Lord of the Flies

Patterns of societal behaviour. Discuss.

I believe that the events and characters in the novel Lord of the Flies are symbolic of historical figures and patterns of societal behaviour. During the Second World War Golding joined the navy and he was involved in some important events in the war which changed his perspective of the world. He was appalled by the inhumanity and evil of Nazism and the Third Reich. He looked for an explanation of this brutality and savagery shown by the Nazis and he came to the realisation that it came from a part of human nature. He saw that any human being had the capabilities of being brutal and inhumane. William Golding’s novel, Lord of the flies is one of the most disturbing and celebrated novels of modern times. When a plane crashes on a deserted island, a group of schoolboys find themselves in an unfamiliar situation. They are excited by their new freedom and the absence of adults. Soon however, the boy’s sense of order begins to collapse and “man’s essential illness” or the savagery of mankind begins to show itself on these vulnerable schoolboys. The island society in

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In the Lord of the Flies Jack eventually rises as the leader even though he happened to be a villain and an instigator of terror. In the process of warning the boys, Simon is killed by them. These comparisons clearly showed that Golding intended to make his characters symbolic of societal and historical figures. Gandhi did everything in his power to help the people of India, much like the way Simon wanted to help the boys on the island, and he gained worldwide respect for the bloodless ways he achieved his aims. Then at the very end of the novel the boys attempted to kill Ralph. They were swept up with ideals and the beliefs of the mob, much like the boys on the island were, whether they shared these ideals or not, as a group the people had power. King wanted a united and peaceful America, much like Simon wanted a friendly environment on the island, but like Simon, King was assassinated by a group of people who did not understand him and disagreed with his views. Once some members of the community began to follow their (Stalin’s and/or Hitler’s) ideals and beliefs, they started to influence others and before you could blink people were being collected by the mob and being influenced by these totalitarian leaders. Like Galileo, Piggy’s views lead to his persecution and death. As you can see from the evidence above it is clear that Golding was trying to reflect Jack’s rise as a leader and a dictator to that of real life societal character types such as Hitler and Stalin. The Ku Klux Klan people are amongst the most evil and prejudiced people in the world however without their masks on they appear to be pretty normal people, much like the way the boys are pretty normal when they do not have their face paint on. Simon’s situation is very similar to that of the lives of prophets or saints. Jack and his tribe were also fighting for more freedom, fun and even savagery much like the way the Nazis were fighting for lebensraum. The above evidence suggests quite clearly that Golding was trying to create parallels between the events in the Lord of the Flies and between historical events or patterns of societal behaviour. Simon uses all his strength to continue, much like Christ, and to try and warn the others of what the beast really is.

Common topics in this essay:
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Approximate Word count = 2326
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)

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