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Humanity In Lord Of The Flies

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Published in 1954, William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, tells the journey of a group of schoolboys marooned on an island, who begin thinking it will be a fun adventure, but slowly descend into chaos. The novel parallels the ongoing World War II and references the belief, at the time, that British people are superior. It showcases the innocence, maturity, and inner evilness of humans, proving humans are not as two-dimensional as shown in Coral Island, the inspiration for Golding’s writing. People invariably have a sense of integrity, a naiveness that is shocked upon witnessing something wrong and easily amused or joyed. Ralph serves as a metaphor for this quality because, although doing his best to make morally correct decisions, he frequently …show more content…

Jack Merridew shows this, as he is quickest to begin his descent into mad savagery and evil. However, this urge for authority lies within all the boys, since they follow Jack on his quest for power. As the book progresses, it becomes clear that Golding uses the boys to illustrate that humans are very complex creatures and are capable of a spectrum of actions and feelings. Although some people believe that humans and animals are no different, humans are differentiated from other creatures, not by intelligence or strength, but by the complexity of their nature. Humans instinctively have a pure integrity, an easily influenced and swayed naïveté. Ralph portrays this sense of innocence, his easily influenced feelings expressing this side of humanity. After finally giving hunting a chance, Ralph finally understands how liberating it is to hurt a living animal, and to have control over whether it lives or dies. He has been against hunting all along, but he changes his mind and “sunned himself in [the boys] new respect, feeling “that hunting was good after all.” Ralph quickly goes from disapproving of hunting to “fighting to get near, to get a handful of that brown, vulnerable flesh.” He feels that “the desire to squeeze and hurt was over-mastering” (Golding …show more content…

Golding uses symbolism to represent these different characteristics of human nature, innocence and maturity, as well as the innate savagery of humans. An innocence that is easily swayed and joyed, a maturity that has a sense of entitlement, and an inherent evil that lies within all humans. Ralph symbolises this trait, as he makes morally right decisions to the best of his ability but often is at a loss of what to do, showing childlike confusion. Golding uses the character Piggy to show a more mature and thoughtful side of humanity, since the characteristic that differentiates humans from animals is not intelligence but complex behaviours. Despite this trait of sensibility in some people, humans still have a deep and savage desire for power and control. Jack shows this, as he is quickest to begin his descent into primal savagery and evil. All of this shows that the boys, Ralph, who has a nature that ties back to naivete, Piggy who is the mature voice of reason, and Jack, whose immoral nature represents inner savagery, all are used as symbols of the different sides of human instinct. Humans are different from other animals not by intelligence or strength, but by the complexity of their nature and their contrasting behaviours and

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It provides one with more worries about the logistics of the issue rather than fixing the problem. Many of the boys are under the age of 12 and would rather play and talk than take on heavy responsibilities. They are purely innocent, but as time goes on, they all relish in the brutal killing of others, depicting their loss of innocence as chaos ensues. Piggy is the only one who is able to keep his logical reasoning away from savagery and therefore represents innocence. The audience notice that others recognize the importance of Piggy’s slow, thoughtful insight in the face of disaster because Ralph “wept for the end of innocence” (202) and he acknowledges Piggy as a “true wise friend” (202).

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The entire conflict of the book centers around the evil in oneself breaking out and taking control. In this passage, Piggy and Ralph are the better and more sensible qualities of humans while the savages are human flaws struggling to break through the typical law and order. Law and order struggle to be heard as lust for power breaks free and overpowers the other voice. In Lord of the Flies, the boys struggle to decide what they want to live by until their society is corrupt and spiraling downward. The evil aspects of human nature are shown dominating over sense and reason as the conch becomes powerless and honor no longer has any meaning.

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4. And in the middle of them, with filthy body, matted hair, and unwiped nose, Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of a man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy. This passage signifies the realization and the experience of true darkness and the hatred it creates. Ralph saw with his own two eyes what happens when all innocence dissipates in a person.

