Lord of the Flies

“Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!” This is the chant that begins the section, increased in its violence as it now says “kill the beast” representing the feelings of the boys. They want to destroy the beast but can’t find it as it is inside each of them. This causes them to get ever more angry and frenzied, starting a ritualistic “dance” with “the chant” beating “like a steady pulse”. This is reminiscent of Simon’s experience earlier when a “pulse started to throb in his temple”, just before he went into a fit. This suggests that the boys are also going into a trance or fit, but a much more dangerous one, unaware of their actions. They lose their individuality and start “the throb and stamp of a single organism”, again with the throbbing and stamping inducing images of a trance-like ritual.

Also the symbolisms of circles and the weather are repeated. The circle now “yawns emptily” waiting to catch someone inside. The weather is threatening, “Thunder boomed…the dark sky was shattered…scar…blow of a gigantic whip”. This is a great contrast to the clear skies earlier in the book that symbolised peace. Now they begin to become terrified by the weather and the trance and out of this terror “rose another desire, thick, urgent, blind”. This is the frantic, unthinking desire of bloodlust.

The boys don’t want to think about what they are doing, Simon is called “Him!” and “the beast” and “the thing”. This is because the boys are trying to dehumanize him in their great desire to kill something that could be the beast. However, Golding calls Simon by name just once, the effect being that we see this as the mindset of the boys.

The imagery when Simon is finally murdered is very vivid, with the mouth comparison drawn again, “The mouth of the circle crunched and screamed”. This gives the impression of someone being eaten alive.

Simon is shown to be helpless. He doesn’t even try to defend himself; he just “struggles free”. He is completely innocent and Christ-like comparisons are drawn by these things and also because he is still trying to save them from themselves as he “was crying out against the abominable noise something about a beast on a hill.”

When he falls down onto the sand he is leapt upon. “There were no words and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws”. The use of “claws” draws comparisons with beasts and shows the boys’ savagery and animalistic actions. There are no words, symbolizing the complete breakdown of civilization and communication. Nobody is exempt from this original sin and even Piggy joins in. They completely destroy Simon, taking pleasure in the mutilation of his body.

After Simon’s death “the clouds opened” as if they are taking him up to heaven. The rain acts as a “cold shower” and breaks up the savages. Golding reminds us of the age and vulnerability of these boys and Simon especially, “they could see how small a beast it was and already its blood was staining the sand.”

A great wind blows the parachutist off the mountain in a tribute to Simon. He has removed the beast from the island, though he had to die to do it. We could look deeper and say that this shows he has only removed the symbol or personification of the beast. The parachutist was never the beast, nor was Simon, but they were used as the personification of the evil which still remains inside all of the boys.

After the rain ends, the mood completely changes, from frantic and urgent to calm and serene. The “incredible lamps of stars” “cool…clear air” make Simon’s death seem peaceful, natural and spiritual. The images are of “silver” “phosphoresce” “pearls” “clear water…clear sky” “strange moonbeam bodied creatures”. These all give a heavenly, spiritual and peaceful feel as does the alliteration of ‘s’ sounds; “Softly surrounded by a fringe of inquisitive creatures, itself a silver shape beneath the steadfast constellations.” This makes Simon’s death seem beautiful and the violence of the reality unimaginable.

Golding uses the violent, urgent, frenzied language during Simon’s death to show the feeling surrounding it. He uses the calm, peaceful and spiritual language afterwards, when his body is carried away as a reminder as to the kind of person Simon was and how different he was to the others.

Lord of the Flies centres on a group of boys stranded on a tropical island when their plane crashes en route from England to Australia as part of an evacuation during an atomic war (hypothetical war.) The story is essentially an allegorical tale of the innate evil of man – good versus evil. Of the book, Golding said that he wrote it to illustrate how political systems cannot govern society effectively unless they take into consideration the inherent defects of human nature. Marxism is seen as the development from an oppressive capitalist society to an equal and classless society. Golding tries to set a utopian world within the island devoid of adult, societal constraints but in the end the innate animal characteristics of man come to the fore.

Golding based his story on the 19th century novel ‘The Coral Island’ written by R M Ballantyne. Whereas Ballantyne’s novel, an adventure story of three boys stranded on a desert island, was optimistic, Golding’s is terrifyingly pessimistic. The novel was written shortly after World War II , in the early days of the Cold War when paranoia about communism was at its height. In the early 1950s many people were accused, often falsely, of being communists (the McCarthy era in the USA at this time is a good example of this.) It is within this context that Golding wrote Lord of the Flies. The battles between Ralph and Jack, the struggles between the Conch group and the Savages and above all the fight of good versus evil, originate in a degree of paranoia typical of the era in which the novel was written.

