Lord of the Flies: Bullying Essay

In the novel, "Lord of the Flies," a group of British boys are left on a deserted island in the middle of nowhere. Throughout the novel, they have conflicts between civilization and savagery, good vs. evil, order vs. chaos, and reason vs. impulse. What would it be like if the boys were replaced by a group of girls? Would they behave the same way they did in the novel? I believe that the girls would act in the same behavior as the boys in all ways because, everyone is installed with evil inside them which is their natural instinct, also because in life there is always a power struggle in all manners, and the outcome with the girls would be similar-since both sexes would plan on getting rescued.

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.

In ‘Lord of the Flies’, how does Golding explore the main characters’ struggle against adversity?

There are many different forms of bullying, such as physically bulling someone is when someone is hit, punched, pushed, or have their personal items stolen and any other kind of physical aggressive behaviour. Verbal bullying is when someone is called names, threatened. Social bullying is when someone is left out, deliberately ignored and has bad things spread about them and made to feel like an outsider, Psychological bullying is when someone is stalked or intimidated.

In the story “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding, he shows how the boys lost all innocence and civilization. The boys went from having innocent child minds to taking lives of other people, acting savage, and losing all civilization due to problems on the island. The boys had forgotten where they came from and became savage in order to survive; it was the need of survival that caused the loss of innocence among the boys.

Bullying has been going on for heavens know how long and unfortunately still goes on today. Another type of bullying is verbal which is making fun of someone by using words to bring that person down. It is calling someone names to make them feel inferior and sadly goes on a lot in the school environment.

Bullying is persistent unwelcome behaviour, mostly using unwarranted or invalid criticism, nit- picking, fault-finding, also exclusion, isolation, being singled out and related differently, being shouted at, humiliated and excessive monitoring. (Stonebridge course material p.24)

Write an analysis of the opening chapter of Lord of the Flies. How effective is it at introducing the characters, concerns and language of the novel?

Throughout many parts of the United States, there is a time of the year known as “fire season.” Because of a lack of water during this time, dead plant matter littered across the forest floor start to shrivel up, until they’re practically begging to be lit on fire. During this season, a single ember can ignite a wildfire capable of searing through hundreds of acres of forest. Just like this powerful, heat-ridden ember, a single act of cruelty can ignite even worse, more pitiless acts. In Lord of the Flies, William Golding demonstrates how cruelty gives power to perpetrators and victimizes the weak, He shows that cruelty lies in the heart of every person and child and that it is most prevalent in a society that lacks a penalty system.

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.

Often, cruelty is used throughout Lord of the Flies to promote the theme fear. For example, in chapter five Jack says multiple times how the beast does not exist and the littluns are being babies about it. Then he says, “There aren’t any beasts to be afraid of on this island. Serve you right if something did get you…” After saying there was no beast Jack casually throws out this idea that something could harm them. With this thought simmering in the back of the littluns minds Jack slowly introduces the idea that he is the only one that can protect them because he is a hunter. He uses this callous form of manipulation to try and secure a spot as leader. In this way Jack is starting to become more of a dictator and because a dictator relies on his subjects not being educated and relying solely on him he constantly picks on Piggy. While he is an easy target due to his size, asthma, and sight disability he is also very smart and is always thinking everything through. Jack will often cut Piggy off to say, “You shut up, you fat slug!” By constantly doing this it creates the feeling for most of the

Lastly, the use of WWII as the backdrop for the novel is effective because it shows an accurate comparison of the events. In both cases, violence and killing occur very often. The events that take place in the war can be related to many points mentioned on how humankind is savage. The killing of the sow can easily be related to the accidental or intentional killing of civilians during WWII. In both cases, the killings of innocent people or children in front of others are examples of the inhumanity that

The phrase bullying has altered significantly over time. During the 18th and 19th centuries, bullying was mostly considered as physical or vocal harassment usually related to bereavement, strong segregation or extortion in school kids. Any form of aggressive behaviour was merely taken as naughtiness and a standard component of early days. Actually, bullying was considered to be a naive misadventure among school going boys (Smith & Myron-Wilson, 1998). Also, the expression bullying was not widely known until a renowned newspaper made a publication of such behaviour. During 1862, subsequent to approximately 72 years of publications the daily newspaper, The Times

As children are growing up they are taught to stick up for themselves, to not talk to strangers and when people offer them drugs, to not take them. However, what if all of their friends told them to do it? What if that was the new trend and everyone was doing it? Should he give in? Should he stick to his instinct and refuse to do it because he knows that it is bad? More likely than not, he will give in sooner or later. Nobody likes to feel like an outcast or the person that does not take any risk in life. People everyday become victims of peer pressure even if they realize it or not. For example, buying clothes because the model on the magazine looked pretty wearing it. Another example would be picking on people, believing in a ghost, and exposing harm just to justify authority in a group. These examples are all leading to how peer pressure has a big role in Lord of the Flies. The presence of a group including older kids have a negative effect on the children and foreshadow events later in the story that will affect them as they get older. The influence of the older kids, such as Ralph, Simon, Jack, and Sam and Eric carry the responsibility of violence, the bullying of Piggy, and the myth of the beast. However, they are children that have not been fully taught the true way to treat people and have no standards.

Many people do not realize how serious bullying has become. If you look at statistics suicides due to bullying have increased over just a few short years. This has become a very big problem for not only the victim but the bully as well as it affect both of them. School bullying is mentally destructive to not only the victims, but bullies because of the harmful words, harassment, and physical violence involved as well as the consequences for the bully.