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At the beginning of the novel, the boys try to establish a system of rules and order to maintain their society. However, as they become more desperate to survive, some of the boys begin to break these rules and resort to violence. For example, Jack becomes more and more focused on hunting and killing animals, which eventually leads to him becoming a violent and dangerous leader. In contrast, Ralph tries to maintain order and uphold the boys' moral code, even when it becomes difficult to do so. Overall, the novel demonstrates the difficult choices that characters must make when faced with the need for self-preservation versus the need to maintain their moral code.

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William Golding’s Theory of Savagery in Humanity Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a novel in which the natural savagery of human nature is conveyed through the characters present within the novel. While some of these characters behave in different manners, the majority of the characters display savage tendencies. There are but three exceptions to this trend: Piggy, Ralph, and Simon. These characters appear to be the only ones that display any desire to maintain order amongst the boys stranded on the island.

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12 ego “…demonstrates that he too can be carried away by mad frenzy ” (81). This furtherreinforces the role of Ralph as a human fighting against the forces of good and evil, female andmale, and rule-utilitarianism and egoism. On the one hand, Ralph understands that followingrule-utilitarian principles keeps them in order and in line with the outside world, of which theyare no longer a part. On the other hand, hunting is “ jolly good fun ” (Golding 142). Thefrustrations of trying to get the group of boys to follow his orders become too much for Ralph to bear.

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As time wears on, the boys become increasingly bestial and savage, and are led by Jack to lash out against the remaining civilized group, led by Ralph. Through the actions he performs throughout this novel, it is apparent that Jack is an arrogant tyrant because he is egotistical

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In Lord of the flies, Mr.William Golding uses the theme of human nature to show how easily a small society of british young men can tear apart, and how dangerous humans can be towards themselves, how a civilized human can turn into a filthy crazy savage. Mr. Golding’s fundamental

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“Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of a man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy. ”(Golding 202).This is a quote that moved many in William Golding’s book Lord of the Flies. Ralph realized how terrible people can be when they let their true colors show. William Golding’s book points out the defects of society, for example the tension on the island that was caused by anger and how it can cause groups to separate and not get along anymore. He uses a popular theme to create security and appeal.

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Golding characterizes Ralph as a dynamic character, someone who changes throughout the novel due to major obstacles he experiences. At the beginning of the novel, Ralph is seen as carefree and relaxed. When he first crashes and meets Piggy, Ralph is much less concerned with finding the other survivors, adults, and learning who Piggy is. He is more excited by the fact there is no adult supervision, meaning Ralph has the freedom to do whatever he wants. Soon, Ralph discovers the difficulties of wilderness survival, and buckles down.

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Since Ralph selflessly endangers himself to shelter the other boys from harm, Ralph demonstrates his valiance and ability to handle a scenario given a particular circumstance. Further in the novel, Jack forms a separate tribe centered around savagery and steals Piggy’s specs in order to make a fire, causing Ralph, with his tribe’s approval, to decide to face Jack’s tribe directly to acquire the stolen glasses. Ralph elects to confront savagery, the element he is seeking to avoid, instead of cowering and giving in to it, like many others had. Since savagery is the main opponent to civilization, Ralph evinces extremely gallant behavior by directly opposing Jack. Ralph accosts his primary opponent, savagery embodied through Jack, confirming him to be an intrepid character, which is a critical element to advance the primary cause of a group.

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Nurture alters people's state of being, but it is ultimately people’s inner workings to be evil. Everyone, even the most innocent of people, carry a sense of evil deep down inside them and have the ability to unleash their fury when pushed to the limit. Correspondingly, William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, demonstrates that humans are essentially wicked through the character of Jack and the use of the literary element, foreshadowing. After Jack and the hunters kill their first pig, they celebrate and were exhilarated that they took the life from an animal. The boys delightedly told Ralph about their hunting experience, while Ralph disapprovingly repeated how they let the fire out.

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