Lord of the Flies’ reflects elements of Golding’s own life – his experiences during the war made him second guess the traditionally held belief that while society might be evil, man was inherently good. Golding had witnessed the evil in man, not just in the enemy but in his own allies (he was on the ship that sank the German ship Bismarck.) Golding said in his essay ‘Fable’ – originally given as part of a lecture series in 1962 – “My book was to say: you think that now the war is over and an evil thing destroyed, you are safe because you are naturally kind and decent. But I know why the thing rose in Germany. I know it could happen in any country. It could happen here.”

The breakdown of order and discipline is prominent throughout the novel. This idea was drawn from Golding’s experiences as a school master (his father was also a school teacher.) Golding taught in an English public school so much of his insight was drawn largely from this. Golding felt that at the time, the education system lacked a balance between discipline and creative freedom. By placing the boys on an island without adults, free from the constraints of society, he allows the boys freedom to indulge their desires and impulses. But by setting the story in a tropical paradise, Golding allowed the boys’ downfall to come not through a basic struggle for survival but instead from within themselves and commented “If disaster came, it was not to come through the exploitation of one class by another. It was to rise, simply and solely, out of the nature of the brute . . . . . the only enemy of man is inside him.” (Fable, 1962.)

Golding uses the varied characters in the novel to symbolise the varying degrees of savagery exhibited by man and their rift with organised civilisation. For example, Piggy demands that the boys stay within the parameters of organised society – his frequent references to his ‘auntie’ represent the only adult voice throughout much of the novel. Jack, on the other hand, is more interested in satisfying his own desires and is of the belief ‘if it’s fun, do it.’ Ralph, however, is caught somewhere between the extremes exhibited by Piggy and Jack. It is in the clashes between Ralph and Jack that the conflict between a civilised society and a savage one are dramatised and it is in their differing attitudes towards authority that these differences in ideology are portrayed.

Ralph is eager to establish order – using the conch to assemble the boys – and although as Golding says “what intelligence had been shown was traceable to Piggy while the most obvious leader was Jack” it is Ralph who is chosen as the ‘chief.’ There is something about Ralph that has set him apart from the others, an innate quality; but it is his hold on the conch that seems to determine his election as leader of the group. The conch symbolises the old, established adult order the boys had been used to – it represents the rules and regulations or law and order of civilised society. Ralph is representative of government and authority and uses his own authority as chief to try and establish rules (for example, you can only speak if you are holding the conch) which are for the good of the group as a whole – he strives to enforce the moral rules of the society they are stranded from.

Jack is the antithesis of this – seeking to gain control of the boys to satisfy his basic instincts (Ralph in fact recognising Jack’s disappointment at not being chosen as leader is consolatory in announcing that Jack is in charge of the choir or ‘hunters’ as they quickly become.) Jack’s shift or decline towards savagery is marked throughout the novel. In the early chapters, his eagerness for killing pigs is really a show of bravery but is intertwined with the need to obtain food for the group. In this sense, Jack conforms to society’s rules. It is only later in the novel when Jack no longer recognises Ralph’s authority and forms his own splinter group with the hunters that Golding shows the reader Jack’s true and more dangerous character. In this way, Golding is able to highlight the fact that to a degree certain savage aspects are an inherent part of man’s nature (there is an overriding will to survive in humans) nevertheless in most instances this is suppressed to acceptable levels by the mores of society.

Golding himself does not see the novel as a Marxist piece, but as an illustration of “the darkness of man’s heart”. Whilst the novel wasn’t about class differences, Golding cleverly uses the language of the boys to highlight the fact there are indeed differences. For example at the beginning of Chapter 1 when Ralph meets Piggy and he asks “. . . What’s your father?” When responding Piggy asks “When’ll your dad rescue us?”

Alternate explanations from critics seem to come to the conclusion that the events of the novel were a result of circumstance and not of the evil within man. But Golding dismisses the idea that the actions of the boys were not inevitable. He suggests that the violence occurs “simply and solely out of the nature of the brute.” Modern critics will argue that the meaning of the text is individual to each reader.

“I no longer believe that the author has a sort of patria potestas over his brainchildren. Once they are printed they have reached their majority and the author has no more authority over them, knows no more about them, perhaps knows less about them than the critic who comes fresh to them, and sees them not as the author hoped they would be, but as what they are” (Golding, Fable)

Golding is suggesting that the meaning of a text is not always governed by the author, so although he clearly did not intend for “Lord of the Flies” to be a Marxist piece, it could be argued that it has become one. It could be argued that given Golding’s life experiences and his father’s influence, this was inevitable.

