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Selfishness In Lord Of The Flies Research Paper

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“Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness” (“Martin Luther”). In Lord of the Flies by William Golding a group of young British boys crash land on an isolated island. With no adults they try to dictate themselves, and it doesn’t go well. While trying to survive on the island they demonstrate the selfishness the dooms our society. Love brings firmness and hope to society, but with selfishness comes destruction and devastation. As followers... The little ‘uns demonstrated the selfishness the steered the boys away from any development or hope. To try and keep things in order on the island all of the boys, including the little ‘uns, were given a task to keep up with. …show more content…

Although Ralph seemed to be a leader but he never really took control of his power and authority as leader. From the outside Ralph was good looking and seemed to be the best candidate as a leader. But soon after he began to show that he may not have been the best choice for leader, he gave up very easily. Ralph decided that he wanted to build a fire on the island that would double as a smoke signal. He assigned Jack and his hunters to keep the fire going and they failed to do it. The little ‘uns also failed to help build huts. All Ralph did was stand by and let them do it. Ralph was even ready to give up his power all because Jack was breaking the rules. “‘I ought to give up being chief. Hear ‘em”’ (93). Along with giving up easily Ralph also doesn’t like to take advice from others. Piggy an intelligent and not so good looking boy who gave a lot of advise to Ralph. Ralph didn’t listen to him partly because of his larger apperence but mostly because he was to selfish to. After Jack and his hunters left Ralph’s leadership Ralph was prepared to fight Jack to get his followers back. Piggy knew that this wasn’t going to end well and tried to convince Ralph to just go back to their side of the island. “‘ Come away. There’s going to be trouble. And we’ve had our meat”’ (151). In the end, Piggy was right and Ralph not listening to him unfortunately killed him. With no leader to lead society stands still, and devastation begin to take

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Galaya Villumsen 03/06/2023 English Second draft: Societies Mistreat Their Saviors Saviors are the good people of society, so why are they treated so badly most of the time? William Golding wrote the novel “The Lord of the Flies” in 1954. The book is about a group of boys that ends up stranded on an island alone with no adults. The boys establish rules to help them get rescued and maintain a stable society, but not long after, the boys become violent.

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Ralph feels terrified because believes joining in the death of Simon and Piggy denying the fact they killed Simon and insisted it was a mistake. During chapter 11-12 Piggy stood up again Jack saying ralph was a better leader because he got things done unlike jack and ralph called out jack calling him “you’re a beast and a swine and a bloody,bloody thief” while they were arguing, Rodger threw a rock from the top of the mountain and it hit Piggy and broke the conch. This represents the end of civilization, after the death of Simon and Piggy Ralph is hopeless, when a Navy Officer finds them ralph starts to cry because he was overwhelmed and was still affected by the death of Simon and Piggy, Ralph knew when they were going to go back it won't be the same again or will his parents be alive of the world war 2 going on this represents the fear of the

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In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, Ralph was chosen as a leader due to his charisma and communication skills with the other children. Many of the children begin to lose trust and faith in Ralph as their leader but that doesn't stop Ralph from holding himself at the title of “chief” amongst the boys. Ralph wasn’t able to be a good chief throughout the story which resulted in corruption and chaos with the others. In the beginning of the novel, Ralph was able to persuade all of the boys that there wasn’t anything to fear.

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Humans kill, whether it be animals, insects or people. The justice system is used to try and fix what others have done and in this way they are punished. They are punished in a functioning society with rules and laws, but when all that is stripped away we are left with mass destruction and humans that kill. The novel Lord of the Flies, published in 1954 and written by Nobel Prize winning author, William Golding, portrays the violence and eradication of a functioning society through young boys stranded on an island. Golding uses the symbol fire and forgetfulness of the need for it to develop the theme of the loss of society and creation of uncivilized destruction.

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A theme that arises around Piggy is the realists in the world are unheard when other people are overwhelmed by an inner evil. In the beginning, Piggy tries to make his name known but Ralph does not care and he calls him the one name he does not want to be called, which is Piggy. Piggy is seen as weak by the other boys because he is fat and has asthma. An example of Piggy being an unheard realist is when he is trying to get the attention of the boys and it is very hard when he finally gets their attention he tells them they need to build shelters and get rescued and points out that no one paid any attention to the ‘littluns’. Throughout the book, Piggy is a reminder of being rescued.

