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The role of society in lord of the flies
Symbolic meaning in Lord of the Flies
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Golding shows that although Ralph’s leadership starts off strongly, authority based on order will not survive due to man’s savage nature. Like in a democracy, Ralph gets the position of authority when the boys elect him as their leader. As chief,
Blake describes how social hierarchy has always been in the world and that can affect our view in things.. The church officials thought the orphans would be happy serving the higher class since the church officials are servants of God and in their religion they refer to God as the most powerful being. They thought the orphans would be happy serving the higher class, and the orphans were meant to serve. Whispering words telling the orphans that if they do their duty, they would go to heaven and meet God too. The church officials thought they were better and had a better position than most people so they assumed that people should feel entitled to serve them.
Society needs people to make it. However, something in turn, has to make society. Culture turns people into societies. It puts its people up to certain standards, which are honorable to meet; and gives people their idea of right and wrong. In his book The Lord of the Flies, William Golding cleverly shows us what would happen without culture.
This shows the human nature of children and men when they are away from society and order for a long time. If they do not get what they want, then they will drive themselves crazy trying to fight and in turn, become savages, who are focused on killing and hunting. They are blinded by their anger and illusions that they forget about the real point, which is trying to escape from the island and their new goal is to kill each other off so they alone can be the chief of the island, but eventually all the boys will have to end up dying from natural causes or battles if they are not saved by a ship. Their morals are ruined and this leads to further chaos on the island. Once the chaos starts to happen on the island, Ralph also starts to rethink his idea of being chief.
Subject matter such as extreme anger, violence, and even death are typically associated with novels and movies about adults. Most people do not usually relate these things to young children, but the in the dystopian fiction novel Lord of the Flies, boys as young as six years old are exposed to all of this. Changes within the characters coupled with the presence of several key symbols show how separation from civilization can corrupt the minds of young children. From examining the characters and symbols in the novel Lord of the Flies, one can see that the author William Golding is showing the immense importance of civilization and how a lack of it can result in chaos and savagery. Civilization is proved to be of extreme importance in this novel, and the lack of it has a profound effect on the boys.
The characters in William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, illustrate a loss of morality that comes with the growth of tribalism. The book in question, Lord of the Flies, is about a group of boys who are the only survivors of a plane-crash on an uninhabited island, and how they survive on their own. The growth of tribalism was evident in the increasing separation between the boys and the eventual formation of two conflicting groups, and the loss of morality was illustrated by the boys’ lack of respect for human life. Instead of progressing through Kohlberg’s stages of moral development, we see the boys regress through the stages. The spark that created intense tribalism occurred at the start of the novel when Ralph was voted chief over
“Maybe there is a beast… maybe it's only us”(89). In the beginning of the novel, a group of boys are stranded on an island without adults. They obey the regulations and rules set by the chief, Ralph. Ralph and Piggy find a conch shell that is used to call the boys to gather around for a meeting, which represents civilized environment created by Ralph. The boys turn into savages when Jack becomes absorbed with the thought of hunting and paints his face to disguise in the jungle.
In William Golding’s Lord of Flies, a group of British boys was on an isolated island, and after a few days with quarrels and fights between the boys, most of them finally survive. Although the novel seems like a cruel fiction story, the plot and the children shows some similarities with the thoughts of the Enlightment philosophers. In my opinion, the system of authority and the children in Lord of Flies share a lot of similarities with the thought of Thomas Hobbes. In the novel, the conch is one of the most important items which symbolized the authority, and it gathers all children together.
Should the boys’ savage and immoral behavior be blamed on the situation/environment or on the biological factors? I think that the boys’ savage and immoral behavior should be blamed on biological factors. Your decisions and behavior reflects your brain and your biological factors. In the novel, “Lord of the Flies”, by William Golding, he writes about characters who are lost on an island after their plane crashed.
Throughout the story Ralph wants everyone to stay civilized, But alternatively Jack becomes obsessed with becoming the leader and starts to lose his way of society. Ralph tries to keep everyone in their right mind, but by the end of the story he realizes that people react differently and it is difficult to maintain society. Ralph tries to maintain the fire and keep it going additionally, he knows if he gives up the fire that he will start to think and act like Jack’s tribe. Golding lets us know that Ralph still tries to maintain society by saying, “He put the conch to his lips and began to blow. Savages appeared, painted out of recognition edging round the ledge toward the neck”(Golding 159).
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.
What makes things break up like they do? A question that William Golding tries to answer in Lord of the Flies, but like anything, there are critics. The roots of broken societies can be traced to our human nature which questions our own instincts. Compared to the other critics and William Golding, I feel that Kathleen Woodward proposed the most convincing argument. Similar to Golding, Woodward understands that humans have a violent nature, but “the problem is that there are not enough rules.”
In the book Lord of the Flies, there were two small societies. The main one, which will be the one focused on, was made in the beginning. It was established with rules from the beginning. That then built the social hierarchy that is the group. There are different jobs and positions, these are what separates everybody and made the social hierarchy in Lord of the Flies.
Synthesis Writing Assessment “All persons ought to endeavor to follow what is right, and not what is established.” (Aristotle) In mob mentality people follow what is established. Mob mentality occurs when people forget about their own beliefs and follow what everyone else is doing.
A community can only thrive when there is a hierarchy to impose rules. In Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, a plane with a group of boys crashes on an uncharted island. The children are stranded without any adult supervision. The group attempts to form an organized society to stay alive and sane. As the novel progresses, they collectively struggle to keep order and they become savages.