Roger’s sadistic manner was only stopped by the taboos and laws of society, but without these constraints he is unable to unleash the “id” that is caged by society, but is a demonic feature of the human psyche. In the chapter ‘Painted Faces and Long Hair’ Roger is seen along with Maurice to destroy the ‘Littluns’ castle. Then Roger throws stones at Henry, although deliberately misses – in this sense his action is controlled by the presence of the rules of society. Later in ‘Castle Rock’ Roger, feeling that all aspects of civilised society have disappeared is now free of the constraints imposed by society and so unleashes his true savagery by throwing a stone at Piggy – this time deliberately aimed to harm. It can be argued that Golding uses Roger, who becomes the epitome of savage when he murders Piggy, to embody the central theme of the novel.

The conflict between desire and moral obligation is a central theme of the novel. Golding uses the different personalities of the boys to indicate the varied degrees of savagery that humans demonstrate. Piggy juxtaposes Roger as he exhibits no animalistic qualities and adheres to society’s rules. Golding expresses that this vehemence is a more natural aspect of human behaviour and that civilization forces compassion onto us rather than it being a natural human instinct. Even the naval officer recognises that the boys have become out of control – his comment to Ralph that they might have been able to “put up a better show than that . . . “illustrates this; Ralph recognises that in the beginning they were a cohesive group, a society.

The signal fire’s purpose is to hopefully attract the attention of a passing ship so that the boys may be saved. Metaphorically, indicates how savage the boys have become and how far they have moved away from socially acceptable behaviour. The boys start the fire using Piggy’s glasses in an attempt to be rescued .This suggests that they still long for the order of civilisation. As the fire diminishes, we notice decay in the moral obligations the boys feel and they become more savage. The signal fire allows the reader to gauge how much of society is left on the island. Golding uses dramatic irony at the end of the novel when the officer arrives on the island. Ironically the fire is the antithesis of society at this point in the novel; it has now become a metaphor for the ferocity that man is capable of.

The boys ask for some sign of the beast – the sign sent by the grown-ups is the dead parachutist; the beast is a dead pilot – Golding uses this to signify the chaos of an adult world at war. In chapter 5, Simon says “What I mean is… maybe it’s only us”. Simon suggests that “the beastie” is just a creation of the boys. It is the fear of the unknown that brings the beast to life. Simon’s idea is one that links with Golding’s views of humanity’s savagery. Simon is the only boy on the island who does not abandon his morals, but he is savagely killed when he tries to help the rest of the boys. Simon’s morality is overwhelmed by the other boy’s amorality, so while Golding does not claim that mankind doesn’t exhibit kindness, he does make the point that it is powerless when the rest of the world is evil.

The island is a microcosm of society, and the boys represent different political ideologies. Ralph represents democracy, whilst Jack, with his symbolic red hair, represents communism. The boy’s influence on the island itself can also be seen as a metaphor for human corruption of the planet. The forest scar created by the crashing plane symbolises the encroachment of corrupt civilisation onto the island.

NOTES

“What makes things break up like they do?” is the poignant question Piggy asks Ralph. Golding himself blames the breakdown of the island’s democracy on the innate greed and ferocity that is an occupational hazard of being human. In a lecture at the University of California in 1962 he said “So the boys try to

construct a civilization on the island; but it breaks down in blood and terror because the boys are suffering from the terrible disease of being human”.

The fire is diatronically opposed to hunting which is the activity of anarchy.

Ralph portrays democracy and the role of government in any modern society. He strives to satisfy the demands of the public at large but recognises that certain rules of behaviour must be followed in order to prevent anarchy.

Anarchy eventually defeats order – Golding believed that government is ineffective in keeping people together. No matter how logical or reasonable government is, it will in the end give way to anarchical demands of the public.

Roger is one of the antagonists in the novel, Lord of the Flies, and the decisions that he makes have major impact on the unfolding of the story. He is introduced as a slightly built boy who is shy, secretive and keeps to himself. Rather than let Jack automatically become the leader, Roger suggests that they have a vote. This demonstrates how at the start he was a civilized person who knew what was proper and just to do, rather than simply allowing the loudest voice to get their way. Roger is shown to be a bully as he constantly picks on the littluns by destroying their sandcastles, throwing sand in their eyes and throwing rocks at them.

