preview

Essay On The Beast In Lord Of The Flies

Good Essays

The Beast Within
Imagine sitting on an airplane, then all of a sudden you wake up and find yourself stranded on an uncharted island. Your palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms heavy. When all the adults have died and you are the only person alive with a group of boys on the break of adolescence… Without an adult how will one survive? In William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies there are many characters that are perceived as savages. When an airplane crashes on an undiscovered island, the only survivors are young boys. Throughout the novel, the boys fight for their survival, but many fear that there is a beast who may be lurking on the island. As the boys were once moral, their innocence slowly disintegrates away and they turn into their true form, a bloodthirsty savage. Perhaps the beast is within themselves.
There are various ways that savagery can flourish, develop, and unfold in oneself and make them turn ferocious and evil. One factor that can be accounted for is not having a person of higher authority in charge. For example in the novel, Lord of the Flies there is a lack of an adult. To grasp the true meaning of the word savage, according to Merriam-Webster, the definition of savage is, “Not domesticated or under human control and lacking the restraints normal to civilized human beings.” The outcome of this dire situation resulted in the boys taking a vote on who would be in power. Either Ralph, who is a representation of a civilized, productive, and charismatic protagonist in the novel. “But there was a stillness about Ralph as he sat that marked him out: there was his size, and attractive appearance; and most obscurely, yet most powerfully, there was the conch” (Golding 22). Ralph found a conch, and he blows into it when there needs to be a gathering to discuss certain matters. The conch most notably symbolizes power, democracy, and authority. The other candidate is Jack, a boy who demonstrates an anti-hero craving power, order, and dignity. “‘I ought to be chief,’ said Jack with simple arrogance, ‘because I’m chapter chorister and head boy. I can sing C sharp’” (Golding 22). Therefore, Ralph is victorious because the littluns were charmed for his potential in being a good leader, unlike Jack for his

Get Access