Mask In Lord Of The Flies 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.

The mask shows the beginning and the end of the boys on the island. At the beginning they were all together, they feared for the beast together, and worked together. The island is first described with large palm trees, and the boys are smiling and playing. In the end half, the island is burned down, boys are dead, and the boys have become savages. One side of the mask shows the boys together with a shelter, and the possible beasts. The other side shows the boys split with the island crying at all the damage, and there is no longer a beast since they are the beast. The land has been destroyed with the boys who died in the sea, and the once standing shelter is now broken. They are no longer civilized and may have now shown their true

In the “Lord of the Flies,” William Golding uses ordinary items to symbolize bigger universal ideas. These symbols can be seen throughout the text and will evolve as the story progresses. In the beginning of the Lord of the Flies, one of the most frequent topic the boys discuss is hunting and their desire to have meat. However, not a single boy is able to hunt successfully as they are all afraid of killing another living thing. The boys only have a successful hunt when they use the mask. The mask in the Lord of the Flies is one of the many symbols used to communicate Golding’s universal ideas. When the mask is used in the Lord of the Flies the mask serves the purpose to hide the boys from the pigs when they hunt. However, when the text is examined in an allegorical means, the mask can be defined as hiding from oneself, strength, and savagery. The allegorical definition of the mask, proves how the mask does not only hide the boys from the pigs, but also hides the boy’s inner connections with their former selves. The mask in the Lord of the Flies initiates as hiding from oneself, evolves to strength, and ends a savagery.

Symbols in a story allow readers to understand the main message and idea that the author attempts to convey within literature. Often, masks are used to perform, be disguises, and even act as protection. William Golding includes the use of masks in his book, Lord of the Flies. The mask is worn by the ferocious leader Jack Merridew. Jack creates the mask with materials that he found scattered around the island. On his face, he uses black, red, and white charcoal which creates a covering of his face. He uses the mask to become a different being which changes his attitude and changes his conscious. As the novel progresses, the mask terrorizes kids and eventually begins to terrorize the animals and nature that surround the boys. The symbol of the mask in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies begins as anonymity, becomes a protection from guilt, and concludes as savagery.

Masks are a covering for parts of the face that are worn for a disguise, pleasure, or to scare people. Greek theatre utilizes masks innumerable times for evident characters in their plays. The actors/actresses who position their masks on, become divergent people. The denotation the boys’ have behind the mask is unique from when they have the mask off. In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the mask is used as a disguise from their normal society and civilization. Jack, Ralph and Roger prove that this statement is true throughout the novel. Golding once said that civilization is “the mask which enables the individual to hide his primitive nature.” This illustrates how one will disguise himself as someone or something that triggers their primal nature. William Golding’s purpose in writing this novel is to present to the readers when an individual loses connections with society they can regenerate one's true self to become someone they are not. The masks are utilized by these three characters to shield their nefarious doings. Jack, Ralph and Roger all have measures that delineate the diabolic and shadow within all humanity.

Symbols in literature are like the Earth, there are multiple layers until you get to the core meaning. In the novel, The Lord of the Flies, William Golding, utilizes symbols in order to get his deeper meaning across. In a novel about boys isolated on an island during the time period of World War II, Golding shows the outcomes of what isolation can have on a group of people. While trying to get these messages across, the author uses symbols as an aid These symbols range from strength, hope, and fear. One of the most important symbols in the book is Jack’s mask. The mask starts out as a way to help Jack hunt and grows from there. Therefore, Jack’s mask begins as protection from Jack’s own identity, evolves to his strength, and

I chose the topic of this mask, based off the boys improper and confused relationship with Piggy. The theme of this mask, is discrimination. It stood out to me how unfair the boys treat Piggy, they view Piggy as powerless and having no sense of command. It also felt like the boys are confused with Piggy, because of his superego personality. He was raised by adults, and acts like one. This makes Piggy hard to relate with the boys and often leaves them frustated and confused. I feel like everyone once had a time in their life where they felt mistreated, and not having a opportunity to express their point of view. Therefore, we feel meaningless along with neglected, and are overpowered by a group of people which we simply can not overcome.

