Dialectical Journal For Lord Of The Flies Essay
Lord of the Flies
1,021 words
The Lord of the Flies, written by William Golding, follows the story of a group of British boys who are stranded on a deserted island. Golding suggests that all men are born with the potential to commit evil. He shows this through the use of symbolism including the snake and the dead parachutist (the beast), the characters such as Jack, Ralph and Simon and the setting of the island. Goldingʼs view of mankind and the world is a truly pessimistic one. In the early 1930ʼs, the Nazi party led Germany into World War II. Durning the war, the Nazis were responsible for the holocaust, which was the murder of millions of people. This made Golding pessimistic about human nature and we see this to be one of the most important …show more content…
The only boy on the island that understands the truth about humans, tries to save them from their self-destruction. Throughout the book, Simon represents a Jesus-like figure. He helped Ralph with the shelters, handed ʻlittlunsʼ food and was very perceptive about the true meanings of the world. When the boys believed in the beast, he was the only one who knew the truth, ʻmaybe there is no beast . . . maybe itʼs only usʼ (Golding pg 111). Simonʼs death represents the idea that goodness is weaker than evil. The murder of Simon is the point of no return for civilisation on the island and shows that even decent people like Ralph and Piggy are capable of committing heinous crimes. His death unlike Jesus did not lead them to salvation but lead them to destruction and a deeper inner evil. After Simons death, Jack the leader of his tribe, became merciless and cruel. Jack often used other characters fears to control the people on the island. ʻMy hunters will protect you from the beastʼ (Golding pg 185). Jack is the first of the boys to succumb to his inner evil and become a savage. This is ironic because at the beginning of the novel he says, ʻWeʼve got to have rules and obey them. After all, weʼre not savages. Weʼre English.ʼ (Golding pg 55). He uses the fear and evil within all the characters to force them to follow under his dictatorship. Throughout the book Jack has a crazy obsession with hunting, the more times he kills the less civilised he would become. Jack is the one responsible for sending the boys on the island into this deep dark evil that they cannot seem to escape from. As Jack becomes more evil as the book progresses, Golding makes him the representation of the evil in every man. Lord of the Flies is a deep and meaningful novel, with a pessimistic view on human life. Golding uses the characters for his novel, the setting of the island and the symbolism throughout the book to show the potential for destruction and chaos in the world. The idea that evil is
1,021 words
The Lord of the Flies, written by William Golding, follows the story of a group of British boys who are stranded on a deserted island. Golding suggests that all men are born with the potential to commit evil. He shows this through the use of symbolism including the snake and the dead parachutist (the beast), the characters such as Jack, Ralph and Simon and the setting of the island. Goldingʼs view of mankind and the world is a truly pessimistic one. In the early 1930ʼs, the Nazi party led Germany into World War II. Durning the war, the Nazis were responsible for the holocaust, which was the murder of millions of people. This made Golding pessimistic about human nature and we see this to be one of the most important …show more content…
The only boy on the island that understands the truth about humans, tries to save them from their self-destruction. Throughout the book, Simon represents a Jesus-like figure. He helped Ralph with the shelters, handed ʻlittlunsʼ food and was very perceptive about the true meanings of the world. When the boys believed in the beast, he was the only one who knew the truth, ʻmaybe there is no beast . . . maybe itʼs only usʼ (Golding pg 111). Simonʼs death represents the idea that goodness is weaker than evil. The murder of Simon is the point of no return for civilisation on the island and shows that even decent people like Ralph and Piggy are capable of committing heinous crimes. His death unlike Jesus did not lead them to salvation but lead them to destruction and a deeper inner evil. After Simons death, Jack the leader of his tribe, became merciless and cruel. Jack often used other characters fears to control the people on the island. ʻMy hunters will protect you from the beastʼ (Golding pg 185). Jack is the first of the boys to succumb to his inner evil and become a savage. This is ironic because at the beginning of the novel he says, ʻWeʼve got to have rules and obey them. After all, weʼre not savages. Weʼre English.ʼ (Golding pg 55). He uses the fear and evil within all the characters to force them to follow under his dictatorship. Throughout the book Jack has a crazy obsession with hunting, the more times he kills the less civilised he would become. Jack is the one responsible for sending the boys on the island into this deep dark evil that they cannot seem to escape from. As Jack becomes more evil as the book progresses, Golding makes him the representation of the evil in every man. Lord of the Flies is a deep and meaningful novel, with a pessimistic view on human life. Golding uses the characters for his novel, the setting of the island and the symbolism throughout the book to show the potential for destruction and chaos in the world. The idea that evil is