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
Humans have a monster inside of them that is subdued by society, and if society is taken away, then that “monster” will consume them. This is true for most people, but not all humans are like that. One of the most notable humans to over come the “monster” is Simon, a character from the book “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding. The story is set on an island in the Pacific Ocean. A plane full of British schoolboys crash lands on an island and they’re stranded there with no adults, no society, and no rules. Simon is one of the few characters that stay sensible and good throughout the story. He has a sixth sense about things happening around him, he is kindhearted, and he faints a lot which give the appearance of him being weak.
Beast? “Kill it! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!” WIlliam Golding’s Lord of the FLies is one ofthe most powerful and popular novels of the 20th century, but no one truly knows what the “beast” is, except for Golding himself. The novel begins just after a plane evacuating a group of English schoolboys has been shot down over an unnamed deserted island in the Pacific Ocean.When the boys first land, there is an air of adventure and even celebration at their newfound freedom from grownups, but what the children don’t know is that there is something there with them. As the book goes on, there are many different thought of what this thing is, or some would say what the “beast” is.
A crashing plane comes down hard after being shot down during WWII and leaves a band of school boys stranded on a untouched, tropical island and the story of Lord Of The Flies begins to unfold as the terrified children recuperate from the crash. As the boys explore the island, fear from the unknown, and anger from the reoccurring conflict and disagreement, begins to rear its ugly head. Much of these fearful and evil feelings are beginning to create the beast itself. The mindset of there being a beast changed the boys for the worst throughout the novel. The children soon overcame their fears and became savages of war and conflict. From this fear and conflict, they became the beast themselves.
Within a single day, the lives of a group of young boys, aged six to twelve, changed forever. After a plane wreck, the British children were trapped on a deserted island without adult supervision for months during World War II. The author of this story specifically chose to use young boys instead of girls because he felt boys better represented the savagery of mankind. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the beast first represents the boys’ imagination and fear, then a physical entity, and finally, the evil within everyone.
William Golding uses the “beastie” as a way to display the fear in the boys on the island. According the little’uns, the “beastie” is a snake-thing that comes from the woods, and is only visible at night (Golding 35). Since the little’uns are the youngest on the island, they have the most fear. For example, the “beast” makes its first appearance the night the little’un with the mark on his face goes missing. Also, the older boys do not want to show their fear, so they refuse to believe the beast is real. If they don’t believe in the beast, they don’t have a fear. Although, towards the end of the book, all of the boys begin to have a general fear. For instance, while the boys were doing their dance, they had noticed that something was crawling
In the Novel lord of the flies, it is evident that the stranded school boys attempt to build a civilization. Throughout the building of this new civilization the most challenging factor is leading the school boys and keeping the young boys on track, which is hard enough let alone being on an island with no adults. This making their civilization fragile. A constant fear is looming around the boys, which in the end is what breaks this fragile society. A fear of many factors including; Being stranded forever possibly, A beast and starvation. These fears divide the group of school boys and blinds the boys from the most important goal, surviving till their rescue.
“Things are breaking up. I don’t understand why. We began well. We were happy.” (Golding 87). In this statement, Ralph realizes that his life, and those of the others’ on the island, is going to hit rock-bottom. All goes terribly wrong when the beast is introduced by the littlun with the mulberry patch on his face in Chapter 2. The beast is the reason for all the chaos in Lord of the Flies. The beast is an imaginary creature that frightens all the boys, and yet, it stands symbolically for the savagery that exists within all human beings. As the boys develop their fear and grow more and more certain of the presence of a beast, they also become more and more savage. William Golding uses the beast as a way to show the demise of the boys while they are on the island. The beast represents the irrational fear that exists within man, the savage monster within us all, and the ability for man to use intimidation to gain ultimate power.
“In absence of orders, go find something and kill it” Erwin Rommel world war II 7th panzer division general. It doesn’t seem to have much to do with lord of the flies but it does. When these boys are in left alone they start fighting and pick sides. In the Second World War people picked sides. These boys go into a small war of their own and it is brutal and has one evil over powering faction in this book the history’s most notorious generals, leaders, and even dictators are represented by these boys.
There is a symbol only seen by those who cause pain; those who relate to “the Beast.” The Beast is the true form of the evil residing in all of us, or the dark side of the human world. Many have the choice to lead themselves out of temptation but don’t. Those people inforce the pain that they feel is necessary to get their point across. Many characters in the story of “Lord Of The Flies” feel anger because they believe the traits they possess are better than Ralph, the designated chief of the boys.
the head. For a moment or two the forest and all the other dimly appreciated places echoed with the parody of laughter. “You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are?”
Evil: A noun meaning profound immorality, wickedness, and depravity. Everyone has a little bit of evil in them, but it’s up to that person if they want to show it or not. In Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, a group of boys show the evil within themselves while being stranded on an island. Because of the situation that has been thrust upon them, they soon discover the true evil they are capable of. In the book, the boys show evil through their lust for power, the behavior that the boys express, and their murderous actions.
The main theme of Lord of the Flies is that moral nature is not instinctive in mankind. There is a capacity for evil in all people, and their morality is superficial. Nonetheless, it is this moral integrity that must continue in order for a person to be ethical, for society to be maintained, and to keep society from falling in on itself. Society holds everyone together. Without the rules and the structure, evil in everyone becomes more prominent, and ideals, values, and basics of right and wrong are forgotten. Without society's rigid rules, chaos and savagery come to light. There are also a number of secondary themes in the book such as: people will abuse power when it is not earned; people will degrade others to
Explain the emergence and rise of the beast in Lord of the flies by William Golding: Introduction. (1911 - 1993) Golding wrote Lord of the Flies shortly after learning of the horrors of World War II and the Holocaust. Here is some information about him. He was born in 1911 at Saint Columb Minor in Cornwall, England, Sir William Gerald Golding was educated at the Marlborough Grammar School, where his father taught, and later at Brasenose College, Oxford.
The novel, Lord of the Flies, by William Golding is set on an uninhabited island on which a group of boys are stranded after their plane crashes. Golding creates a setting in which isolation, lack of resources, and an imagined beast drives the boys apart and turns them into barbarians. Isolated from the rest of the world, the island proves to be an ideal place for the boys to be wild and violent. The need for resources on the island, like food and fire, split the group in half when the boys cannot get their priorities straight. Furthermore, the frightening idea that there is a monster on the island leads to the boys acting out in fear.
In The Lord of the Flies by William Golding, boys are stranded on an island without an adult in sight. They are without the rules and restrictions of society and this has an extraordinary effect on them. What drives their madness is the thought of a beast roaming the island. The notion of the beast regards to the thought of a certain evil being in every person on earth. The boys we read about in the beginning of the novel, swimming together, are far from the savages in their camp in the end.