By Rogers own nature he really wanted to hit the boys with the stones but was held back by society’s conditioning of his behavior and as a result missed every time. In the hunt his true sadistic nature is further evidenced by his excessive violence towards the pig. This all demonstrates that he had made a conscious decision to follow Jack rather than Ralph as this allowed him to foster his dark intentions even though he knew that this was morally wrong. He chose to be involved in the frenzy that lead to the brutal murder of Simon and afterwards showed no remorse for his actions.

Therefore civilization was being removed as an inhibiting factor and Roger became increasingly more primitive and savage in his behaviour. When Roger hears of Jack’s intentions to beat Wilfred he hurries back to the tribe so that he can torture him himself, showing the further lost of any control society once had on him. When he was looking down at Piggy from his vantage point at Castle Rock, his only thoughts about Piggy were that he was a “bag of fat”, highlighting Rogers’s now clearly evident complete lack of empathy for others.

By this stage Roger is well and truly a savage with no more restraints of civilization and because of this he gave into his sadistic urges and pushed the boulder off the cliff, killing Piggy. In dealing with newly captive Sam and Eric, Roger asserts authority through violence and forces them to join the tribe and tell him of Ralph’s whereabouts, expressing his disregard for conventional authority. The next day Roger sets out with Jack on the hunt for Ralph with the intention of killing him and impaling him so that he can offer him to the Beast.

At this point Roger exemplifies the complete breakdown of the boys’ behaviour from a civilized Christian background to a Pagan tribe. However he is stopped utterly in his tracks when the naval officer appears and he is dragged back to reality. In a flash the sight of a representative of civilisation from a screaming savage and has brought back all the memories of humanity. Rogers’s decisions reflect how his character gradually disintegrated under the breakdown of order. To me Roger is a despicable and reprehensible character who illustrates the worst aspects of humanity.

Entry II: Day 1 Today’s events have left me thinking a bit. After we got back from exploring the island, Ralph assembled another meeting to spread our new discoveries. We realized everyone would not stop talking at once, so Ralph decided that whoever holds the conch has the right to talk and can only be interrupted by Ralph himself. Great idea at first, until that fat, useless oaf Piggy took it. He wouldn’t stop worrying and whining about getting rescued. Ralph said it himself, his dad’s a navy commander and will probably have us rescued in a few days.

I don’t understand why he doesn’t have faith in Ralph like the others. After a while, Ralph brought up the great idea of making a fire in order to signal the rescuers we would be on the island. I knew there was little time to waste just sitting around, so I led the group into the forest to gather firewood. Upon gathering wood, I was the one who came up with the idea of using Fatty’s specs as burning glasses. Still, I had never imagined that keeping a fire burning would be so hard! Later, I humbly offered the choir to maintain the fire in shifts. Everything went well until that swine Piggy decided to speak out again.

He kept repeating himself about how building a fire was a bad choice, even though he didn’t contribute squat to anything to begin with. Still, bigger problems arose to overshadow his stupidity. The fire we thought had been put out actually spread and began burning down a chunk of the forest. To top it off, we are now missing a little shrimp with a mulberry-colored scar on his face. I remember him as the one who wouldn’t stop scaring others by talking about the “beasties in the forest”. Stupid kids always getting themselves into trouble. As the leader of the hunters, I will definitely find him.

Isaac Lee 9Ak Essay Lord of the Flies The human mind: Id . vs. Ego and Superego Lord of the flies was written by William Golding. It is about a group of boys who crash-landed on the island. They are to survive and as the novel progresses, the boys’ imaginations takes them to hallucinating about a ‘beast’ being on the island. The ‘beast’ is a representation of fear and leads to the power struggle between Ralph and Jack with Simon standing by the side. William Golding uses the power struggle as a representation of the human mind, how the Id, the savage, basic instinct of our mind is always there and the reason for civilization (e. social interaction and rules and the consequences. ) The power struggle represents the human mind. The three main characters are the representation of the three parts of the mind, focusing on the Id, which is always there floating in the back of ones mind. The human mind is split into three different parts, the Id, the Ego and the Superego as thought by an austrian neurologist – Sigmund Freud. The Id is the set of uncoordinated instinctual trends, basically, the hunger for everything we desire.

Freud thought that the Id was driven by the ‘libido’ – the energy from life’s instinct and the will to survive, it gives the feeling to desire. The ego is the organized realistic part of your mind, it satisfies the Id by controlling it through any means to divert, transform or converting the powerful force of Id to useful and realistic modes of satisfaction that can be done in reality and suppresses the need for everything. The superego is your conscience, it judges the right and wrong, it seeks perfection that is beyond the limits of reality, even beyond the ego.

