Lord Of The Flies Dbq Essay

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.

Everyone as a kid was scared of something, and maybe it was a beast, or the boogeyman. The novel The Lord of the Flies was about a group of boys who’s plane is struck down, they land on an island and slowly start to turn to savagery in the end of the book. There is a beast that has an influence on the boys. The beast presents itself as a number of things. So, what is the beast? The beast is simply the human nature of mankind showing the dark side of itself in these boys, but it also shows itself as war, and their own fears.

Many children were unaware that war was happening in Document D. “But a sign came down from the world of grown-ups, though at the time there was no child awake to read it” (Document D). However, in Document C, it tells us how the origins of the book and how it manifested. In conclusion, Document C, it says “War is not the mere occasion of the novel, but rather the off-stage protagonist in the drama of evil, determining the behavior of the boys on the marooned island.” War has made a huge impact on William Golding which has affected Lord of the Flies, which has led to the creation of the beast. “And World War II left an indelible impact on Golding the artist.” (Document

In William Golding's Lord of the Flies, Golding utilizes the idea of a beast as a symbol to articulate the human impulse towards savagery. Golding foreshadows how the beast does not exist when Simon says “Maybe, maybe there is a beast … what I mean is … maybe it’s only us” (89). The quote reveals that the beast does not physically exist. Simon’s words show that the beast is just a personification of the primal instinct toward cruelty inlaid in humanity. Towards the end of the book, the boys seem identical to brutes that drop their spears and “ screamed, struck, bit, tore. There were no words, and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws” (153). Samneric’s description of the beast at the start of the book

Throughout the novel Lord Of The Flies, the boys on the island are continuously faced with numerous fears. Subsequently there is nothing on the island which they fear more than the beast. The beast is not a tangible object that can be killed or destroyed by conventional means, but an idea symbolizing the primal savage instincts within all people. Its Golding’s intention to illustrate the innate evil inside man through his view of human nature, the actions of the Jack and his tribe, and the relationship between the beast and the school boys.

Symbols are in our everyday lives, it is how we keep ourselves safe, it is how we communicate, and symbols are everywhere in pop-culture and entertainment. Lord of the Flies has numerous symbols throughout it. The book takes place in the near future on an unnamed deserted island in the Pacific ocean. In Lord of the Flies, what does the beast represent?

One of the resources the boys had was the island. The island symbolizes the earth and a man’s capability to destroy it. To illustrate this theme, William Golding points out when a plane crashed into the island, leaving a scar which left a dent in that area. Staying on the island there was a good side, but also a bad side. For example, in the novel Lord of The Flies by William Golding on page thirty-five a character Ralph says, “This is our island. It’s a good island.” Ralph is one of the first characters we meet in the book and is a good leader. When he says this, he makes it seem as if he and the boys are in paradise. He makes it seem as if they are not worried about getting back home. The beast was the faulty side of the island. This “beast”

A silver, bright military plane hurtles through the sky, holding a whole school of British students seeking safety from the war outside, but is shot down where it crashes in the microcosm of an island in a dense jungle. William Golding’s Lord of the Flies is like a macrocosm full of hidden ideas and symbols. Blowing a sleek, white conch shell, Ralph assumes the highest position as chief, reuniting the boys and setting up a society. Basic survival instincts and ingenuity from the students would allow them to last as long as possible, but after rivalries form, they face destruction as the decisions they would make would decode the dark abysses of human nature. As the two groups debate for the best choices, a mysterious power known as “The Beast”

wanted to be leader and thought he was the best for the job. Already he had

The concept of the beast within The Lord of the Flies is one which can be interpreted in countless ways. The children picture it as a snake or a sea creature, while Ralph and Jack tend to picture it as an ape or other wild animal. Although the beast is pictured as all these various animals, one thing remains constant: there really is no beast. That is, not a tangible one at least. The boys on the island try their hardest to personify the beast as something, when in reality it isn’t something which can be given form. The beast is a fear which resides deep down in the core of every human being. It isn’t something that can be seen, it isn’t something that can be hunted, and it isn’t something that can be defeated.

First and foremost, the children on the island in Lord of the Flies were making several mistakes because of lack of guidance from adults and a single person obtaining absolute power. Some even come of age since they are learning from their bad decisions to make better ones. The “little ‘uns” of the island begin to share stories of a “beastie” roaming around. Many of these speculations prove to be fictional, like when they see it rise out of the water or float in the air; however, everybody is starting to believe it one by one.

In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the beast is illustrated throughout the book. The appearance of the beast is the beginning of savagery in the littluns’ mind. As the story continues, more uncivilized about believing in the beast increases step by step. Golding explains that when the littluns see the beast, they are extremely scared and nervous about it. They scream and run away from the thing that they have heard and seen. On the other hand, the older boys try to convince the littluns that the beast is not real. It is just in their imaginations.

William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies” effectively creates a world that portrays the flaws in society and the struggle between order and chaos. Amidst this world lies many important symbols that are vital to the interpretation of the story. The main symbol I have chosen to focus on is the beast. A symbol that is a necessity to this novel’s characters, themes, and overall meaning, as it triggers the series of events that eventually lead to the character’s downfall.

In the wake of a flaming plane crashing its way through the jungle of an uninhabited island, a group of confused boys are left to fend for themselves against the evil within us all. In the novel, Lord of the Flies, William Golding tells the story of the internal struggle between the order society instills and the savagery teeming beneath the surface of every person’s conscience through the stranding of several young boys on a deserted island. As the boys spend more time on the island and hope of rescue becomes dim, they descend into barbarity. Ralph, one of the boys, attempts to build up a sense of order and civility on the island and is elected chief. He is helped along by Piggy, a smart, sensible boy who thinks like an adult and tries to act on those thoughts countless times throughout the book. Another boy, Jack, starts out as sensible as anyone could expect a young boy stranded on an island to be and slowly descends into madness, putting the hunt of the island’s pigs over rescue and dragging down plenty of the other boys with him into savagery; going so far as to kill others to benefit himself. Lord of the Flies is stuffed to the brim with symbolism and two of the most important are the conch and the beast. In Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses the conch to represent power, order, and society and the beast to represent the savage lurking in all of us.