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Rhetorical Strategies In Lord Of The Flies, By William Golding

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“The line between good and evil is permeable and almost anyone can be induced to cross it when pressured by situational forces.” This quote was said by Philip Zimbardo during his ‘Psychology of Evil’ TED talk. Zimbardo explains in his presentation what defines humans as good or evil. He goes into depth on the negative impact of the external environment of a person. He follows by saying his ideology of evil came from the novel Lord of The Flies by William Golding. In Lord of The Flies, Golding uses a variety of rhetorical strategies in order to create a story about a group of boys who crashed on a desert island and are forced to adapt to the primitive environment. … thesis: Golding uses many rhetorical strategies throughout the Lord of the Flies; the most evident forms being …show more content…

Among the many rhetorical strategies used by Golding, one of the most prominent forms is irony. He uses this device to not only foreshadow, but to portray the true evil in human nature. Although the group of boys did not seem savage to begin with, the trait became very apparent, eventually. Before the setting started to effect the boys and their morals, there was order and respect within the group. The leader of this group was Roger, leaving a not so pleased Jack as runner up. During the first group meeting while discussing laws, jack says, “I agree with Ralph. We’ve got to have rules and obey them. After all, we’re not savages.” This statement is ironic because Jack eventually becomes the most savage out of the boys, leading the group who kills Piggy towards the end of the novel. Golding does an excellent job of using this piece of irony

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“Either wandering breezes or perhaps the decline of the sun allowed a little coolness to lie under the trees.” Certainly, this is a quote from William Golding's book “Lord of The Flies”. The book is about a group of schoolboys who were put on a plane escaping from the next war, and crashed on a deserted island with no adult supervision doing whatever they want, but a leader is chosen for the group and things go bad when it all gets unorganized. In most literature like“Lord of The Flies” by Golding, authors will use literary devices in their writing to convey meaning into their work.

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920 Words | 4 Pages

“What are we? Humans? Or animals? Or savages? (79)”, this quote is from the book, Lord of the Flies by William Golding.

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285 Words | 2 Pages

William Golding is making many references to Revelations the New Testament within Lord of the Flies, from a simple title of a chapter to something that happens in the book. An allusion in Lord of the Flies is the reference to the beast. The beast is spoken of in Revelations chapter 13 of the New Testament, it states, “And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea” (Revelations 13:1). This quote goes with the title of Chapter 5 in Lord of the Flies, “Beast from Water” ( Lord of the Flies 76). The similarities are that both of the beasts rise up from the water or the sea.

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532 Words | 3 Pages

IMAGERY William Golding’s uses figurative language throughout Lord of the Flies to make the characters and plot become animate in the reader’s mind. It leads the audience to a better understanding of the setting and events, and therefore, is more entertaining. Metaphors are a piece of imagery used commonly throughout Lord of the Flies. A metaphor is used in describing the beach when the boys first land on the island.

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In the third passage of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the usage of word choice and symbolism foreshadows the possible danger that is present on the island with Ralph and Piggy because of the boy’s dependence on their past life in modern society. After Piggy tells Ralph that they would most likely die on the island, the heat of the sun “seemed to increase” and that the water “attacked them blinding effulgence,” which implies that the urgency of the problem has finally set in with the boys. The significance of the words “attacked” and “effulgence” represents how the boys have realized that they do not know anything about the island and that they are in potential danger. By being on the island, the boys have more freedom in their decisions,

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1069 Words | 5 Pages

Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a novel, where a group of young British boys are lost on an island after their plane crash lands. Throughout the novel William Golding utilization of literary devices are used to reveal a theme for the novel, civilization and lives of innocent boys are destroyed and lost due to the savagery of the boys ', desire for power, and fear of the unknown. William Golding utilizes three important literary devices throughout the novel, symbolism, of when the conch is destroyed civilization on the island is gone, irony as the civilize British boys turn savages, and foreshadowing the deaths of the boys on the island. In the novel Lord of the Flies, symbolism was the most important literary device used by William

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163 Words | 1 Pages

William Golding's writing in Lord of the Flies is filled with description, symbolism and characterization. Everything, starting with his detailed images of the forrest, or jungle, to the sweat dripping down Jack's forehead is lively and used for a reason. Golding's language was always in line with what’s happening to his characters. When Simon was being killed by his friends, "There were no words, and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws." After he is killed, the language takes gentler turn.

