The novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding Essay Example for Free

The novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding Essay The novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a political satire on society. The butt of the satire is civilization at the time of the second world war. During this era, a civilized society goes to war and obliterates, maims, and kills. In this novel, Golding depicts destruction, killing, and fear as evil in the heart of man, and uses irony to elaborate on this theme. The novel begins with a plane crashing on an uninhabited island. We are not told the reason for this, but we can assume the crash was a result of events associated with World War II. The survivors of the crash are a group of boys who we know little about prior to the crash. The group of boys then attempt to create a functional society by using a system of rules and a chief. The story then revolves around the breakdown of the boys society. Piggy and Ralph meet up with each other after escaping from their shot-down plane. A large scar was made by the crashing plane in the untouched jungle, symbolizing the first of mans destruction on the island. A war is going on in the outside world, and now for the rest of the book, everyone on the island will be isolated from the real world and put into their own world. Throughout the book we are told of the scar, and it is clear to understand that the scar symbolises mans destruction and destructive forces The island is ultimately a natural environment untamed by man that holds the resources for the boys survival parallel to other life on the island. Golding tries to convey the island like a cage confining the boys and isolating them from the rest of the world. We are told in the story that no boy could reach even the reef over the stretch of water. This shows us that the reef is like a boundary that cannot be crossed by any inhabitant on the island. A major factor stopping the boys getting even close to the reef is between the beach and the reef: the snapped sharks waited. This information helps us comprehend there is no way out. Another device Golding uses to emphasise the boys isolation is metaphors the miraculous throbbing stars. The stars help us understand the boys isolation as they are surrounded by mystery and speculation but their reality can never be found because they are so far away and out of reach. We are told the boys response to this situation is that they were gradually made accustomed to these mysteries and ignored them. Even though the mysteries are ignored, this does not mean that they do not exist or does it? : Sometimes land loomed where there was no land. This shows us that however tangible some of the mirages may seem, they are not necessarily real. The island is not an obvious character or type of life but it demonstrates human qualities and characteristics through its description. The way Golding brings the island to life is mainly through personification and metaphors: The great rock loitered. The wind roared. A thunderous plume leapt half way up the mount. Sending at last an arm of surf up. This language help us visualize the island as a character more powerful than any life on the island, but it has different capabilities and communicates as a force opposed to a physical presence. Near the beginning of Lord of the Flies we can see the island as a paradise: The water was warmer than blood and the temperature even though a little hot is generally comfortable. Which shows us how generally the boys were happy on the island. This gives us an optimistic view towards the book: the air was bright. Later on the mood changes to a darker more cynical mood, which warns us of trouble to come. The sun transforms from a warm presence to an angry eye. This device Golding uses warns us in chapter nine that tension is rising between Jack and Ralph: Revolving masses of gas piled up the static until the air was ready to explode. Throughout Lord of the Flies Golding uses surrounding conditions to reflect the mood on the island. This device helps the island become integrated into the story as a character. The boys in the difficult situation they are presented with have different reactions to their surroundings. Their first experiences with the island prove to show a foreign unfriendly environment: All round him the long scar smashed into the jungle was a bath of heat. The metaphor bath of heat shows the area around the boys is humid and the destruction may be a message about how humans are in the centre of our planets destruction. This situation because it is so extreme brings out the boys characters immediately and shows their ability to cope with the situation. Ralphs first reactions are casual as he pays little attention to his surroundings, which may indicate he may not understand what is happening at this stage. He could also feel the island poses little threat to him and is in a safe environment. Piggy, however, seems to understand how serious his situation is and feels unsafe on the island we can see this from his attempts to start a conversation with Ralph and he makes suggestions to deal with the situation. I suppose well want to know all their names. At the end of Lord of the Flies the island is burning down and Ralph is being hunted down. The fact that the island is burning down could be suggesting the only thing we are going to achieve is the destruction of the planet if we keep on fighting and developing weapons of greater power. The boys near the end of the book describe the surrounding events as a game. This could be telling us that wars and destruction in modern society are just considered a game but really they are destroying our lives and people are dying. So when the boys were taken off the island the question arises were they really rescued, or just moved to the real world to aid the destruction of our planet. The irony of the final chapter can be viewed either way about if the boys were really rescued.