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The island is used as a sort of playing ground to reveal the true underlying qualities of each character, and as mentioned above, the qualities of humanity. When the boys first gather on the island, they are quick to order themselves in a society, more of a tribe in their case, that reflects the social structure they were exposed to at home. This process involves electing a leader, holding meetings or assemblies to vote on matters, and working together for the greater good of everyone on the island. The assemblies become a part of keeping order within their society. To illustrate, when Ralph finds out that Jack neglected the fire he calls an assembly to prioritize.

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The boys in Ralph’s tribe criticize Piggy because of his obesity and all of is other insecurities, as well as, his know it all attitude. This feud results in Roger pushing a boulder down a cliff at Castle Rock, consequently, hitting Piggy making him fall forty feet to his death. Roger has broken his boundaries that were put in place by his parents and the police before he was on the island, realizing that he will not be punished by the others for the homicide of Piggy. “His voice rose under the black smoke before the burning wreckage of the island; and infected by that emotion, the other little boys began to shake and sob too. And in the middle of them, with filthy body, matted hair, and unwiped nose, Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy.

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The fire to the boys on the island is the their future, their only whisper of hope. Without that idea of hope, the idea that we mean something, we get the notion that we shouldn’t be concerned with anything. On the island, the boys begin to lose hope in being rescued, and care not whether the fire keeps going or not. They care not for each others privacy, their rights, or their well being. Children are often considered the only pure, wholesome beings on this earth today.

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The boys are subjected dissonant environments and decision making that ultimately leads to the fall of their little provisional society. At the start of the novel, we find a natural group already formed when Jack appears at the head of the choir. This group of choir boys is well disciplined and it is the driving force of which it helps them to hunt pigs. As order on the island breaks down, the boys

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After a meal of pig, the boys in Jack’s new tribe begin to recite their chant, cheering for the blood of a pig. Unfortunately for Simon, he happens to join the group during the middle of the chant. At this point, the boys bloodthirstiness has reached a new level and they kill Simon. To the reader’s surprise, even Ralph and Piggy are involved in this murder after they get caught up in the night’s excitement. Following this murder, a member of Jack’s tribe, Roger decides to kill Piggy.

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Initially, the boys were assigned to tasks that help the group’s well-being such as shelter building, gathering water, or in Jack’s case, maintaining the fire. He soon abandons his duty and goes off to have fun through hunting, causing the fire to go out and prolonging their stay on the island. This situation shows the initial benefit an individual can gain from selfishness, but at the cost of society’s advancement. Although he didn’t get any meat from this trip, he still got to enjoy the “brilliant world of hunting, tactics, [and] fierce exhilaration”(), while the other boys did boring yet important tasks. Through his denial of his critical responsibility, he creates a class distinction within the boys’ society where he is the “one percent” that is able to pursue wealth and prosperity, while being supported by the “working poor” (the other boys).

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All he wants is to be rescued while Jack is being idiotic and crazy. Piggy then wants to stand up to Jack and force those savages to see reason. They go up the mountain and try to reason with the savages, but they refuse to listen and attack. As you can tell, Ralph has become more sophisticated and still wants to be rescued. Jack could care less, all he wants is to be in control and

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How does William Golding interrogate the truth about human nature? The human being is complex. Its nature even more so. Throughout his book, Lord of the Flies, William Golding attempts to interrogate the truth about human nature.

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In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, he shows the most important people and aspects of a society. “And weep for the end of innocence and the darkness of man’s heart,... the books is supposed to show how the defect of society are directly traceable to the defects of the individual”(Golding, 215). The ethical nature of society does not depend on a group of people, but a single individual. When the last of those aspects are gone, people have the ability to turn into savages with not knowledge, spirit or innocence. The deaths in the books show how each quality in a person, no matter how small or irrelevant, keeps us steady and gives us the ethical groups to stand on, but more importantly, he shows what can happen when our leaders are gone and the ground gives

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Ralph nodded. He relaxed his fighting muscles, stood easily and grounded the butt of his spear” (Golding, 177). Piggy is able to stop Ralph with his reasoning. Moreover, Piggy’s logic helps Ralph keep his sanity for the duration of time that Piggy is still alive. Due to the fact, that Piggy is always with Ralph, his rationality helps keep Ralph from becoming a savage similar to the other boys.

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