Overall, the ego is always negotiating with the id, trying to prevent it from over whelming itself while the superego watches over, jumps in when it thinks that it Lee, p. 2 can have a moral decision about the situation. In the Lord of the Flies, Jack represents the id. He has an unquenchable thirst to kill and to thrive e. g. ‘He tried to convey the compulsion to track down and kill that was swallowing him up. ’ (P70) The impulse in him to murder was eating him. In the story. As he progresses, he begins to show signs of savagery. In the eginning, they all had one opinion but that changed radically as the ‘beast’ showed up. When Jack heard about the beast, the first thing he wanted to do was to hunt the beast. As you could say, that the beast was a flame that sparked of Jack’s Id, after that, he left the tribe and formed his own, a manifestation for power. As Jack does in the book, the Id springs out, takes over control of our mind and takes advantage of our fear of the beast. Shortly after that, they began to worship and offering the head of what they kill to the beast.

As the Id was driven by the ‘libido’, Jack was driven by hunting. Then, the beast’s form was a motif, a repeatedly occurring idea, or thing, which upon repetition derives it’s meaning in relationship to the theme. The first time that the beast appeared, nobody really believed in the beast. In page 34, a child tells Ralph through Piggy ‘He wants to know what you are going to do about the beast thing. ’(P48). After that, they laughed it off, as if it wasn’t real. But after a while, in chapter , they begin to doubt whether the beast is real or not, when samneric saw a ‘shape’ on the hill.

The result – They were absolutely terrified about the ‘beast’. Ralph represents the Ego in the Lord of the Flies since he has always been struggling with Jack in power and strength. A key moment in the book of the power struggle is when Jack leaves the tribe ‘“I’m going off by myself. He can catch his own pigs. Anyone who wants to hunt when I do can come too. ”’ Lee, p. 3 This shows that Jack is far apart from the other people and only cares about himself. This shows that Jack is power hungry and only cares about himself. This symbolizes that the Ego is trying to control the Id.

As the ego, it is also trying to divert the power of the Id to realistic methods as stated before, when Jack raised that question of hunting for food everyday and so, Ralph decided that Jack could hunt, but not every hour so they can keep the fire going. Therefore, Ralph represents the Ego. Simon represents the superego in the Lord of the Flies. When Simon heard about the beast, he didn’t cower away, afraid of the beast, he did the opposite. The only person who does not believe that there is a beast is Simon. Simon later discovers that the physical ‘shape’ is actually a man in a parachute being dragged up the hill by the wind.

He then goes to untangle the figure, even though it is foul and rotten away. We can see this in this quote: Simon knelt on all fours and was sick till his stomach was empty. Then he took the lines in his hands; he freed them from the rocks and the ? gure from the wind’s indignity. He saves the figure even though it is not obligatory, he saves it out of his own goodness and will, he does this not for the greater good, but only because just because it is unfair for a corpse that has to be strung up like that. Therefore, Simon represents the superego in the Lord of the Flies. The ‘beast’ in the book is a manifestation of fear.

This paragraph will focus on how our fear or Id is always part of us, in the back of our minds, unconsciously. Mentioned in the previous paragraphs, it shows that the mind is split into three different parts, the id, the ego and the superego. The id eats away at us, when there is a trigger to set us off. The person who really became an ‘id’ was Jack, by the end of the book he was a dehumanized animal. The trigger for Jack was the the ‘beast’ itself. When they saw the physical form of the beast, which was just a man on a parachute, they were Lee, p. 4 absolutely terrified, they ran away from it as fast as they could.

Something interesting to point out was as Ralph was running down the mountain, it also said that: ‘Ralph found himself taking giant strides among the ashes, heard other creatures crying out and leaping and dared the impossible on the dark slope; presently the mountain was deserted, save for the tree abandoned sticks and the thing that bowed. (p135)’ Notice how here that it describes the other boys as ‘other creatures’ but not boys. They are descending into the darkness of primitive humans. At first, they were putting on face paint and just laughing it off, but then it gets very serious as shown through this quote: The face of red and white and black, swung through the air and jigged towards Bill. Bill started up laughing; then suddenly he fell silent and blundered away through the bushes. Jack rushed towards the twins. “The rest are making a line. Come on! ” “But-” “-We-” “Come on! I’ll creep up and stab-” The mask compelled them. ’ (P66 ) Notice that Jack said that they are making a line and they will creep up and stab them. This reflects on the final scene how the hunt for Ralph is just like this scene, it is providing foreshadowing for later. They stab to satisfy their own need to hunt.

