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Lord Of The Flies Conscience Analysis

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Conscience, in definition, is the consciousness of moral goodness or blameworthiness of one’s own conduct, intentions, or character with a feeling of obligation to do right or be good. The boys in the book are alone on an inhabited island where together they establish positions and priorities which soon become neglected. Scattered throughout William Golding’s Lord of the Flies there are many instances which highlight the contagion of evil in the neglect of having a conscience. All this happens because of how the author views the relationship of evil to humans. He suggests that humans’ relationship with evil is like that of gravity between the earth and its subjects. In the way that they are struggling constantly with gravity as it pulls everyone towards it. Through a mask, a boy, and a pig Golding imposes that when losing consciousness, and verging towards savagery the "civilized" will attract towards evil on their own terms.
The term ‘mask’ bonds itself directly to one of the boys, Jack, who appears even early on in the book as an authoritatively hungry, irrational figure. Even though it is Ralph who attains the position of Chief, Jack never puts down his wall of pride or superiority when facing him. He does however show opposition and struggle with this lack of power, to the point where he brings it upon himself to rebel …show more content…

It is the pig's head that speaks to Simon right after he witnesses the hunt of Jack's hunters. It declares this “ ‘Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!’...‘You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are?’ ” (158). This revelation made by the author confirms that the true beast, the evil, is a component found in humans. It is not something that can be slayed, instead it is an invisible force in which all people are part of, or have in

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Jack increases their belief in the beast by impaling the pigs head onto a stick (we come to realize in later chapters that this head becomes the beast/ lord of the flies) and leaving it in Simons field. At the end of this chapter, Simon goes to his field to revel in the beauty of the jungle but destroying that beauty is the pigs head. At this point Simon begins to hallucinate and he sees the pig talking to him, unveiling his worst fears. This confrontation with the pig’s head is symbolic to Jesus’s confrontation with the devil after 40 days in the jungle (because of this I infer that they have been in this jungle for around 40 days at this

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When Jack puts on the mask, it gives him the boldness and eagerness to act as a new person. This allows him to make unethical choices further along in the book, becoming a threat to his peers. Shortly after the ship had past the island, the hunters return to find Ralph overwhelmed with anger. Jack and Ralph convey, “‘you let the fire go out… I

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In Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, a group of boys’ are forced to live on an island without law and order. Therefore, many of the boys experience a savagery phase on the island, causing them to constantly resort to violence over an issue. These boys primarily consist of Jack’s tribe in the novel. Through the boys’ use of face paint and Jack’s tribe killing people and animals, the reader learns that masks are used to disguise people who aspire to commit evil acts and become savages.

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A conscience is known as an inner feeling or voice that acts as a guideline for the morality of one’s behaviour. In Lorna Dueck’s “Why conscience (or lack of it) is in the news”, she portrays the purpose of a conscience in an individual’s decisions and actions. Dueck questions individual’s conduct then provides solutions to achieve a better world. She includes other sources to strengthen her argument on how one’s conscience reflects their behaviour. As well, Dueck uses a logical perspective to convince the audience the importance of a morally shaped conscience.

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This quotation shows a chant that Jack has his hunters repeat over and over which shows his power and how he can control the boys. This excerpt begins to hunt and kill pigs to provide meat for the boys which gets people to like him due to the food he provides. When they are sitting around the fire and eating the pig that Jack killed, Simon was giving him a hard time about it as Simon favored Ralph more. This is evident by the quotation,”Eat! Damn you!”

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Simon is the only kid on the island who still cares for the littluns by feeding them and making them shelter and a well-rested night's sleep. Even so, not all wonderful experiences can last with Golding, so he decides to play a bit of foreshadowing with Simon’s death with a pig head. When Simon had gotten lost in the woods, he accidentally stumbles across Jack’s sacrifice to “The Beast”, which is a pig’s head on a stick. The Pig head had begun threatening Simon because “we are going to have fun on this island! So don’t try it..”

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In the book the Lord of the Flies the masks that Jack’s group uses helps them overcome their fear of killing the pig by hiding their true feelings. When Jack volunteers himself as the leader of hunting he doesn’t realize that he would have to overcome new challenges. Masculinity “masks” and the clay masks they wear in the Lord of the Flies are basically just “things trying to look like something else” (Golding 63). Jack explains to his group of hunters that the masks they were going to wear are so they can look like something they are not or to hide what is keeping them from killing a pig. This shows that they are trying to push away their true selves and by looking like something else they can make a character of who they choose to be based on the reason they put the “mask” on.

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The masks make Bill, along with everyone else, completely invisible from their past identities. This sense of invisibility allows the boys to participate in barbaric actions that they would not have done if punishment were involved. For example, after Jack’s clan viciously murders a mother pig, “[Jack] giggled and flicked them while the boys laughed at his reeking palms”(135). They become desensitized to their violent and evil ways. Before they had the masks, the boys were less hostile because they still felt some guilt, but without any trace of identity, their true colors arise.

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Jack and his hunters had split away from Ralph and the others and starts to become more and more savage. After chopping the head off a pig jack says “This head is for the beast. It’s a gift” (156). It is difficult to cut off the head of a pig and it's extremely gruesome, Jack made the boys put the pig's head on a stick as an offering to some beast they think is on the island. Finally at the end of the book Jack has gone completely insane and has lost all off his innocence he says, “See?

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I’m part of you?’” (Golding 143). The manifestation of Simon’s inescapable evil directly speaks to him, and the two converse to a degree. Considering the pig’s head is speaking to him in his mind; the recognition of inner malice is truly profound. Simon’s consideration of walking away from the head is halted when the head exclaims “‘This is ridiculous.

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In Lord of the Flies, William Golding’s portrayal of the stranded boys’ bloodlust shows a childhood filled with tribulation and terror. Golding showcases his belief that all men contain wicked desires when the boys abandon their attempts of democracy on the island. Their time spent on the island reveals that even childhood innocence turns dark without society enforcing justice. Simon’s hallucination with the pig’s head creates a physical representation of the evil that took over the stranded boys. The pig tells Simon, “fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!

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The other boys, tempted away from civility by the more natural urges the island and Jack present, abandon Ralph, thus abandoning the ways they’d been taught to act in a British society. ‘He capered toward Bill, and the mask was a thing on its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness.’ (Golding 64) Jack teaches them how to hunt the pigs and displays aggressive behaviors they then partake in, exposing a dark side inside of not only the boys, but all of us. This shows a kind of nurture, but a sinister one developed in nature.

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A world war takes place as a group of boys get stranded on an island. As the boys try to escape the war, it follows them onto the island in the form of a never ending conflict with how to survive. As the boys become engaged in this war they lose their innocence. In the Lord of the Flies, written by William Golding, loss of innocence plays a big role in the outcome of the book. Loss of innocence is ultimately what leads to the war which takes place on the once “good island” (Golding 34).

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Man is Inherently Evil In Lord of the Flies, a novel by William Golding, there are several themes expressed through the boys from the beginning to the end. The main theme conveys that man is inherently evil. This can be understood from most aspects of the book. Golding conveys that man is inherently evil through the boys need to undermine each other and the loss of morality in their decent to chaos.

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Throughout the book we witness the power struggle between Jack and Ralph, we watch as Jack undermines Ralph's authority and gains control of the boys on the island. Jack's leadership is powerful, he understands how to coerce others into following him and is exceptional at controlling his crowd. Take for example him leading the crowd of hunters, “Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood” (Golding 56).

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