Essay/Term paper: The lord of the flies

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Lord of the Flies

The Lord of the Flies


The adventure novel, The Lord of the Flies, was an epic tale that depicted
the different facets of the human spirit. It was written by William Golding in
the 1950's and recieved many awards. It was declared the "Outstanding Novel of
the Year" by E.M. Forrester. The author did in no wat mean for this story to be
biographical, but Mr. Golding depicted well the many different aspect of human
nature. The book has been described as "provacative, vivid and enthralling,"
but Time and Tide said it best when they wrote, "It is not only a first-rate
adventure story but a parable of our times."

The novel took place on an island probably somewhere in the middle of
the Atlantic. This can be inferred because of the fact that the boys are
British and that they arrived on the island by way of a plane cradsh. The story
also occurred during wartime.

The story begins when a group of British boys crash on an uninhabited
island. In the beginning they area all unruly and unmorginized. Finally, a boy
by the nakme of Ralph decides to take charge and call a meeting. The boys
declare him "chief" and then begin to follow his lead. Ralph is also assisted
by another lad by the name of Piggy. The group of boys were getting along fine
until Jack Merridew, a boy who wanted to be "chief" instead, decided to go his
own way. He disobeyed Ralph and did things his own way. He was to preoccupied
witdh his own whims to do the act that was most important on the island, which
was to keep the signal going so they could be rescued. Finally, Jack went
against Ralph and declared that if any of the other boys wanted to have "fun,"
which meant acting like savages, that they should follow him. The boys splot up
into two groups and then havoc insued. Jacks group went around hunting and
being barbaric while the others tried to get rescued. In the end Jack had
gotten all the boys except Ralph to run around loke wild animals. Then when
Jack got tired of dealing with Ralph, he convinced wveryone to try and kill him.
By then however, a navy ship had come an they could never get around to the
nasty deed.

There was more than one antagonist in the story, The Lord of the Flies.
They were Ralph, Piggy, and all the other boys who tried to sustain order and
law on the island. To begin with, Ralph was the "first" chief on the island.
In the beginning, he was the one who tdook charge of the group okf boys and
called them to order. He tried to organize a strategy dto get off the island
and make all the boys understand why it was he was doing what he was doing.
Piggy was basically Ralph's "right-hand" man. He was probably the mkore natural
leader, but since he did not possess the confidence to stand up alone, he did
all he wanted to do "through" Ralph. These boys were the antagonists because
they desperately tried to get off the island and tried not to let anyone or
anything get in their way.

The antagonist in the story in the story was Jack Merridew. He was the
boy in the story who openly showed his dislike for the procedures Ralph was
taking as chief of the island. He continually disobeyed Ralph and eventually
broke off and went his own direction. In turn, many of the boys followed Jack
and his "savage philosophy." Jack and these boys started their own "tribe" and
ended up causing more problems than they solved. He also prevented Ralph from
being an effective leader by basically taking away all his power. When the
other boys saw how much "fun" Jack was having they all left Ralph and followed
every action Jacck took. When the boys left, Rallph did not have many boys
helping him, dtherefore, he could not accomploish the simple taske of keeping
the signal fire going.

The theme of the novel was the fact that even the most avid attempts to
be civilized will be squandeered by the savage nature of the human spirit. The
group of boys were stranded on the island with almost no chance of survival and
persevered through it all. One of the most sensible boys, Ralph, eeven tried to
organize the group and get them to follow his instructions. He had them gbuild
shelters and construct a smoke signal that would run throughout the day. In the
beginning the group carried these instructions out, but then anarchy overtook
them. Jack Merridew proceeded to disregard all of Ralph's instructions and
followed his own whims and fancies. His plan while he was on the island was to
hunt and have "fun." He did not realize that his savage nature was beginning to
surface and by the time he did realize this it was too late, the way of life had
consumed him. The author attempts to show the reader that people must overcome
their own basic faults before they can live in active, productove, and
functioning society. "The theme is an attempt to trace the defects of society
back to the defects of juman natrue." -William Golding.
In the novel, The Lord of the Flies, the main conflict was between
Ralph and Jack. The two boyks comkpletely differed in their approach on what to
do while stranded on the island. This brought about many confrontations that
further increased the animosity between them. "Jack stood up as he said this,
the bloodied knife in his hand. The two boys faced each other. There was the
brilliant world of hunting, tactics, fierce exhilaration, skill; and there was
the world of longing and baffled commonsense." - pg. 71. There was was also the
conflict between the boys and the actual island. The boys were flung into a
place which was a mystery to them and through all adversity persevered and
survived in the most trying of circumsstances. There were no adults on the
island, so the boys were forced to organize themselves and their actions. Until
savagery overtook them in the end, the boys did an excellent job, considering
the circumstances, of coordinating their actions and surviving while on the
island. They had sufficiently fed themselves with the fruit that was available
and had a ready supply of drinking water when it was needed. The two previously
discussed conflicts were both external and a combination of "Man versus Another"
and "Man versus Nature."

The novel, The Lord of the Flies, contains many literary devices used to
enhance the reader's grasp on the novels concepts. "The coral was scribbled in
the sea as though a giant had bewnt down to reproduce the shape o the island in
a flowing chalk line but tired before he had finished." - pg. 29. This passage
is comparing the coral reef in the ocean to the unfinished scribblings of a
giant and is a good example of a simile because it using the word "as." "The
breezes that on the lagoon had chased their tails like kittens were finding
their way across the platform and into the forest." - pg. 34. This statement is
saying that the breezes on the lagoon were reocurring like kittens chasing their
own tails and is another good example of a simile. " ...whole limbs yielded
passionately to the yellow flames that poured upwards and shook a great beardof
flame twenty feet in the air." - pg. 41. This quote is saying that limbs of
trees "yielded" to flames and since tree limbs cannot perform this human quality
consciensly, this is an example of personification. "When these breezes reached
the platform the palm fronds would whisper winged things in the shade." - pg. 15.
Once again, this sentence is implying that the palm fronds were whispering, and
since a plant cannot perform this act this is another example of personification.
"Suddenly Piggy was a bubble with decorous excitement." - pg. 15. This
statement furhter clarifies what Piggy looked like in the reader's mind so this
is an example of imagery. " ...the conch exploded into a thousand white
fragments and ceased to exist." - pg. 181. This excerpt also clearly states
what the conch looked like so this is an example of imagery. "`There

"`Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!' said the
head. `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?'" - pg. 143. This is what "
The Lord of the Flies" said to Simon while he was in the forest. The "Lord"
meant that it was funny how the boys thought that the Beast was an animal that
they could hunt and kill when it was really their own human thoughts and desires.
How the whole time they were looking for something up on the mountain when all
they had to do was look at themselves. It is important to the message of the
story because it the first instance where the author reveals and one of the boys
realizes what the group is really up against. Mr. Golding shows the reader that
the following sequence of events will depict the darkest sides of each of the
boys and that they will have to overcome themselves in order to have any chance
at survival.