A great example for this is from Simon’s death to Piggy’s death and finally to the hunting of Jack. At the death of Simon, we can tell that it was an accident and it was ambiguous whether it was intentional or unintentional, they were all driven to fear with the surroundings. Then came Piggy’s death. Ralph and Piggy came to Jack’s fort for peaceful means to ask for Piggy’s glasses back. But then, they got into an argument and came teeth to teeth fighting. Roger observed from above and as it says: ‘High overhead, Roger, with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever. ’(p200 – 201) and then,

Lee, p. 5 ‘The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist. Piggy, saying nothing, with no time for even a grunt, travelled through the air sideways from the rock, turning over as he went. The rock bounded twice and was lost in the forest. Piggy fell forty feet and landed on his back across that square, red rock in the sea. ’(P200-201) This shows that Roger, under the influence of Jack, did this cruel act of violence on purpose, killing Piggy just like that. But the most inhumane act they did was to hunt and kill Ralph.

The reason? Hunting is an act of mainly gaining something like meat and such while here, they are hunting Ralph just for pleasure and to add on to that, hunting is usually to hunt animals, but here they are hunting a human. In addition, here is an extraction from the hunting of Ralph. ‘The ululation spread from shore to shore. The savage knelt down by the edge of the thicket, and there were lights flickering in the forest behind him. ’ (Page 221) The hunting of Ralph takes place throughout the island. The boys are no longer being described as boys in this quote, as stated that ‘The savage knelt’ (P221).

The children have truly become uncivilized barbarians, hunting each other as if it was just a game of fun. An interesting point in the book is when Simon is talking to the imaginary ‘Lord of the flies’. It holds something very sinister. ‘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? ’ (P158) The Lord of the Flies is always part of us. This supports how it is fear itself that is haunting these boys, they descend into darkness with out civilization. The head speaks to Simon in an ominous way, with ‘Why things are what they are? ’, suggesting that we created it ourselves.

Lee, p. 6 The important of civilization and how, without it we would become savages is a wide topic. The main focus of civilization in this book is fire. Symbolically, the fire represent the will to be civilized; the absence of the fire represent the loss of civilization. The fire in this book is a symbol for civilization because they keep it going to signal a ship, in the end, they just give up on keeping the fire going for two reasons, one, Samneric saw the ‘beast’ on the hill, which made them terrified, second, there was not enough people once most of the people from Ralph’s tribe went over to join Jack’s tribe.

Piggy states that ‘“That’s where they’ve gone. Jack’s party. ”’(P188) They lose the will to live. Jack’s ideal of a good life on the island is to hunt and kill nothing else while Ralph’s ideal is to sustain the smoke from a fire so a ship will see it and come rescue them. A detail to point out is also that Piggy says on P37 ‘I bet it’s gone tea-time’ This brings back what they were doing back at home – a routine. Here in the jungle, they have just recently crashed and have no organization whatsoever, by saying this, Piggy is bringing back the children to what they would have done if they were back in civilization.

Another reason for civilization and social interactions is that we would go insane if it were not that we had someone to talk to. For example, when Simon was traversing to the sow’s head that Jack’s tribe had killed and offered to the imaginary ‘beast’, this character the ‘Lord of the flies’ pops up in Simon’s unconsciousness, he starts to hallucinate. ‘Simon shook. “There isn’t anyone to help you. Only me. And I’m the Beast. ”’. When we are alone, things like this start to happen. ‘The world, that understandable and lawful world, was slipping away’ (P98).

Another example of the group descending into civilization is when Jack meant to kill Ralph: ‘Vicious, with full intention, he hurled his spar at Ralph. ’ (P201) We don’t kill a fellow human being that easily and when we do it is with reason, but here, Jack throws it at Ralph, with intention but without reason. The murderous hate has consumed Ralph. He is uncivilized and barbaric. In conclusion, Lord of the Flies is a book where the power struggle between Ralph and Jack, but with Simon as the overview figure, is a representation of the human personality, with Simon and

Lee, p. 7 Ralph trying to contain Jack just as in the mind how the Ego and Superego try to contain the Id, how the Id is always in the back of mind and without civilization we would descend into becoming savages. But the children, as previously mentioned, were only around ten to twelve years old and children as the symbol of innocence but yet they consider and commit such inhumane acts, does it not mean that we are all savages at the bottom of our heart too?

