Essay The Lord Of The Flies

Submitted By dallasherring17
Words: 767
Pages: 4
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Dallas Herring
English 2B

In The Lord of the Flies, Golding portrays the story of a group of English schoolboys stranded on an island, brewing with excitement over the lack of adult authority. However, the island paradise quickly collapses into a disorderly, gruesome, and partisan scene. The Lord of the Flies, through its dark and pessimistic descriptions of life, conveys the theme that man, at his heart, is a corrupt and beastly being. The dark picture of humanity painted in this novel proves the theme that we all have a beast inside of us, and are all capable of becoming Nazis. Golding’s own experiences with the innate wickedness of man during World War II are clearly reflected in the thoughts and actions of his characters. Several of the symbols he used to depict his theme were Jack and his face paint, Roger and his stick, Ralph and his conch, and the “beast”.
Two symbols that Golding used to exemplify his theme were Jack and his face paint. Jack is able to rise to authority by playing with the boys’ fears and claiming he can protect them. Therefore, the boys unavoidably transition from civilization to primitive servitude due to the lack of direct authority and the savage­like rulings led by Jack. Jack
Merridew is first seen in the novel leading his choir group in an austere manner.
However, he soon becomes blood­thirsty and savage­like as a result of his inclination to kill a pig. To hide from the restrictions of society, Jack uses face paint. The face paint serves as a mask that changes his identity from civilized schoolboy, to relentless dictator. Another symbol is Roger and his stick. Roger turns savage­like as the book progresses, alike Jack. Roger, however, is characterized by the more violent innateness. For example, Roger sharpens a stick at both ends to hunt down Ralph and then place his severed head on it, similarly to what they did to the pig. By reducing
Ralph to nothing more than a pig, the boys have reached complete depravity. Roger and his sharpened stick are proof of a society that becomes unnecessarily belligerent and chaotic without rules and order. Furthermore, another symbol is Ralph and the conch. In the beginning of the book, the boys respect the conch which exemplifies order, rules, and civility. Even Jack respects the authority of the conch. However, as the boys’ evilness is exposed, the conch loses all of it’s power over the boys. Ralph, on the other hand, adheres to the credence that he can keep his power as long as he has the conch, but it is simply an illusion. As the boys become more savage, they disregard authority and eventually attempt to rid themselves of the last pieces of civilization: the conch and Ralph. This shows that as they become selfish and led by their own instincts, they become determined to get rid of the lives they once led and become encompassed
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