ipl-logo

Lord Of The Flies Zeitgeism Analysis

744 Words3 Pages

A zeitgeist describes the general mood or essence of an era.The novel,Lord of The Flies,by William Golding, is an example of a literary work that captures the zeitgeist of its time.The novel involves a group of boys stranded on an island with no adult supervision and the demise of rule and order. It is meant to be shown as a microcosm for the post atomic world that was occurring during this time.The novel exemplifies the boys downward spiral from civilization to chaos and their use of violence and disregard for science.
In the literary piece,Lord of The Flies by William Golding, a recurring idea is anarchy leads to chaos is exemplified throughout the book further shown by the downfall of the boys civilized behavior to acts of savagery that …show more content…

In the Myth of Innocence by Paulette Michel-Michot,the boys adventure is described as “At first it is fun, a boy scout adventure,But gradually more sinister elements in their nature take over” They arrive on the island innocently and their freedom is going on the beach with a lack of clothes. The focus of many of the boys shifted from having the hope of rescue to hunting for pigs and their savage acts. As shown by Jack who misses killing the pig early one, an urge develops to kill pigs and they continue to hunt. They eventually kill one and they worship the head and see it as god like. Then there wrath of terror continues when they kill Simon, and later Piggy. They the capture Samneric and force them to Ralphs location and almost kill Ralph as they set the island ablaze. The group of hunters becomes infatuated with hunting a mythical beast that terrorizes the littluns. The boys even begin to chant “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!(Lord of the Flies 152)“A zeitgeist book reflects the spirit of the age in ways that its author and his/her readers don't quite understand.” The reliance on violence and tendency to do evil captures the zeitgeist of the

Show More
Related
1160 Words | 5 Pages

William Golding’s Lord of the Flies is an influential novel which reveals the darkness of mankind and evil inside of all humans. Lord of the Flies is set in the early 20th century, during a time when Europe is under attack and surrounded by war. For this reason, a plane carrying a group of British schoolboys is flown away from the chaos in hopes of bringing the boys to safety. Suddenly, the airliner is mistaken for a military aircraft and taken down. After all of the pandemonium the boys soon realize that they are the only survivors.

Read More
538 Words | 3 Pages

In the book, The Lord of the Flies, the boys debate on whether the beast is real or not. The irony throughout the book is based on how the boys are so terrified of there being a fictitious monster on the island that they do not realize that they are the monsters themselves. As the boys begin to act more savagely, their belief of the existence of the beast becomes stronger. Throughout the book, it is clear that the boys are, in fact, the real beast, as evidenced by the spreading hatred, the sexual assaults, and violence. To begin with, the boys’ hatred towards one another grows stronger as the novel progresses, which portrays them as the real beast on the island.

Read More
700 Words | 3 Pages

In the Lord of the Flies, Golding describes the gradual decline of a group of young kids stranded on an island. Without a strong leadership and a society for them to fall back upon, the group of kids begin to fall in disarray. Thus, Golding uses Sigmund’s-Frond three aspects of the human mind to explain how the kids decline. Additionally, he uses the conch to symbolize the society. Humans are inherently evil and a ruling body must be made in order to control the masses.

Read More
548 Words | 3 Pages

Schoolboys lose their innocence Lust and greed are more gullible than innocence by Mason Cooley. In the book Lord of Flies , schoolboys from England crashed on an island , near the Pacific. Their innocence starts to slowly drift away as the longer they stay at the island. The boys tried to keep their connection to the adult world , but the boys were losing hope. The schoolboys lost their innocence by killing a mama pig , killing another school boy named Simon and hunting down another school boy named Ralph, to the point of almost killing him.

Read More
1131 Words | 5 Pages

“ At last the immediacy of the kill subsided. The boys drew back, and Jack stood up… giggled and flicked them while the boys laughed at his reeking palms (120).” The boys do not mourn and think about what they have just done to the sow, they “laugh and giggle” and Jacks flicks the meat on his hands at the other boys. Games in this novel slowly builds the theme of savagery because every kill the boys make it makes them become more of a savage. The boys start off playing at the lagoon, to hunting pigs, then using one of their own to act like a pig, and finally they end up hunting one of their own like a pig.

Read More
1243 Words | 5 Pages

In Lord of the Flies, William Golding tells the story of a group of once-innocent schoolboys who flee their homes during a world war. However, the plane they traveled in crashed on a deserted island far from any civilization on the way to safety. Trapped with no adults or authority figures, the boys have to survive on their own with little or no guidance. As the boys stay on the island and try to find outside help, their humanity shifts into savagery. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, he shares his belief that without the structure of society, humans are savage by a conch shell symbolizing structure and humanity on the island, as well as using juxtaposition to contrast those who represent humanity and savagery.

