Lord Of The Flies An Analysis Essays - English-language Films

Lord of the Flies: An Analysis "The two boys faced each other. There was the brilliant world of hunting, tactics, fierce exhilaration, skill; and there was world of longing and baffled common-sense." A quote showing the two main contrasts of the story. Savageness, and civilization. This, is the Lord of the Flies, a book written by William Golding. The Lord of the Flies has some interesting and deep thoughts, pertaining to the theme, plot, characters, and setting in this novel. William Golding did not just start writing a book; he took his time and worked out every little matter, to make sure the book was entertaining, and most of all, did not bore the reader. The Lord of the Flies begins with about 20 pre-adolescent boys who are on an airplane, and the airplane crashes on an uninhabited coral island in the Pacific. The airplane crew has been killed, and the boys are left on their own. They start to collect themselves into a society of food gatherers under an elected chief, Ralph. Ralph is about 12 years old, and has a very sensible, and logical personality. At first, the boys create duties to follow, and they live amicably in peace. Soon however, differences arise as to their priorities. The smaller children (know as littl'uns) lose interest in their tasks; the older boys want to spend more time hunting than carrying out more routine duties, such as keeping the signal fire on the top of the mountain going, and building shelters. A rumor spreads that a "beast" of some sort is lurking in the forest, and the children have nightmares. Jack, (A ruthless, power-hungry person), promising to fulfil the children's desire for a reversion to the ways of primitivism, is chosen as the new leader, and the society splits into two sections: those who want to hunt and soon become savages, and those who believe in rational conduct, and a civiliized manner. Ralph, the rational leader, soon finds himself as the outcast with Piggy, (a fat, non-athletic, logical type, boy). Simon, one of the more rational boys, finds out the secret of the "beast", and sees that it is only a dead parachuted pilot. He goes to the hunting group, and before he can say anything, they kill him by accident. Piggy is later killed by Jack when he accused Jack of stealling his glasses, which Jack did do. At the end of the story, Ralph finds himself all alone, and Jack sees the opportunity to track him down and rid himself of his nemisis. Jack gives orders to his savage group to hunt down Ralph, and Ralph finds this out. Just as Ralph is about to be killed by the "savages", a naval officer arrives with a rescue party. The 'world' of the Lord of the Flies is projected as a very realistic and plausible story to comprehend. If the reader found this specific world filled with people who do not talk or act in the ways that he or she is used to, he or she may decide that the characters are unbelievable, and unreal. In Lord of the Flies, Golding has shown that the characters are quite believable, and that their experiences are at least possible. The characters talk with a bit of broken and slang-like English, and have the characteristics and personalities of normal pre-adolescents. A few quotes from the novel to demonstrate the realistic talking of kids, and not heros from fairy tales, are these: "Look i'm gonna say this now...." or, "when are we goin' to light the fire again?" This shows the realism of the novel. The boys are also not impossibly brave, but only as brave as they want to be. They are no cleaner than boys can be with no soap available, and they like to play, but not work. They are not very responsible, and almost all are afraid of the dark. The plot is also very reasonable, except that there is no nuclear war going on in the world. But that does not make the story implausible, for there could easily be one. There are a myriad of strengths contained in this novel. The main points are basically the structure of the plot, theme, and setting. A remote jungle seems to be a very effective setting to establish the main theme about savages. It focusses on simple things, and would be much more effective than a great city-scape. Golding uses the jungle so he can focus on such fundamental themes as the conflict