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Jack is always wanting to go hunting and have a more savage “tribe”, while Ralph wishes to keep the group civilized and neat. Because they both have contrary beliefs, they butt heads and disagree very often. Readers can see this play out when a few boys (Including Ralph and Jack, who’re the main two arguing) who went off to decide if they need to let Piggy know what’s going on. “Jack cleared his throat and spoke in a queer, tight voice. ‘We mustn’t let anything happen to Piggy, must we?’”

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Everyone has this underlying darkness within them that is hidden away deep inside the nooks and crannies of their hearts. Golding demonstrates this through the use of his major characters, Ralph and Jack. In the novel, Lord of the Flies, the author William Golding utilizes character development to suggest the idea that when individuals are separated from civilization, dark forces will arise and threaten unity and harmony. Golding presents the protagonist, Ralph, who is decently intelligent and completely civilized, to demonstrate how once individuals are pulled away from civilization, the dark forces within them will arise and change how they are for the time being.

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365 Words | 2 Pages

Through the articles by Coskren, Baker, and Niemeyer, Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, is presented using a pessimistic point of view. Golding emphasizes the evil human nature of the young boys and he does not give us hope for mankind. Throughout the novel, the boy’s actions portray Golding’s sense of pessimism. For example, during the attack on Simon, “the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt on the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore” (Golding 153).

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647 Words | 3 Pages

Jack seems to bring out the savagery in all the boys, as they slowly began acting less civilized. Heartless monsters were made out of once innocent well behaved boys to bring out primitive behavior. Bringing out this in the boys leads to multiple deaths that could have easily never happened. Through this all Ralph tried to calmly put the thought of peace and being civilized into their young minds. Piggy and Ralph seemed to have this connection that helped make it easy for the two to be compatible up till the point Piggy passed.

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1402 Words | 6 Pages

Speech the most powerful weapon. William Golding aspired to write a piece of literature that would show the dark side of the human soul through his book “Lord of the Flies” a piece that takes you the reader into a world cut off from modernized world, what we see as a true civilized world. William Golding was a man who saw the horrors that humans where capable of through the advancement of science and the war engine itself, of human desires that to this day exist and in my belief will always exist. In “Lord of the Flies” a tail where a group of children ranging from ages of six years of age to roughly twelve years of age are stranded on an island cut off from the world build and develop a tribal society that eventually falls apart and escalates

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835 Words | 4 Pages

Piggy is the thinker; he is the logical side that supports order and civility. Piggy continues his efforts to stop the boys from joining Jack when he exclaims, “‘Which is better –to be a pack of painted Indians like you are, or to be sensible like Ralph is?’... ’Which is better –to have rules and agree, or to hunt and kill? Which is better, law and rescue, or hunting and breaking things up?’” (Golding, 180).

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616 Words | 3 Pages

Firstly, the contrast between how Jack treats Piggy and Ralph shows how the characters live in a dehumanized state because of a social hierarchy. “’ You didn’t hunt.’ ‘No more did Ralph,’ said Piggy wetly”(78). In this quote Jack is refusing to give Piggy meat, but allowing Ralph to have some.

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2697 Words | 11 Pages

The end of Lord of the Flies leaves readers with a lot to think about. There are many different ways to interpret the story, and many readers were unhappy with the unanswered questions. This bombardment of questions led Golding to give many lectures to readers regarding the Lord of the Flies. He published his lectures in a written essay titled “Fable”.

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