Lord of the Flies (Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century) | William Golding

Lord of the Flies (Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century) | William Golding | Lord of the Flies by Evan

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Lord of the Flies ...

	Lord of the Flies (Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century) William Golding Penguin (Non-Classics), 1999 - 192 pages average customer review:based on 1275 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Main themes

William Golding's Lord of the Flies is one of the most intense and disturbing novels I've read. Golding truly shows the brutality of human kind in his main themes such as, there is no hope for mankind and, man is the beast. Simon, the Christ figure in this story, is shown the truth about mankind when it reads, "However Simon thought of the beast, there rose before his inward sight the picture of a human at once heroic and sick." Who or what brings our inner evil out? In the book Jack is the force that brings out the beast within the boys. This theme is restated to Simon when the Lord of the flies says "You knew, didn't you? I'm part of you?" If Simon is the only one who really knows the truth then, why is he killed? Perhaps the killing of Simon states that, mankind does not want to accept that we are indeed evil. Is there really any hope for us?
No hope for mankind is another theme that William Golding states. The naval captain judged the boys as innocent and harmless. The captain said to Ralph "Fun and Games," but Ralph informs the captain that two kids were killed. If the captain saved the boys from their supposedly harmless war, will God save mankind as well? Does he also think, that mankind is just having "fun and games"? Also the conch in this story represents civilization and power, but the conch is destroyed by Roger. The hope of civilization and mankind is crushed by a beast figure. Because we are the beast, there is no hope for mankind.

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Lord of the Flies by Evan

Lord of the Flies takes place on a deserted island during World War II. There is a plane carrying a group of school boys to safety from the war zone area. The plane is shot down. The boys find themselves on the island alone with no adult supervision.

The major characters in this book are Piggy, Ralph, Simon, Jack, Sam and Eric. The boys elect Ralph as their leader and develop their own form of government. Because Jack is power hungry, Ralph decides to let him and Jack's choir take the role of hunters. It is their job is to hunt and provide food for the rest of the tribe.

Now, one of the younger kids on the island thinks he sees a beast at night. The other boys laugh at him and say that there's no such thing as a beast. However, even the older boys become afraid at the possibilty of a beast. Eventually Jack and his hunters find hunting thrilling becoming obsessed with it. As stated in the novel, "The two savages raised their spears and spoke in time. The chief has spoken", said the savages.(p. 141). This leads to conflict between the two groups. Jack and his hunters value hunting more that Ralph and his tribe.

Ralph and his tribe value the signal fire which they decided was key to their survival before rescue. Ralph states, "We've got to keep the fire going. There was something good about a fire overwhelmingly good. How else are we going to be rescued?" (p. 163). Then one night while the twins are keeping the fire alight, they see a strange object. This object frightens them and tricks them into thinking the fire is the beast. In reality the "beast" is a dead man moving around in his parachute. They are fooled by the wind blowing the man, thinking it is the man moving on his own. One of the twins reports back to Ralph. Fear strikes the tribe. Jack and his hunters want to kill the beast. Ralph decides to go with them to investigte the beast. The trio of boys are scared off by the same thing that the twins saw.

As fear envelopes the tribe, Jack and his hunters break away from Ralph's group. A kind of war is started when Jack and his tribe control a part of the island and Ralph control the other side. While they are hunting, Jack and his hunters kill a pig and cut its head off as an offering for the beast. The pigs head symbolizes savagery. The boy's fear of the beast causes them to do savage acts.

Meanwhile, Simon decides to see if the beast is actually real. He climbs up onto the mountain and discovers the dead pilot. Simon realizes that he must tell the other boys about what he has seen. On his way back to the beach he sees the pig's head on the stick.

Upon seeing this Simon has a dream and faints. As he reaches the beach to tell the others what he has seen, he is killed by the boys. The other boys from Ralph and Jack's tribes are having a feast, dancing and celebrating their power over the beast.

Because all the boys have a type of mob mentality they mistake Simon for the beast and kill him. The next day Piggy and Ralph decide that they have to go and talk to Jack and try and get their fire back. Remember, Jack and his tribe stole Ralph's and Piggy's fire from them during the night. Piggy ends up being killed and Jack and his tribe chase Ralph all over the island. Jack and his tribe end up destroying the island because they lit it on fire.

Ralph finds a navel officer who rescues the boys. I think the point that Golding is trying to get across is that mankind is evil. He is letting us know that evil has always existed.

I enjoyed the novel . The symbolism made sense to me. Evil really is a fear that we all deal with. To use this language was creative.

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Lord of the Flies should be a "classic" novel

Golding's book LOTF should be a "classic" for many things such as its left feeling of shock, and its questioning of mankind's existence or purpose. To begin, when Piggy is killed, it is heart-wrenching, "Piggy's arms and legs twitched a bit, like a pig's after it has been killed." (pg. 165) Roger unleashed a gigantic boulder that crushed Piggy. His blood washed away in the ocean. Next, Simon's death was very depressing, "The water rose further and dressed Simon's course hair with brightness. The line of his cheek silvered and the turn of his shoulder became sculptured marble." (pg. 140) Simon was gruesomely murdered. He was found at the bottom of the cliff, dead. Last, most of the boys became hunters, "Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!" (pg. 138) This shows that being a savage is part of mankind. The majority of the people are hunters that just want to cause harm. Therefore, Golding's book should be a "classic" for its shock, and questioning about mankind.

