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The Lord Of The Flies Quote Analysis

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The conclusion of "Lord of the Flies" is crucial to expressing the book's main idea and exploring the depths of human nature. The way the story ended was crucial to highlight the devastating potential of unbridled savagery and the destruction of civilization. The boys on the island transform during the course of the book from being well-behaved, civilised people into a condition of barbarism. The boys' true selves start to emerge as the influence of society diminishes and they are forced to fend for themselves. This process is brought to a close by the ending, which paints a brutal picture of what happens when savagery goes unchecked. The fundamental wickedness and darkness of human nature is the main issue that "Lord of the Flies" explores. The idea that a …show more content…

The theme is substantiated by several quotes from the novel: "Roger gathered a handful of stones and began to throw them. Yet there was a space around Henry, perhaps six yards in diameter, into which he dare not throw. Here, invisible yet strong, was the taboo of the old life." (4th Chapter) This quotation shows that at first, societal limitations still have some influence, stopping Roger from completely giving in to his vicious tendencies. It indicates that social structures limit the inherent evil. "Maybe there is a beast... maybe it's only us." (5th Chapter) - Simon's epiphany illustrates the topic by implying that the genuine "beast" is actually the boys themselves, signifying the evil and darkness inherent in human nature. "Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!" (Chapter 9) - As they lose logic and give in to their instincts, the lads' chant and their frenzy during the search for the imagined beast reflect their descent into savagery. "Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's

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222 Words | 1 Pages

Simon is the only boy who doesn't appear to be afraid of the forest. It might be because he knows that he's safer alone than with the other boys. This quote represents fear, because it shows Simon doesn’t mind being alone in the forest, while the rest other boys are too scared to be alone. It also shows that Simon much rather prefers to be alone than with all the other boys, because of all the savagery that's been going on. Simon is different from the other boys, because he is both an independent and a very observant person.

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928 Words | 4 Pages

At first, the boys believe that the beast is an animal on the island after seeing a snake-like figure in the jungle. However, when Simon meets the “Lord of the Flies”, he realizes that the beast is, in fact, roaming the island but not in the form the boys imagine. Simon, a young boy in Ralph’s tribe, wanders off discovering a pig’s head on a stake and starts to hallucinate that the head is talking to him. “Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!” said the head. For a moment or two the forest and all the other dimly appreciated places echoed with the parody of laughter,” (143).

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1453 Words | 6 Pages

The beast was on its knees in the center, its arms folded over its face. It was crying out against the abominable noise something about a body on the hill. The beast struggled forward, broke the ring and fell over the steep edge of the rock to the sand by the water. At once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt on to the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore. There were no words, and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws” (152) demonstrates that the fear of the beast controlled the boys, and influenced them to kill Simon.

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740 Words | 3 Pages

In The Lord of the Flies, the boys destroy their chance of having a peaceful Utopia by their lack of togetherness and organization. Since Jack and Ralph are the two having the feud that start the downfall of the island, it’s their fault. If Jack and Ralph could get along, at least for the sake of others, then their civilization could be a lot better. Using Zimbardo’s theories to illustrate the destruction the boys have caused, the theories outline how no one would die or be hurt and they all could be rescued sooner if they work together. Therefore, the catastrophe of the island’s civilization is their doing.

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1122 Words | 5 Pages

The quote “‘Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!’ said the head.” (Golding 164) expresses that the Lord of the Flies is divulging to Simon that the evil is not something that can be hunted or killed but is within the boys. Simon also learns that the beast of evilness was in the boys all along. The theme Inherent Evil of Man is displayed through Simon learning that evil is within the boys and that this was the beast. This shows how the evil action appears as a beast and the understanding of evilness by

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922 Words | 4 Pages

The hidden savagery of humans that is dormant because of civilization is presented in Lord of the Flies through its symbolism, repetition and diction. The struggle for power and control on the island led to the exposure of savage nature that is present in the boys who were forced into a lawless place. Throughout the novel reason and logic are abandoned, causing the boys to act on whims and be controlled by their instincts rather than control themselves. Civilization has dampened human’s savage ways, but believing that there are no consequences could lead to the downfall of humanity and the return of the primitive ways society believes it has abandoned. Golding wrote Lord of the Flies to expose the hidden savagery that humans possess and how if humans aren’t careful they will become the savages

