Immaturity In Lord Of The Flies Essay

William Golding, in his book Lord Of The Flies, assesses modern human nature as a dependent force on non-primitive ways of living. In addition, Golding believes that people in society become disordered without a talented athouritive figure; he uses the characters and symbols from a stranded island to demonstrate his ideas. Golding first represents this society by assembling young, immature kids on a stranded island. The kids being young is important. Because they are young they, have no true talented authoritative figure and rely heavily on modern ways of living which aren’t provided for them. Additionally, the symbols in the book, such as the conch, provide a strong will for power which trumps reason and common sense. Lastly, being stranded

The boys not being able to make a fire, and the “shameful knowledge” that grew in them is representative of the boys immaturity. Golding is highlighting their immaturity through their lack of language and their inability to communicate. In adults, this would be a matter of pride, since admitting that they had no way to start a fire would imply weakness. In this children, Golding makes it clear that it is not pride, but immaturity. Furthermore, the idea of no talented figure or essentially a grownup, first introduces the boys to savagery. The boys on the island first asks ‘Aren't there any grownups at all?”(1.8) suggesting these are children, innocent, but not domesticated by society. They are unsupervised and left to govern themselves. By establishing “no grownups”, Golding is able to make his point clear when the savagery takes over. This includes when one of the little boys shortly after shouts, “no grownups!”(1.8) further establishing that the boys are actually relishing the lack of adult authority. Despite the fact that they are marooned and in need of finding a way to survive, secretly they thrilled to be in control of themselves. As the novel progresses, we will see that the older boys especially, will wield this opportunity to exert their own control ( and even abuse it) over the younger