Lord of the Flies

At the beginning we meet Ralph and Piggy coming out of the jungle, later we come across the other boys in the story after Ralph blows the conch to attract the attention of any other survivors. The survivors include several small boys, the twins Sam ‘n’ Eric and the choir, which includes the characters Jack, Simon and Roger. Ralph is chosen for chief at the beginning over Jack, this clearly upsets Jack but he does not mention it to anybody straight away. As chief Ralph’s job is to lay down the rules and try to organize a society. Ralph sensibly gets everyone to start constructing huts, collecting food and building a fire signal.

Right at the beginning where the plane crashed there is a “ Long scar smashed into the jungle.” Golding does not describe the scar in great detail

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Throughout the novel, Golding uses many different objects to portray this theme. When Jack first encounters a pig, the civilised world from which he has come restrains him from killing the pig but as they become more desperate they manage to kill a pig. Simon is often depicted as a Christ figure in the novel. As it so happens they create fire all through the jungle that is then spotted by a passing cruiser. The island is filled with things representing death and decay, the coconuts are seen as being “ Skull like” there are “ decaying creepers” everywhere and a tree was described as being “ witch like”

The evil and darkness present within the boys soon spreads to the jungle, which is seen as being the lair of the beast so they are afraid of it. When both cease to exist, all order on the island is brought to an end and they have plunged fully into savagery.

In the end Jack and his tribe begin a hunt on Ralph which, we can assume, will end with the killing of Ralph and if Ralph dies there is no hope for them anymore. Jack believes that hunting is the most important but Ralph says that the fire is more important as they have fruit to eat but no other way of communicating. After Jack and his tribe leave we learn that Simon has been watching and he was then looking straight into the face of the pig’s head.

When Simon rushes to tell the others that the beast is just something inside of them he is mistaken for the beast itself and brutally murdered by the boys, including Ralph and Piggy.

“ Darkness poured out, submerging the ways between the trees

till they were dim and strange as the bottom of the sea.

As a way of satisfying the beast, Jack and his new tribe make a sacrifice of a pig to the beast by impaling the pig’s head on a stick. ”

In conclusion, I believe that ‘Lord of the Flies’ is a novel that portrays mankind’s inherent capacity for evil, which is released when we are freed from the rules of society.

Common topics in this essay:
Simon Piggy, Ralph Piggy, Roger Ralph, Lord Flies, Ralph Ralph, Island Christian, Im Simon, Piggy Ralph, lord flies, William Golding, Flies Simon, pigs head, clay paint, jack tribe, ralph piggy, piggy conch, boys island, death simon, evil darkness, jack choir,

Approximate Word count = 1377
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

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