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291 Words | 2 Pages

Lord of the flies is mainly about civilization and savagery. These two ideas of how people act are very important to the focus of the book. In the book there are many examples of imagery, foreshadowing, metaphors and many others. It's very important to establish these, so that understanding of the story in the future will bring back that "ah ha" moment. The story starts of when a group of school choir boys plane crashes near an uninhabited island.

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2042 Words | 9 Pages

Lord of the Flies dates back to 1954 when a famous novelist, William Golding decided to write a book which could show an unusual version of the human beings. Born into an environment where his mother was a suffragette and later experiencing World War II where human ruthlessness was at its peak, made him better inclined in to writing a piece where he could explain his readers how human beings react in different situations. The setting of the novel depicts a situation where the human behavior is rational. The novel hence persuades the readers to realize the importance of ethics and civilization and how their absence can disrupt the society .Furthermore, the novel shows a negative aspect of the mankind and explains the reason it develops savagery

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258 Words | 2 Pages

My favorite quote from Lord of the Flies is the very last sentence in the book. “He turned away to give them time to pull themselves together; and waited, allowing his eyes to rest on the trim cruiser in the distance” (Golding 291) I like this section because the author subtly calls attention to the message he’s been writing about at all along. When the officer first arrives as a beacon on the beach, he scolds the boys for their savagery and unbridled, violent behavior. He is disgusted at their careless fires devouring the landscape and their adamant desire to kill their enemies since the young British boys are supposed to be well-bred and civilized.

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901 Words | 4 Pages

In LTF the boys struggle in deciding whether or not to become savage and wild or continue as a peaceful, orderly society. An example of the boys turning savage is the chant that Jack's hunters sing, “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!” Jack and his hunters chanting the beast's death chant.

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709 Words | 3 Pages

In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, young boys get stranded on an island with no adults in the midst of a war. The boys were orderly and civilized in the beginning but then as they began killing pigs they slowly became savages and lost their civilization. The boys began turning on each other and the evil within them became present. Golding uses a variety of literary devices including personification, symbols, metaphors, and irony, to project the theme that pure and realistic people in the world can be unheard and destroyed by evil.

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478 Words | 2 Pages

Although many different views have been made on the novel. From it being taken in a religious standpoint about good and evil to a basic scientific standpoint on the brain's impulses. Although golding says in an interview that the main theme is, ”An attempt to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature. The moral is that the shape of society must depend on the ethical nature of the individual and not on any political system, however apparently logical, or respectable,”(Why Did William Golding write lord of the flies). Sporting a theme of the flaws in human beings and not the systems.

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733 Words | 3 Pages

The collective fear of the unknown leads to the untimely and accidental death of Simon. The distress present in the boys causes their impulsive action, of Simon’s horrific murder. Fear of “the beast” an imaginary creature causes the boys to act irrational, and provokes survival instincts as a result of life threatening terror. The fear of the boys in this moment is epitomized when they chant, “Kill the beast!, Cut his throat, Spill his blood!” (168).

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1127 Words | 5 Pages

Throughout the novel of Lord of the Flies, William Golding provides a profound insight into human nature. Golding builds on a message that all human beings have natural evil inside them. To emphasize, the innate evil is revealed when there’s lack of civilization. The boys are constantly faced with numerous fears and eventually break up into two different groups. Although the boys believe the beast lives in the jungle, Golding makes it clear that it lurks in their hearts.

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658 Words | 3 Pages

Golding portrays mans evil through the boys' need to undermine others. In the beginning of the book Jack becomes obsessed with hunting the wild pigs that live on the island. “Jack was bent double. He was down like a sprinter, his nose only a few inches from the humid earth … Then dog-like, uncomfortably on all fours yet unheeding his discomfort,

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