The Waterfront By Terry Malloy

In Larry Lankton’s text, “Beyond the Boundaries” we gradually enter an unknown world that is frightening yet filled with immense beauty for miles. Due to the copper mining industry, a gradual increase of working class men and their families start to migrate to the unknown world with unsteady emotion, yet hope for a prosperous new life. In “Beyond the Boundaries”, Lankton takes us on a journey on how the “world below” transformed the upper peninsula into a functional and accepted new part of the world.

In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, a group of young British boys are left stranded on an island after a fatal plane crash in the midst of a World War. With no communication to the outer world and no presence or influence of adults on the island, Ralph, Jack Merridew, and Piggy are forced to take initiative if the group of hopeless boys want to survive. The group of boys experience a drastic change throughout their time on the island, a change that no one would ever expect to occur to a young group of primed British boys. The leader of the stranded choirists on the island, Jack Merridew, shows such a change that he soon persuades other boys to follow his savage actions as the novel progresses. Though the changes to Jack’s mental and physical characteristics advance slowly at first, the final personality of Jack is instantly taken over at the climax of the novel to a dehumanized savage. Jack’s innocence is corrupted by his inability to withstand a society without rules proving man's good essential nature is altered by the evil within society.

When there is pressure from all people in one’s life, it can be very difficult to know what action is right, which Terry was able to do. The mob owning the waterfront has killed so many good men, that Father Barry stands up when no one else would, to share his wisdom about how to solve this issue by stating, “And every time the mob puts the pressure on a good man, tries to stop him from doing his duty as a citizen, it’s a crucifixion.” This pressure that Father barry mentions doesn’t just cause a crucifixion of the body, but also the soul. WIthout one being able to make right decision, how is one expected to still be able to? Father Barry is asking this to the mob members, which causes them to change their actions and realize the wrong actions the mob is doing. A crucifixion of a soul leads to mindless decisions and actions, which is exactly how the mob leaders were able to get their agenda done, because no one had the ability to think for themselves. It takes a lot of strength to keep one’s soul grounded in truth and morality when it is tested, as seen with Terry. He has to decide whether or not to tell the judge about Johnny's numerous murders. When contemplating what to do, Terry tells Father Barry that “if I spill, my life ain't worth a nickel”, to which Father Barry replies, “And how much is your soul if you don't,”. This comparison between

But, since they were given authority over the prisoners; it caused them to act like a ‘monster’. The guards encourage the prisoners to do sexual acts, as well as violently harassed them. When ordinary people were labeled as guards, it caused them to automatically believe that they were superior to the prisons. Since they had no limitations to what their power could've hold, the guards had the desire to do anything they wanted with them. This theory was demonstrated the same way during the novel, the Lord of the Flies. Golding emphasizes that when boys are stranded alone on an island, they use an object, in this case, a conch determine which character has power. In fact, Ralph was voted to be chief because he summoned everyone together on the island, instead of Jack who demanded to be leader. When the boys picked the leader “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. The being that had blown that, had sat waiting for them on the platform with the delicate thing balanced on his knees, was set apart" (Golding 22). The kids didn’t just pick Raph cause of his strong appearance, but the conch attracted

Adversity is presented in many forms during ‘Lord of the Flies’ for the main character Ralph. It comes not only in the form of other people but a corruption of what society the boys on the island have managed to hold onto.

William Golding’s book Lord of the Flies focuses mainly on a group of boys’ who have been stranded on an uninhabited island where they face many problems with themselves and others. One of the many dilemma’s within this story was the division of power between Ralph and Jack. They both had qualities of a leader, but they had different intentions with where they wanted to go; Jack was primarily the villain in this story showing savagery, while Ralph was civilized. So, why do the boys’ join someone who is cruel? Jack knows that he can manipulate their fears and use activities that are relatable to them because they are still little kids. Although it might seem devious, Jack is intelligent by using these tactics because they prove to be

Unlike those above him, he cannot afford the luxury of dwelling with his conscience, as there are more vital matters such as survival to be concerned with. Down at the Waterfront, the Longshore men live by the code of ‘DND…deaf and dumb..” where it is ‘everyman for himself’. Although they suffer, they are content to abide by this code as it promises day’s worth of work and money to provide for their family. Even though they covet the justice of their poor working conditions, they deny their conscience as it poses as a threat to the security of their job… “If I was a wiseguy, I wouldn’t have been a longshore man for 30 years. I’m poorer now than when I started”. It is tacit among the men that any immoral act to speak against the union is highly discouraged, as it would greatly impact their accustomed lifestyles. These men stay immune to their conscience- ‘don’t say nothing, keep quiet and you’ll live long’. Similarly to the Common Man who’d rather be as a ‘live rat than a dead lion’. The jailer invokes this excuse to justify not living by his moral principals when More desperately pleads for more time with his family. This is perhaps the only time in they play where More is shown to be agitated by these ‘plain simple men[!]’ underscoring just how conceited they are. The common man is not concerned about the suffering of others but how it would

