Ways That Golding Presents the Island in Lord of the Flies
The Ways That Golding Presents the Island Setting of “Lord of the Flies”
William Golding wrote Lord of the Flies in 1954. It tells the story of a group of young boys who are stranded on a previously uninhabited island with no adults around to save them. Golding used the idea of an island as a blank canvas backdrop in several ways which greatly enhance the effectiveness of the story.
The island has no other humans on it, and shows no signs of man ever living there before. The landscape is perfect, and there are many fruit trees and pigs. Golding uses this to represent the Garden of Eden; there is nothing but natural beauty on the island, untouched by humans. Golding also uses the pigs as the "forbidden fruit," which once the hunters have had a taste for, are held in a "snake like clasp.” As soon as the plane lands on the island, a huge scar is formed on the island, which was used by Golding to show both the effects of nuclear war and how man impacted the Earth right from when it began. The parched ground the scar has left is unlikely to ever grow back, and Golding used this as a metaphor to show how the world would never recover and re-grow from nuclear war. Golding also used the scar on the island to show that humans will never let something beautiful remain, despite the islands natural beauty, there is ugliness now within, true in humans also. Golding uses descriptive language to give the reader an idea of the beauty of the novel’s setting. It has a shore “fledged with palm trees”, and a lagoon of “shimmering water”. It’s a paradise, like the Garden of Eden.
While they are looking for the beast, Ralph gets a sense of the “remoteness of the sea”, and begins to think of it as “the barrier” that keeps them away from civilisation. At first, Golding described the novel’s setting as a tropical paradise. Now the island has become a prison, trapping the boys with each other. Golding creates the sense that something terrible will happen by describing the storm that’s
William Golding wrote Lord of the Flies in 1954. It tells the story of a group of young boys who are stranded on a previously uninhabited island with no adults around to save them. Golding used the idea of an island as a blank canvas backdrop in several ways which greatly enhance the effectiveness of the story.
The island has no other humans on it, and shows no signs of man ever living there before. The landscape is perfect, and there are many fruit trees and pigs. Golding uses this to represent the Garden of Eden; there is nothing but natural beauty on the island, untouched by humans. Golding also uses the pigs as the "forbidden fruit," which once the hunters have had a taste for, are held in a "snake like clasp.” As soon as the plane lands on the island, a huge scar is formed on the island, which was used by Golding to show both the effects of nuclear war and how man impacted the Earth right from when it began. The parched ground the scar has left is unlikely to ever grow back, and Golding used this as a metaphor to show how the world would never recover and re-grow from nuclear war. Golding also used the scar on the island to show that humans will never let something beautiful remain, despite the islands natural beauty, there is ugliness now within, true in humans also. Golding uses descriptive language to give the reader an idea of the beauty of the novel’s setting. It has a shore “fledged with palm trees”, and a lagoon of “shimmering water”. It’s a paradise, like the Garden of Eden.
While they are looking for the beast, Ralph gets a sense of the “remoteness of the sea”, and begins to think of it as “the barrier” that keeps them away from civilisation. At first, Golding described the novel’s setting as a tropical paradise. Now the island has become a prison, trapping the boys with each other. Golding creates the sense that something terrible will happen by describing the storm that’s