Read More
664 Words | 3 Pages

The Evolution of Johnny Cade: From Kicked Puppy to Hero In S.E. Hinton’s book, The Outsiders, one essential character is Johnny Cade. Johnny was a 16-year-old boy who was part of a social group called the greasers. He was known as the gang’s pet and everyone’s kid brother. He grew up in an unstable home where his parents verbally and physically abused him.

Read More
901 Words | 4 Pages

Throughout William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, he proves that human nature is savage. In this novel, a group of young boys survive a plane crash and land on a deserted island where they attempt to create a society from scratch, but ultimately fall into chaos and barbarity. In Lord of the Flies, Golding portrays the theme that one’s primitive nature is revealed when civilization is destroyed through symbolism, diction, and characterization. The boys immediately recognized the conch’s significance when they found it.

Read More
902 Words | 4 Pages

Evil is Within Everyone Without thinking, the laws and social rules we abide by every day are actually a fragile barrier keeping the worst of human nature from overtaking modern society. In the allegorical novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a plane full of British school boys is shot down over an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. They are stranded without adult supervision or means to communicate with the outside world. This creates the perfect setting for Golding to explore the best and worst of human nature. It is in this setting that Golding illustrates what can happen when laws and rules vanish and human instinct reigns.

Read More
709 Words | 3 Pages

In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, young boys get stranded on an island with no adults in the midst of a war. The boys were orderly and civilized in the beginning but then as they began killing pigs they slowly became savages and lost their civilization. The boys began turning on each other and the evil within them became present. Golding uses a variety of literary devices including personification, symbols, metaphors, and irony, to project the theme that pure and realistic people in the world can be unheard and destroyed by evil.

Read More
767 Words | 4 Pages

Thesis Statement: In Lord of the Flies William Golding throughout the book is trying to show you that society should recognize man is evil. Introduction Paragraph: In the book Lord of the Flies the author William Golding shows a group of boys losing their innocence throughout their life stuck on this inhabited island in the pacific ocean. These boys go from being quiet and shy to violent and dangerous young little boys. Golding uses the pigs, hunting, and the boys face painting to show their lose of innocence throughout the story. There 's no rules of any sort on this island these boys landed on they are free to do whatever they want whenever they want.

Read More
1702 Words | 7 Pages

Power and manipulation takes over people’s minds and turns us into egotistical people without even knowing and the sense of having control or authority can brainwash us into the people who we despise. William Golding fabricates his ideas around the time period 1933 after he received his English degree where he mostly wrote poems. Golding’s world consists of writing novels, pulling ideas from the real world into his own creative words on paper, this is where he developed his most famous book, Lord of the Flies, throughout 1954. The perspective of Lord of the Flies is through the eyes of the Second World War and since he was in this war, his point of view on violence changed and gave him a different outlook on society. In the Lord of the Flies

Read More
1164 Words | 5 Pages

In Lord of the Flies, Golding explores the idea that human nature, when left without the regulations of society, will become barbaric. As one of the prevailing themes in his work, the dark side of human nature is represented through the novel, not only in symbols and motifs, but in his characters as well. The dark side of human nature is an integral part of the novel 'Lord of the Flies.' William Golding, a British novelist employs symbols, motifs and characters to create the idea that human nature, without civilisation will become barbaric.

Read More
615 Words | 3 Pages

Golding says “The boys broke into shrill, exciting cheering” (41) in the beginning of the novel, then at the end of the novel says, “A great clamor rose among the savages” (164). William Golding who wrote The Lord of the Flies changes his word choice from “boys” to “savages” to emphasize the fact that the boys change into savage creatures. Three symbols represent civilization and change into chaos over the course of the novel. The three symbols representing change are Piggy’s glasses, The fire, and the conch. These figures demonstrate the important theme that the calm civilization will soon break out into disorder.

Read More
1127 Words | 5 Pages

During Simon’s encounter with the Lord of the Flies, Golding reveals the central issue concerning human nature. Simon reaches the realization that they fear the beast because it exists within each of them. The Lord of the Flies tells Simon that the beast is inside each boy and cannot be killed. The boys go from behaving like civilized young men to brutal savages. “What I mean is…maybe it’s only us.”

Read More

More about Lord Of The Flies Zeitgeism Analysis

Related Topics

Open Document