When a group of people is stranded on an island, it is very easy to lose hope, even if rescue is very close. People never know when something will happen, especially if no one knows to do it. In the young adult novel, Lord of the flies, William Golding writes the events that happen to a group of kids, with varying personalities, who are stranded on an island, and how their personalities affect the outcomes. A message saying to never give up is effectively shown leading up to the conclusion because the boys are very close to being rescued, but they do not know it, then the conch breaks, which symbolizes the loss of the social structure that has been developed. After that, Jack’s group becomes savage and hunts Ralph, but shortly after that, a naval officer appears.

This song relates to Lord of the Flies by showing how the boys slowly became more and more like animals. In the beginning, things were great. The boys had fun, swam, and ate fruit under Ralph’s leadership. But as Jack’s obsession with hunting became unmanageable and he replaced himself as the new leader of the new “tribe”, the boys became more and more savage. This chaos and destructive behavior is modeled in “Welcome to the Jungle” by lyrics such as “welcome to the jungle, it gets worse here everyday, Ya learn to act like an animal.”

The next reason for humanity to be pushed over is the fact that the boys were living on an island with no rules to be followed unless they were their own. In the first chapter on page. 16, Ralph proclaims this to piggy, “We can use this to call the others. Have a meeting. They’ll come when they hear us.” The conch represents power, and whoever had possession of it received this gift. This caused drama because everyone was “power hungry animals”, and they caused fights over who got to use the conch to make a statement. An example of one of these people is Jack. Who wanted the conch because with it, you could do and say anything. All in all, “Lord of the Flies,” can show readers that humanity can be covered up and turn rotten by selfishness, struggle, and envy.

Throughout William Golding’s book, Lord of the Flies, there lies an interesting battle between being civilized and adhering to one’s primal instincts. This is clearly illustrated through two distinct characters: Ralph and Jack. While the two of them clash, they are still strangely able to get along at times. By illustrating this relationship, Golding is able to present both an intriguing duality and represent the two characters as the "Id" and the "Ego”.

Thesis: In the Lord of the Flies, the conch shell reflects important values which show the conflict of Ralph and Jack throughout the novel. The conch shell represents authority, order and civilization.

The Marxist theory of Class Conflict also helps us understand the novel better. It could be argued that the groups that form on the island can be considered as ‘classes’. As the boys splinter into factions, some behave peacefully and work together to maintain order and achieve common goals, while others rebel and seek only anarchy and violence. It could be seen that Ralph and Piggy are the ruling class, the bourgeoisie, and Jack and his hunters are the working class, the proletariat. This is because Ralph clearly establishes his role as the chief, with an almost unanimous consent from the boys, which gives him the power to rule over them. Alternatively, it could be argued that Jack possesses the highest Class status on the island, due to his ‘ownership’ of the choir, his hunters, he says to Ralph, “See? They do what I want”. Here it could clearly be seen that Jack and his group no longer

The significance of the character Jack, was thought provoking to the reader, due to his influential change throughout Lord of the Flies. In the beginning of the novel, Jack turned out to be a civilised, organised and authoritative school boy. However, as time went on and many things changed, Jack slowly succumbed to his true, primitive nature. Once Jack was given the role of Chief Hunter, and was able to kill his first pig, he hesitated and realised “the enormity of the downward strike would be”. As a result of this, Jack didn’t attempt to kill the pig, which shows us his underlying innocence. The longer Jack was stuck on the island, the more his inner savagery began to reveal itself to the audience. This in turn caused him to start trying to “convey the compulsion to track down and kill what was swallowing him up”. This drastic change in character reveals to the audience how influential the expectations of society can impact on human nature. Human nature at its purest form is the primitive, savage part of everyone, which is hidden by the rules of society we must follow to survive in a modern civilisation. Society is a person’s biggest influence. Once a young child like Jack is removed

“...the most obvious leader was Jack. But there was a stillness about Ralph as he sat that marked him out. There was his size, and his attractive appearance. And most obscurely, yet most powerfully, there was the conch.” This quote from page 22 in Lord of the Flies begins to illustrate the early struggle for power between Ralph and Jack on the island. From the start, it was a battle between the two boys regarding who was most qualified to take charge and step up as chief. William Golding argues that power is something that comes with responsibility, and struggle. The responsibility that falls on Ralph’s shoulders is tremendous, and there is a very clear struggle for power throughout the novel, which we will later explore.