Second, Golding's book LOTF should be a "classic" because it shows insight into mature of human experience, makes a social impact that might change legislation, and the book has unique languages. To start, it is a dog eat dog world, "Which is better--to be a pack of painted Indians like you are, or to be sensible like Ralph is?" (pg. 164) Ralph won't fight to kill, but the savages have no problem killing Piggy. You either kill or get killed. Then, democracies are better than dictatorships, "...Which is better to have laws and agree, or to hunt and kill?" (pg. 164) Ancient civilizations with dictatorships never lasted as long as democracies like Greece and Rome. Jack and his savages run a dictatorship, while Ralph runs a democracy. Next, all the boys have a British accent, "We musn't let anything happen to Piggy, must we?" (pg. 106) Musn't is British jargon. Also works like asthma changed into "assmar" in the book. In all, Golding's book should be a "classic" for its insights, social impact, and unique language.

Again the book LOTF should be a "classic" because it causes the reader to re-think their beliefs, and it questions conventional or standard ideas. First, the book questions evil in boys, "Shove a palm trunk under that and if an enemy come..." (pg. 96) The boys don't even have true enemies, yet they prepare for battle. Evil starts to grow in them. Next, if adults can stop the children's war, "I should have thought that a pack of British boys...would have been able to put up a better show then that..." (pg. 184) Who is supposed to stop the adults' wars? As soon as an adult showed up the boys ended their fighting. Finally the book questions standard ideas like boys getting along with each other when their lives are on the line, "Ralph showed his teeth at the wall of branches...snarled a little and waited." (pg. 177) Jack wanted more power and used it for evil. There are certain people who go against the standard ideas. All in all, Golding's book LOTF should be a "classic" because it makes you re-think your beliefs, and it questions conventional and standard ideas.

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Lord of the Flies

In the book Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the true nature of human beings comes out. The book starts out with a group of innocent schoolboys that crash land on a mysterious island.. The boys begin playing and having excitement all the while loosening themselves from the morals that society has taught them. The choir leader Jack becomes obsessed with hunting and satisfying his immediate wants whereas the chief Ralph becomes focused on the long-term goals of the group. One night while all the boys were chanting to the beast, a boy named Simon stumbled out into the middle of them and was killed in a fit of fear and confusion. Soon afterwards the boys split into two groups, the savages and Ralph's group. The two groups get angry over a conflict involving fire and in the process another boy is killed. The savages embark on a hunt to kill Ralph soon afterwards. The island is set on fire and just when it looks like Ralph will be killed he stumbles into a naval officer.
There is one major theme throughout this story that Golding tries to show. It is the question of where the roots of our instinct come from. Throughout the book the question of whether civility, or savagery are more deeply rooted in humans. Golding implies that in certain situations, humans become cruel. They are violent and fearful of things like the beastie. The book points to the conclusion that humans are cruel but society shapes us into being more humane. The civilized Ralph, and the savage, dictator-like Jack represent the two sides of the conflict. They are both in a constant struggle and just like savagery, Jack beats out Ralph in control of the island. The killing of Simon shows the loss of almost all civility on the island.
In Lord of the Flies, Golding uses symbolism to show the influence of society and the breakdown of those ideals. Piggy's glasses show the intelligence in society, as seen when they start the fire, "His specs-use them as burning glasses!" When the glasses are broken, it shows the loss of intelligence and rational thinking among the boys. The fire that is used to attract ships represents what left of civilization that the boys have, for example, "Any day there might be a ship out there and if we have a signal they will come and take us off." As the book goes on the boys take less and less care of the fire. Eventually Ralph and Piggy decide not to keep a fire going, showing how even they no longer see society on the island. Finally, the beast represents the evil inside every human being as the Lord of the Flies explains, "You knew didn't you? I'm part of you?". The only person on the island to realize this is Simon. When he attempts to tell the other boys, he is savagely killed in a bloody dance, only furthering his idea about the cruelty in humans. That is how symbolism is used in Lord of the Flies.

The book Lord of the Flies was interesting and would be an excellent book for people to read who realize the problems of society or just want a good book to read.

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Lord of the flies reviw p.2 newberry Becker

The book "Lord of the flies" starts out with a group of Brittish boys that are stranded on an uninhabited island. Things start out great and the boys assign eachother jobs and responcibilities. The leader of the tribe is a boy named Ralph. But soon the boys become to interested in hunting and Jack (another boy in the tribe) decides to start his own tribe. Ralph is ok with this move because he thinks that Jack will come back to the group soon. But Jack doesn't ever come back to the group and ends up killing Simon (a member of Ralph's group). Jack's tribe is becoming violent and very savage- like. When Ralph confronts Jack's group about restoring peace and finding ways to get off the island, another member of Ralph's group gets killed (a boy named Piggy). Now Jack's group wants to get Ralph out of the picture and try to kill him, but right before they are going to do him in a Navel officer comes onto the island and stops the madness.
I belive that the theme of this novel is evilness in chidren. This is the main because it is stated throughout the entire story. Golding shows and belives that children are born with evil and society makes us nice and polite. Golding also symbolizes this concept in many ways. One of these major symbols is Jack. Jack is relitively nice at first but as the story progressives and more chaos and fear is developed he becomes more agressive and evil. Another symbol is Piggy. Piggy was the symbol of intellagence and knowledge. When he was killed, it was Golding's way of saying that without rules and guildlines evil will always conquere good. After reading the book I could say that I realy enjoyed the book and it got me thinking about what life is realy about.

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