Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, is a story that is allegorical to what the world was like during World War II. It was Golding’s first novel, and was published in London in 1954 and in New York in 1955. Golding was forty-three years old when he wrote the novel, having served in the Royal Navy during the Second World War (Henningfield, "An overview of Lord of the
Flies."). His time serving in the military allowed him to reflect on the nature of man and its effects on society, and ultimately prompted him to begin his journey of writing. In the book the author tells a tale of English boys who are stranded on an uninhabited island and attempt to govern themselves. He uses this story to depict the total depravity of humans, and the savageness of a society without regulation. In his writing, Golding uses a variety of symbols to heighten and highlight his thematic aspects of the novel. A primary example of this symbolism can be seen in the usage of nature’s forces throughout the entire work. The writer describes the island in specific detail, and the role of nature is shown significant in Lord of the Flies in various ways
(Bloom, William Golding's Lord of the Flies). Nature is the driving force which ultimately leads to the savagery of the boys. Nature has always played a great part in the lives of people. As a literary concept, nature is viewed as being a state of unity between itself and its inhabitants. In
Lord of the Flies, nature can also be considered a parody of heaven
Describe and explain two of the most important symbol(s) of the novel. Why did the author use them— what do they
In the allegorical novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a group of boys get in a plane crash on a deserted island and it becomes the ultimate race for survival. The boys decided to vote for a chief, but there is discord because everyone doesn't respect his leadership. The events that follow result in two factions which changes the island into a tense battle between opposing groups, that work against each other, and result in tragic consequences. The elements of nature including wind air and humidity reveal the shift between cooperation and fighting. These elements change to reveal the author's message message that a crisis brings out the insignificance of mankind and his or her resourcefulness. Wind, air and humidity change from calm and peaceful which reflect the boy's initial feeling on the island, to stronger winds which reflects the disagreements between the boys , then to powerful thunderstorms storms, rocks crashing and huge gusts of winds that reflects the struggle for life and death . Even though wind, air and humidity don't seem initially seem significant, reading below the surface, these elements of nature provide foreshadowing of further events.
"Courage isn't an absence of fear. It's doing what you are afraid to do. It's having the power to let go of the familiar and forge ahead into new territory." ~John Maxwell. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout (Jean Louise Finch), Jem (Jeremy Atticus Finch), and Atticus Finch display acts of valor that contribute, and in some cases encourage their rectitude. Harper Lee demonstrates that acting courageously can lead to an improved, sustained, or newly developed personal integrity.
Lord of the Flies is the masterpiece of William Golding. With its medium size, the author exerts his imagination and creativity, and successfully produces plenty of vivid and appropriate symbols, which
William Golding s novel Lord of the Flies significantly symbolizes characters, objects and the setting to represent our world as a whole. Golding uses those symbols to make the island similar to society and to show the difference between living in a civilised society and savagery. The novel takes place on an island during World War II, this is significant since the isolation forms a sort of civilization and community, a sort of microcosm to the real world and to human civilization.
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.
Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a classic novel that is known as one of the greatest pieces of literature and has been for decades, because of how it relates to people and events that have happened. As the island is a microcosm of the world, the book mirrors what’s going on in the real world. The main themes of the book are Good Vs. Evil, Civilization Vs. Savagery, Power and Survival, which can easily be related to by most people - both now, when the book was written and probably also in the future.
Through characterisation, the author is able to express the main idea of disempowerment and also allowing us as readers to feel discontented and upset towards the main character.
William Goldning’s Lord of the Flies is an allegorical novel where literary techniques are utilized to convey the main ideas and themes of the novel. Two important central themes of the novel includes loss of civilization and innocense which tie into the concept of innate human evil. Loss of civilization is simply the transition from civilization to savagery; order to chaos. The concept of loss of innocense is a key concept to innate human evil because childhood innocense is disrupted as the group hunted animals and even their own. Through the use of literary techniques these ideas are seen in the passage where Simon confronts the “Lord of the Flies.”
"I have only one major theme for my work, which is the destructive impact of society on the sensitive non-conformist individual (Williams Netscape)." Symbols help to show the dreams and desires that the characters long for and also the restrictions that
Such examples of this include the pathetic fallacy of ‘lightning playing on the summit of Mont Blanc’ with lightning being a recurring motif in the novel expressing how nature, whilst having to power of destruction, also has the power to illuminate and make clear. Nature also acts as a savoir to Victor in a time of sickness ‘bestowing’ on him the ‘most delightful sensation’ therefore conveying once more his connection and dependence with nature.
The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, is an allegory that connects the boys’ behavior in the novel to the basic behavior of human nature. In the novel, the boys fear a wild beast that has the potential to kill them off. However, Simon, a quiet boy, finds that the beast is not an animal that everyone should fear, but is a part of each boy himself.
Symbolism is a very important factor in many books. The use of symbolism in William Golding’s novel The Lord of the Flies is the most essential aspect to the function of the story. At first glance you may not think the symbols are very important, but with some in-depth thought you can see how it is necessary to explain the microcosm of an island.
In life we are all confronted with the idea of nature along with society. Although both have their pros and cons they work together to give us freedom and order among individuals.
The man describes an identical situation at the end of the poem, saying, “Thoughts of a dry brain in a dry season” (76). The concept of nature as a source of order is based on its function as a cycle. The old man waits for the cycle to deliver him from his spiritually dry state to a place of fulfillment. But nature brings no change to the man and leaves him in the same arid condition in which he began. The failure of nature to provide a cycle is supported by the natural, stationary images in the poem, such as, “Rocks, moss, stonecrop, iron, merds” (12), and the “Gull against the wind, in the windy straits” (70), which shows nature forcefully impeding the progress of the bird, just as its lack of cycle reinforces the stagnation of the old man’s mind, body, and spirit.