Through the Doors of High School Bullying – something that happens every day in high schools, but yet people do not always acknowledge what goes on. According to the article Bully Facts & Statistics, 56% of students have personally witnessed some type of bullying at school. Bullying exceedingly affects a person. Whether it comes to a stop or not, the person harassed will never have the same mentality. In William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies, a plane crashes on a deserted island and all that remains is a group of boys. No adults – young boys all alone.

Throughout the novel the children have leadership roles and rules in order for their continued existence. The experience a person has while on the island is how they reach their goal – survival. Lord of the Flies is a classic because it is seen as a metaphor for high school in this contemporary era because of the struggle for power that is showed through the setting, the characters, and the symbols. Golding uses the scar on the island as a part of the setting to relate to high school. No matter if the boys abscond from the island, the mark will still exist similar to a student’s reputation in high school.

The scar in the novel is the scene where the plane crash emerges. This is the characteristics of the scar after the crash: “The undergrowth of the side of the scar was shaken and a multitude of raindrops fell pattering” (7). A scar literally means leaving a mark on something. The popular crowd in high school ensures an easier time of leaving a positive impact on the school, because they have additional power over the other students. This is an example of students struggling for power. Besides the popular crowd, everyone else has a hard time of gaining their power and making an impact on the school.

A person will never forget about their experience in high school just like the boys will never overlook the effects of the plane crash that happened in Lord of the Flies on the island. From the novel Lord of the Flies, Piggy’s characteristics remain not all that different from high school students. Early on in the novel, when Piggy and Ralph first meet, Piggy states, ‘”I don’t care what they call me,” he said confidentially, ‘“so long as they don’t call me what they used to call me at school”’ (11). Piggy’s declaration refers to how he accustomed to be treated back home.

Piggy’s heavyset body and nerdy glasses causes constant harassment directed towards him. Contrary, high school students remain not all that different. Whether in high school or Lord of the Flies, name calling can really get to a person. The students that get picked on constantly are the ones that struggle the most at gaining power. The students that pick on others are the ones that contain the most power. On the island, a social stance takes place. Ralph and Jack are the leaders while the litluns follow them. Piggy remains the outcast. In schools the bullies, usually the jocks, tend to pick on the nerds.

Although Piggy was known as the outcast, he had brains. “But Piggy, for all his ludicrous body, had brains. Ralph was a specialist in thought now, and could recognize thought in another (78). ” Piggy was smarter than most of the others; that was part of the reason of why he stood out. Similarly, high school students judge to quickly. Again, that is a big part of why bullying takes place at school. Because Piggy is smarter than the others, it causes him to struggle the most for power. He is seen differently than the others and judged for it.

Furthermore, possessions parallel materialistic possessions of people in high school. In the novel, the conch is used as an important object to the boys. Towards the end of the book when Roger rolls a boulder on Piggy, “The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist” (181). In Lord of the Flies, the conch symbolizes power. The conch represents order; it keeps the boys in line. Similar to high school, the conch represents power like students’ possessions. By having expensive clothes, it symbolizes richness, coolness, and popularity.

Ralph a leader in the novel, uses the conch to gain his power. But Ralph eventually loses his power. “The space under the palm trees was full of noise and movement. Ralph was on his feet too, shouting for quiet, but no one heard him. All at once the crowd swayed toward the island and was gone – following Jack (38). ” This is like high school because everyone fights for their power. Ralph represents society and in order for them to maintain their societal image; Ralph guides the boys by making rules. The conch calls the group to meetings and remains exceedingly important to the boys – especially Ralph.

After giving the boys false information for a period of time, the boys turn to Jack as their leader instead of Ralph. Therefore, Lord of the Flies is a classic because it persists as a metaphor for high school in this contemporary era because of the struggle for power showed through the setting, the characters, and the symbols. In Lord of the Flies people have to deal with bullying every day. All because of the social groups that take place and the power that comes along with it. Always remember – bullying will proceed to exist in high schools but if a person does not let it bother them then it will not be as affective.

Why is evil attractive?

Lord of the Flies by William Golding dramatized the primordial evil that is in man’s subconscious. Although normally,  civilized human beings consider evil undesirable and therefore to be avoided, the fact is, many are drawn into it. Evil holds some kind of a seductive quality that less morally discerning people find hard to resist.

Setting evil intentions in context

In this novel, Golding gave life to various characters that represent the two basic types of people in this world, the good and the bad. Ralph, Piggy, and Simon were the good ones, while Jack and Roger were the evil ones.  Stranded in a deserted tropical island, Ralph and Piggy wanted to establish rules,  build shelters, secure clean water and food. But the tasks to achieve these were boring and  most of the boys wanted just to play and hunt. Jack who was the leader of the hunting party, would soon emerge as the more attractive and powerful leader.

