventually killing, torturing, and sodomizing the other boys towards the end. Initially, Roger reveals his cruel behavior by merely crushing the littleuns’ and castles and throwing stones around the boys. This demonstrates Golding’s theme of savagery as Roger realizes he can now do these things without punishment from adults or civilization. This is verified by the quote, “Roger led the way straight through the castles, kicking them over, burying the flowers, scattering the chosen stones” (Golding pg. 60). Yet, Roger’s evil is still slightly …show more content…

This is shown through the killing of Piggy, which is confirmed by the citation, “’the rock struck piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee’ ‘Piggy fell forty feet and landed on his back across the square red rock in the sea” (Golding pg. 181). In addition to the death of Piggy, Roger also tortures Samneric. This is verified by the passage, “the yelling ceased, and Samneric lay looking up in quiet terror. Roger advanced upon them as one wielding a nameless authority” (Golding pg. 182) soon after the torturing of Samneric, Roger plans to murder Ralph in a similar way to the death of the sow; this is illuminated by the citation, “Roger sharpened a stick at both ends” (Golding pg. 190). These horrendous acts of violence depict Golding’s philosophy of people reverting back to their animalistic instincts when parted from

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He goes into great detail while describing the gruesome murder of Simon. He also uses Pathos to develop Piggy's character. We feel bad for Piggy because he is a genuine human being, and the other boys constantly make fun of him. Golding writes “At once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt on to the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore...blood was staining the sand”(pg.153). This makes the reader feel empathy towards Simon, who has done nothing wrong.

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So far the worst thing Roger has done is torture a pig, but he soon will take it up a notch and make his biggest act of cruelty: murder. In the middle of a stand off, Roger, “...[leans with] all his weight on the lever. … The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee…” (180-181) By committing murder, Roger has completed a heartless act, making him the most savage person on the island and revealing how his morals are wrong.

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In chapter 9 of Lord of the Flies, William Golding suggests that sickness comes from inside of the boys with his use of diction and imagery. Golding describes the actions of the boys with the words “clamorously” and “demented” during the dance initiated by Jack. When these words, which have evil connotations, are used, they indicate that there is something sick inside of the boys which is reflected onto their actions. Golding’s diction displays the boys’ corrupt feelings. Imagery is also used to describe the sickness inside of the boys.

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Roger, watching the fight and waiting on top of a mountain, pulls a lever under a boulder which sends it downhill and ultimately kills Piggy. According to the text, “Roger, with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever” (Golding 180). At this point in the book, Roger loses all sense of innocence and fully welcomes the evil in him, as he brutally murders someone without hesitation or remorse. Roger clearly enjoys and obsesses over the power that violence brings him.

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"Roger ran round the heap, prodding with his spear... The sow collapsed under them and they were heavy and fulfilled upon her(120)," the boys have conquered nature after killing the sow and represents the terror man is going to bring nature . However, there are also signs of nature cleansing the boys’ terror on the island. “The line of his cheek silvered and the turn

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“Someone was throwing stones: Roger was dropping them, his one hand still on the lever... Roger, with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever... The rock struck Piggy” (Golding 180-181). Roger murders Piggy in Lord of the Flies by William Golding, and he does so without a reason. Roger, Piggy, and many other young boys are stuck on a uncivilized island after a plane crash.

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In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, a group of stranded boys survive on an island with no adults, soon their sense of morality falls apart and violence takes place. The loss of morality causes the boys to break the rules and become violent. Eventually, the boys become uncivilized and stop caring about their actions. They get to a point where they disregard logical thought and resort to violence without reason. As the story progresses, the absence of morality causes violence to reign among the boys.

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Humans seek experience constantly, since experience is power, but what happens when a person has low experience, that power turns to fear. In the novel, “Lord of the Flies”, by William Golding, Jack, Simon and Ralph’s tribe, face fears based from inexperience, in the form of the Beast. William Golding’s reference to the Beast captures the fear all beings have of the unknown, which lessons as they become more experienced. Jack, an autocratic leader, commands his tribe with a powerful image to ensure no thoughts of mutiny within his tribe, even though he is perceived as a strong character he is still susceptible to his own personal fears, such as the Beast. Earlier within the text Jack believes that the Beast is an animal that can be just hunted and killed.

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Roger goes from a bully to a murderer throughout this book. Near the beginning, he doesn’t dare to hurt anyone because “invisible but strong, was the taboo of the old life. Round the squatting child was the protection of parents and school and policemen and the law”(Golding 62). Later, his behavior was explained to be limited by “a civilization that knew nothing of him and was in ruins”(Golding 62). At the conclusion of the book, Roger becomes the biggest savage in the group of boys.

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Roger killed Piggy by a boulder when, “High overhead, Roger, with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever,”(180) and after the boulder fell, “... the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist”(181). The end of civilization on the island was symbolized by both Roger’s murder of Piggy and the destruction of the conch. At first Roger threw pebbles around Henry to test the consequences of their island civilization and over time, when he learned that there were none, he crushed Piggy with a much larger pebble. Roger’s motives stemmed from a lack of respect for basic human morals because ignoring them allowed him power over others, meat and safety, whereas following them lead to malnutrition and a fear of the beast. Because Jack gave Roger the authority to defend against those who would “sneak” in, Roger with “delirious abandonment” became crazed with the ability to kill Piggy and acted on that intense

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Golding uses one character named Roger to show that there are those who resort to violence and savagery when laws against violence are not in place. In Lord of the Flies, William Golding is able to portray Roger as a dangerous character early on in the book. When Roger and Maurice disturb the littluns, the reader can sense Roger 's violent mentality. Consider the

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Jack’s tribe begins to steal and raid Ralph’s group, while they have clay and pig blood masks on their faces. Ralph finally confronts the tribe to tell them to stop terrorizing them, meanwhile Piggy is blind because Jack stole his glasses. Roger then purposefully launches a “monstrous red [boulder]. . . across [Piggy’s] neck” (181), splattering Piggy onto the rocks down below. Roger has no reason to kill Piggy, he just sees the opportunity and enjoys to hurt people.

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In William Golding's The Lord of the Flies, boys trapped on an island turn into deranged savages and kill each other after they fail to follow the rules of their made-up tribe. Cruelty is used by Golding as a way to communicate his theme which could be that cruelty is in nearly everybody, but civilization’s laws and control prevent that trait from prevailing. The author leaves some evidence of him trying to convey this theme throughout the book. A part of the book that shows this theme being shown would be the demise of Piggy and civilization.

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Roger, though a minor character in the novel, plays a leading role in the evil doings on the island. Demonstrating his twisted mind in little ways by smashing sandcastles and throwing rocks at the other boys, he gains a special authority, one brimmed of threats and fear. He is eventually the one to murder Piggy, rolling a boulder onto his head, though he shows no compassion after this dead. The witnesses of Piggy’s death go into an uproar, however, and when “ yelling ceased, Samneric lay looking up in quiet terror. Roger advanced upon them as one wielding a nameless authority” (182).

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After Piggy’s death, Ralph is the only representation of civilization left on the island. The sharpened stick is meant for his head, and Roger’s obedience indicates that he is not ashamed of attempting to take the life of another human being, and he, in fact, takes pleasure in it. The balance between reason and emotion has been destroyed, and now, nothing keeps Roger from hurting others, and inevitably, eradicating civilized

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