The Lord of the Flies Essay Example
Unseen Connections
John Brown
English 7
October 8, 2004
The novel Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, is not only an allegory, but contains many ironic situations that cannot always be seen, but contradict or reveal the appealing situations of the characters. It seems all too common to find one or two ironic parts in a book, but Golding uses irony to a vast extent which keeps the minds of the readers constantly thinking and connecting related themes or topics. While some of the ironic situations that Golding uses are essential to the main idea of the story, others are merely present for an additional and remote search. Lord of the Flies shows certain ironic conditions including the fire, the two man-hunts, and the island's shape that illustrate or oppose what its characters want for the outcome of their epic adventure.
Ralph the protagonist of the novel took the role of the initial leader. While in charge, he declared that the first objective to be completed was to build a signal for rescue. His best idea was to create a signal fire, which in turn allowed passing ships to come and explore the island for castaways. "There's another thing. We can help them to find us. If a ship comes near the island they may not notice us. So we must make smoke on top of the mountain. We must make a fire." (Golding 38) After Ralph and the other boys built the first fire on the top of the island's main mountain, Jack, the novel's antagonist, volunteers himself and his chorus group to be in charge of maintaining the fire. "Ralph, I'll split up the choir-my hunters, that is-into groups, and we'll be responsible for keeping the fire going." (Golding 44) Ralph is excited to see that the rest of the boys want to continue with the rescue plan. Through the course of the story Jack takes power and forces many of the boys to follow him, but they do not continue to maintain the fire. Ralph is left alone by himself and constantly has to escape from Jack's group of
John Brown
English 7
October 8, 2004
The novel Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, is not only an allegory, but contains many ironic situations that cannot always be seen, but contradict or reveal the appealing situations of the characters. It seems all too common to find one or two ironic parts in a book, but Golding uses irony to a vast extent which keeps the minds of the readers constantly thinking and connecting related themes or topics. While some of the ironic situations that Golding uses are essential to the main idea of the story, others are merely present for an additional and remote search. Lord of the Flies shows certain ironic conditions including the fire, the two man-hunts, and the island's shape that illustrate or oppose what its characters want for the outcome of their epic adventure.
Ralph the protagonist of the novel took the role of the initial leader. While in charge, he declared that the first objective to be completed was to build a signal for rescue. His best idea was to create a signal fire, which in turn allowed passing ships to come and explore the island for castaways. "There's another thing. We can help them to find us. If a ship comes near the island they may not notice us. So we must make smoke on top of the mountain. We must make a fire." (Golding 38) After Ralph and the other boys built the first fire on the top of the island's main mountain, Jack, the novel's antagonist, volunteers himself and his chorus group to be in charge of maintaining the fire. "Ralph, I'll split up the choir-my hunters, that is-into groups, and we'll be responsible for keeping the fire going." (Golding 44) Ralph is excited to see that the rest of the boys want to continue with the rescue plan. Through the course of the story Jack takes power and forces many of the boys to follow him, but they do not continue to maintain the fire. Ralph is left alone by himself and constantly has to escape from Jack's group of