ipl-logo

The Lord Of The Flies: A Literary Analysis

1007 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Human nature in Lord of the flies

“Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill! You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are?” (Golding 143). Soon as the law and order disappears, the beast in us stirs and is awakened. The nobel prize winning classic novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding occurs during a time of war, when a plane carrying a group of british boys is shot down and crashes on an uncharted tropical island with no adults. Quickly the boys have conflict between the protagonist Ralph and the antagonist Jack as they try to make a civilization like the one they had at home but that fail. The boys savagery soon starts to show when hunting and hurting the other boys becomes …show more content…

This has resulted in two tribes forming ,one tribe lead by Ralph wants to collect food, build shelters and build a fire to produce smoke as a signal to be rescued. The other tribe lead by Jack wants to hunt and have fun. There is a battle for control between Ralph and Jack. This results in the murder of one of their own by the them. “That was murder… It was dark. There was that - that bloody dance. There was lightning and thunder and rain. We was scared.”(156). When Simon comes down from the mountain to the boys that the beast is just a dead body, the boys are too enraged by the thrill of reacting the hunt that they turn on Simon and end up killing him. Piggy tries to come up with a reasonable reason of why they killed Simon while Ralph states that was murder. Simon’s foreshadowing is proven when Jack and his hunters attack Ralph tribe camp and steal the fire and Piggy specs.”You’re a beast and a swine and a bloody, bloody thief.” (177). In this fight for control over the boys, Ralph calls Jack a beast which proves simon foreshadowing that the beast is inside us and not something you can hunt and kill. Ralph also accuses Jack for stealing their fire and piggy’s spec which does not matter anymore since there is no longer a civilization. The evolution of the boys on the island shows how savage a person can get in the absences of law and

Show More
Related
1907 Words | 8 Pages

Simon is in the woods and sees the pigs head on stick, it then starts talking to him. He is supposedly the “lord of the flies” and promises Simon he is going to have some fun with the boys, Simon then faints. Simon awakens and stumbles up the mountain, where he finds the beast is actually the dead parachutist. He then goes as quickly as he can to inform the others. Ralph's tribe go to Jacks tribes party.

Read More
994 Words | 4 Pages

they tear apart Simon with their bare hands and teeth, brutally killing him. But that isn’t the end of it. The next day, when the attempt to retrieve Piggy’s specs goes terribly wrong, resulting in the death of Piggy, Jack gives up hunting pig. His hatred for Ralph mixed with his savage thirst for blood drives him to start hunting Ralph. This leads to one of my favorite quotes in the entire book: in Chapter 12, “They were all running, all crying out madly.

Read More
1223 Words | 5 Pages

The boys need fend for themselves and they all had to figure out how to survive. Eventually all of the boys soon turned into savages and went against one another by hurting the others. There are two main characters who took charge right away due to no supervision: Jack and Ralph. Jack was mainly in charge of hunting, and Ralph was in charge of shelters. Each of the boys are in competition for chief, which leads to lack of authority.

Read More
612 Words | 3 Pages

“We saw-” “-the beast-”. In the Lord of the Flies by William Golding, there were a group of English Schoolboys. They roamed around on a deserted island, a war was going on in the near future. There are many possible things a “beast” can be. The definition of a “beast” evolves throughout the story.

Read More
1276 Words | 6 Pages

The boys barbarically beat down Simon who appears to be a beast to them. The fear blinds the children and they do not even question what it is. They lose their sense of right and wrong as they forget the rules of society and commit a murder. Even though, Simon was screaming out to them and trying to send his message, the boys ignored it and continued to beat him down. This shows that the boys are so desperate that to get rid of the beast, they lose all sense of their humanity and kill their own friend.

Read More
458 Words | 2 Pages

The boys divide into two major groups as the story goes on. the hunters, led by Jack, and the "civilized" group led by Ralph. Each group strengthens its commitment to its core motives as they come to agree on actions and choices. In the end this mob mentality and groupthink result in hostility and violence between the two groups.

Read More
585 Words | 3 Pages

Civilization means to be a part of a culture, to have a leader who takes power, and to be apart of orderly society. In the novel The Lord of the Flies by William Golding, Simon is the most civilized boy on the island because he has the most positive outlook out of every boy on the island, he is insightful of what and where the beast is, and, he is the first to realize most of the problems that occur on the island. Simon has the most positive outlook out of every boy on the island. Simon insisted multiple times that the boys would get rescued, even when Ralph strongly doubted the possibility.

Read More
401 Words | 2 Pages

He's innocent and has done no harm, yet the boys kill him. The reader becomes queasy and afraid, beginning to realizes that this violent killing may not only happen to an animal, but to a human too. This foreshadows that the boys may be capable of far more killing an animal. Simon's vicious killing occurs in exactly the same way, and he was just as innocent as the poor sow. This scene also foreshadows his death because the boys killing the pig is their first extreme savage act and their first actions that show that they are no longer civilized.

Read More
796 Words | 4 Pages

With the fear of the beastie on the island the boys became scared and violent towards anything that could cause harm. Simon was murdered because the rest of the boys were influenced by Jack and beside themselves with fear, Simon came down to warn them that the monster was real and lived within them. He became the center of an animistic ritual that ended in his unfortunate death. Once one murder had been committed, it seemed easier for the boys to accept the fact that they were no longer civilized children. Jack decided to permanently become his own tribe and move into Castle Rock, he took most of the remaining boys along with him.

Read More
902 Words | 4 Pages

Although Ralph may be a good leader and Piggy may be smart, they both have evil inside of them and want to be a part of Simon’s murder. Ralph and Piggy are nowhere near being savages at this point, but their love of death still shows, even if they regret it later. Their savagery is just the result of the evil human nature inside of them that is left unchecked by civil society. On the island, the boys do not have the benefit of civilization, so they revert to human nature and instinct for survival.

Read More
694 Words | 3 Pages

During a storm, he wanders into a pig-killing reenactment filled with chants and excitement, and the boys ambush him in confusion. His lifeless body floats away, and is never seen again. Following the murder of SImon, most of the boys are remorseless and this is the final straw regarding the loss of the boy’s civility. If they all had mourned his death, that would be much more acceptable, but many of them became almost unstable and intentionally killed Piggy and almost

Read More
698 Words | 3 Pages

“This is ridiculous. You know you’ll only meet me down there - so don’t try to escape!” (Golding 143). The beast, the evil within the boys, is something inescapable. It is something rooted deep within them that cannot be changed.

Read More
1548 Words | 7 Pages

The instincts of young boys takes over the boys minds through the symbolism of the beast. Their minds have been completely taken over by fear, a need for protection and the need to kill. The boys have become almost pure animal. The boys succumbed to their instincts when they killed simon, chanting a death song. While the boys give into their instincts and believe that they are fighting a monster and are doing what is good.

Read More
1508 Words | 7 Pages

Ralph told all the boys on the island Piggy’s old nickname. Being a chubby child people “Used to call me piggy!” (Golding, 11) Going against Piggy’s wishes expresses betrayal through the disrespect Ralph shows towards Piggy. Jack and his tribe turn on Simon for his fear of the beast. The boys chant “Kill the beast!

Read More
1127 Words | 5 Pages

However, Jack and his tribe are eager to hunt Ralph down. In this final scene, it is clear that savagery completely took over civilization on the island. “Fun and games,” said the officer. (Golding, 181). The naval officer correctly identified the hunt, because the boys allowed the inner evil dominate themselves.

Read More

More about The Lord Of The Flies: A Literary Analysis

Related Topics

Open Document