William Golding kills off everything important to survival and by this he means that the world is doomed. So many significant objects are broken by the end of the book, The Lord of the Flies by William Golding, which is a novel about a bunch of inexperienced boys being trapped together on an island and are forced to find means of survival. There are a lot of symbols in this book that all represent the only way they can survive. Each symbol represents a piece of the world and how it functions. Without all of these pieces, the world can’t function. William Golding clearly shows that the world is doomed by one by one killing off all of the objects and symbols that keep them sane and alive.

We try to hide our flaws, so we wear a mask to conceal our imperfections. We are hurt and unable to fully recover, so we put on a mask. We are a monster, so we wear a mask to hide our vile and devilish ways. We want to appear to okay, even though inside we are dying a little bit each day, so we put on a mask. Wearing a mask is a lot like being a wife and a mother. A wife and mother is many other things, such as a cook, a nurse, a taxi driver, a cheerleader, a lover, a daughter, a worker, and maybe even a student amongst other things. We juggle our self between all these different persona’s. In O’Connor’s, “Good Country People” many of her characters wore mask to conceal the things they didn’t want seen. Hulga pretended to be a rude, uncaring brat to hide her hurt she felt from losing her leg at an early age. Manley Pointer disguised himself as a Bible salesman to take advantage of people, when he was nothing more than a wolf in sheep’s clothing. While the matriarch of the family, Mrs. Hopewell insisted that everything was fine. Everyone has their own way of getting through tough situations and circumstances and these country people proved they were no different from the rest. “In one of her essays, “The Regional Writer” Flannery O’Connor spoke of, “the particular crossroads where time and place and eternity somehow meet.” (Driskell and Brittain, The Eternal Crossroads). These such characters in this

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.

“Is there worse evil than that which goes in the mask of good?” (Alexander) Evil and cruelty often conceal themselves behind the mask of polite civilization. When the mask is removed, the true savagery is revealed. In William Golding 's dark novel, Lord of the Flies, humanity’s true savage nature is covered by a mask of civility. The group of boys crash onto a deserted island. And in order to survive, the boys attempt to recreate civilization and designate the conch as a symbol of authority. However, when the natural instinct to survive seizes the boys, resulting in the removal of their civilized masks, the savagery inside the boys emerges. Throughout the boys’ adventure on the island, Jack loses his mask of innocence and civility,

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?

     When a group of children become stranded on a deserted island, the rules of society no longer apply to them. Without the supervision of their parents or of the law, the primitive nature of the boys surfaces. Consequently, the boys live without luxury that could have been obtained had they maintained a society on the island. Instead, these young boys take advantage of their freedom, and life as they knew it deteriorates. Lord of the Flies is influenced by the author's life and experiences. Golding's outlook on life changes, due to his heavy involvement in W.W.II, to his current philosophy that "The shape of society must depend on the ethical nature of the individual, and not on any political system

In We Wear the Mask, the author’s purpose is to push the reader to feel something about the way things were in his perspective.

Everyone uses masks to free them to do, say or act in a manner that they normally wouldn’t. People use them all the time, whether it is just changing to treat someone a certain way or just needing to be a different way to make a situation better, but can also be used in harmful ways that can be used to compel violence. Masks manipulate us to hide from our true selves, they will make the one who wears one inferior to all others. In the story, The Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the world is in the middle of the biggest war ever, the power of masks and anonymity throughout this time period establish the terror. They put on these masks to give them the freedom to commit terrorizing acts and have no shame, alike with how William Golding allowed his characters have their power over the others. Golding had his characters apply paint to their faces which then altered the boy's mindset to act in a detrimental way. The mindset these boys obtain leads to many cruel parts in the story, including the killing of other boys on the island. This demonstrates the effect and power of being anonymous that is provided to these blood-thirsty boys. Before Jack and the boys used their masks to release their inner-savage, they were civilized, but having anonymity enables them to kill, not only pigs but other boys.