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Motifs In Lord Of The Flies Research Paper

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Organized society does not exist anymore and it’s everybody for themselves. Renowned philosopher Thomas Hobbes described life in this state of nature as “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short”(“Contractarianism: Crash Course Philosophy #37”). William Golding, a British author, portrayed this state of society in his famous book, Lord of the Flies. The story begins with a group of schoolboys being stranded on an uninhabited island. At first, the boys attempt to signal ships, but most of the boys succumb to their primitive instincts. Of course, this book contains content that has been considered inappropriate, which raises the debate about whether or not it should be taught in schools. Despite its explicit content, Lord of the Flies also educates …show more content…

His ego decided that killing the pig comes with the cost of guilt and helping the pig comes with the cost of his energy being put into helping the pig. Instead, he hesitates, so he won’t have to spend any effort on helping the pig, and won’t end up with any guilt. Clearly, Lord of the Flies is the perfect book for teaching psychoanalysis. Furthermore, the book has a lot of motifs, which help students practice identifying motifs. One of the many motifs in Lord of the Flies is the motif of the conch. Throughout the book, the conch represents order. For instance, Ralph says “...I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak to. He can hold it when he’s speaking.” (Golding 32). To prevent complete chaos during meetings, the person holding the conch is only allowed to speak. This shows how the boys are forming an organized society using the conch, which is why the conch is correlated with order and rules. Another motif in Lord of the Flies is fire, which represents the boys’ hope for rescue and their ability to message civilized society. Jack says, “There’s another thing. We can help them find us. If a ship comes near the island, they may not notice

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