Lord Of The Flies Irony Analysis
Lord of the Flies was written by William Golding in 1954. Irony, in literature can be anything from sarcasm to a shocking plot twist that can be inconvenient to the characters toward the end. A type of irony is situational which is where something very unexpected shows up at the last minute making the outcome of the story completely different then you expected. Such as the one in Lord of the Flies that effects one special character named Simon, and really almost all the characters.
In the story the boys believe that there is a beast on the island, but as one of the boys (Simon) finds out the truth, that the beast is not a monster that you would cast in your nightmares, but something that is inside everyone on the island. The irony in this
is when Simon actually finds out that the beast is not real and goes to tell everyone, he ends up becoming the beast in the eyes of all the other boys. They immediately destroy him without thinking, and the truth never gets out. This is shown on page 152-153 where it says,” Him! Him!” (…) At once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt on the beast, screamed, stuck, bit, tore.” (Golding) This is showing the action of the real beast inside of them, and the irony of them thinking that Simon is the beast and immediately attacking him without anyone thinking otherwise. Not only that, but this is also a great example of Dramatic irony, because we know that Simon is not the beast and the truth about the beast as well, and dramatic irony is when you as the reader know something that most of characters in the story are oblivious to.
In the story the boys believe that there is a beast on the island, but as one of the boys (Simon) finds out the truth, that the beast is not a monster that you would cast in your nightmares, but something that is inside everyone on the island. The irony in this
is when Simon actually finds out that the beast is not real and goes to tell everyone, he ends up becoming the beast in the eyes of all the other boys. They immediately destroy him without thinking, and the truth never gets out. This is shown on page 152-153 where it says,” Him! Him!” (…) At once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt on the beast, screamed, stuck, bit, tore.” (Golding) This is showing the action of the real beast inside of them, and the irony of them thinking that Simon is the beast and immediately attacking him without anyone thinking otherwise. Not only that, but this is also a great example of Dramatic irony, because we know that Simon is not the beast and the truth about the beast as well, and dramatic irony is when you as the reader know something that most of characters in the story are oblivious to.