Playing and hunting are not evil  in themselves but in the novel, these were seeds of evil that would soon grow into disturbing magnitude. The boys in Jack’s group enjoyed hunting and killing the animals and eventually became obsessed with hunting and killing Ralph.

This paper analyzes how evil holds some kind of attraction and why people are drawn into it. There are at least three hypotheses–  (1) Evil is attractive because it gives a pleasurable experience; (2) Evil is attractive because it satisfies bloodlust, considering the belief that there is a murderous inclination in every man; and (3) Evil is attractive because of the opportunity it provides to play God, to be in control, to be powerful.

With Golding’s work as point of reference, this paper illustrates how the conflict between good and evil continues to occur in various ways, in different people.  The film by Adrian Lyne,  Unfaithful that starred Diane Lane and Richard Gere is used here as one example. In this film, all the mentioned premises above were  portrayed. Like the English boys in the novel,  Connie and Edward, the couple in the said film were decent, intelligent, and admirable. However, when thrown in a critical situation that tested their character, the evil in them triumphed over the good.  The basic assumption of course is that man is dual, both good and evil. Always man struggles with this internal conflict.

Lust for flesh, blood and power

In the novel, “… Jack found the throat and the hot blood sprouted over his hands. The sow collapsed under them and they were heavy and fulfilled upon her.” (Golding)

The imagery evoked by this description is  sexual.  A primordial bloodlust was satisfied.

In the film, Unfaithful,  Connie was drawn into an affair with Paul because of the sheer pleasure of the experience, despite the fact that she had a good home and a fulfilling marriage. The film seemed to suggest that her motivation was irrational. She had an affair because a strong wind was blowing. She slipped on the road and cut her knee. The irresistible lover-to-be was passing by and offered help, invited her to his apartment to dressed her wound. Later she called to thank him. He invited her for coffee and she accepted.  From there began a series of trysts.

Connie’s hubris ( Greek for sin of pride) was assuming she was in control, that she can have an affair and then forget about it and go on with her life. Unfortunately, she kept coming back to his flat and  began to neglect her duties. When Edward, her husband found out,  he also assumed he was in control and attempted to confront Paul, the lover in a civilized way.  However, when Edward saw their wedding anniversary gift in the lover’s bedroom, he lost control and  bash Paul’s head, thus killing him. Connie and Edward eventually became partners in crime as they worked to dispose Paul’s corpse and lied to the police.

Connie chose not to channel her passion into something creative. She yielded to her sexual energy instead.. Her pride and  confidence, her sense of adventure overpowered her. She probably knew what she was doing was wrong but went ahead because she had not been very spiritually discerning lately.  She was young, attractive, comfortable, loved, secure. It never occurred to her to pray to be a faithful wife. She assumed she can get away with infidelity, never thought she was putting  her marriage and loved ones at great risk when she chose to give in to lust for flesh.

Edward was good and tried to make things right, perhaps persuade the lover to stop seeing his wife. But in a sudden burst of insane rage triggered by the sight of  their wedding anniversary gift that found its way into Paul’s room,  Edward killed the latter..  Suddenly his lust for blood craved to be satisfied.

In the end, both wife and husband wanted to assume ultimate control over the evil they have done. Instead of trying to rectify their sins,  regain their worth as human beings and pay for their crime, Connie and Edward chose instead to cover up their evil deed. They have totally given in to the machination of the devil.

Man cannot just kill the beast

Man, in his foolish naivete, continue to believe the devil’s lies about happiness,  knowledge, and power.

In the song, “Hotel California” by Eagles, a few lines mentioned “the beast.”

And in the master’s chamber

They gathered for the feast

But with their steely knives

They just can’t kill the beast.

Man can not just kill the beast in him, and so he has to be alert and spiritually discerning. The evil in man’s subconscious may surface when he least expect it and cause him  to commit a sin  that would destroy him and those around  him.  Always, the attraction of pleasure, bloodlust, and power will entice mankind to commit evil.

The antidote is found in the New Testament,  in the book of Ephesians 6: 10-17, about putting on the  helmet of salvation and  the armor of God, consisting of truth as belt, justice as breastplate,  zeal to propagate peace as footgear, faith as shield,  and the word of God as sword of the spirit.

Biblography

Eagles. “Hotel Califoria.”  Wea International. May 2006.

Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. 1954.

Lyne, Adrian (Director). Unfaithful. Fox 2000 Pictures. 2002

The New American Bible. Thomas Nelson Publishers. 1971.