Theoretical Analysis of a Novel: Lord of the Flies

At the time, Ralph heavily influences the boys and their actions for he resembles “the men with the megaphones” (18). He attempts to create order among the boys with rules, but most of the boys would rather play than follow the rules—for there are no adults to enforce them. With the role of leadership thrust upon him, Ralph has no choice but to stop playing games. His goals are to protect the boys and increase their chances of being rescued; however, the responsibility on Ralph’s shoulders soon begins to weigh him down. As “Ralph [watches the boys], envious and resentful” (75), the obligation to care for everyone on the island is a heavy burden to bear. His role as leader has forced Ralph to forget the joys of being an innocent kid and given him the encumbrance of responsibility, which causes the start of his maturation.

Both of the boys change a lot during their stay on the island. Ralph begins the novel as a leader and role model to the other boys. But eventually, the group gives in to savage instincts and Ralph's position

Both of the boys change a lot during their stay on the island. Ralph begins the novel as a leader and role model to the other boys. But eventually, the group gives in to savage instincts and Ralph's position

Ralph is the main protagonist in the story and he is the leader of the children on the island. Since Ralph was voted leader, he has the characteristics of leadership and he brings civilization and order to the story. Unlike the other boys, Jack and Simon, Ralph’s main focus is to get off the island instead of having fun. For example, Ralph tried constructing huts with Simon; meanwhile, the boys are playing and running off having fun. In the beginning of the story, Ralph’s power with the children was secure; however, towards the end, that power is being transferred to Jack. Ralph represents the

“ “Shut up,” said Ralph absently. He lifted the couch. “Seems to me we ought to have a chief to decide things around here.” (Chapter 1, Page 22) Ralph immediately notices the boys need some leadership his natural choice is to help guide these boys. He, however, lacks this responsibility. He doesn't continue to command respect from the boys. Ralph grows up faster in the book due to Jack. Later Jack breaks the tribe apart with his appealingly savage ways. Jack ended up establishing a hunting tribe. Once the tribe breaks Ralph tries to bring it back together, but since he didn’t have solid leadership skills even though he might have developed some compassion. He tries to convince Jack that he is still in charge and has power over the boys. The changes Ralph undergoes, from self-centered to group centered, doesn't reflect the island as a whole. They are all too elated to abandon the trappings of society.

“When you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice–you may know that your society is doomed”(Rand). This was stated by Russian-American novelist Ayn Rand; the extract relates to the novel William Golding wrote called Lord of the Flies. Golding wrote about a group of schoolboys trapped on an island from a plane crash. The boys had to figure out how to survive without grownups. Trying to survive was difficult because they had to have common sense and order. They lose those traits throughout the book which resulted in selfishness and corrupt behaviors.

What went wrong in the Lord of the Flies? Some may say Jack and some may say Roger, but what are the real reasons for the downfall of the boys? They are, the loss of hope, the loss of order, and the passing of time.

Through Ralph being the leader on the island, it shows him as a morally ambiguous character struggling with man’s innate evil. Ralph is clearly struggling to maintain calm when he says, “‘I was chief, and you were going to do what I said. You talk. But you can’t even build huts--then you go off hunting and let out the fire--’” (Golding 70-71). Ralph talks about him being chief in the past tense as if he no longer is because from the ways the boys are acting, he does not feel that he is being respected. Ralph is annoyed that instead of building shelter the boys play in the water and that instead of manning the fire, the only chance for the boys to be noticed, they decide hunting is more important than being rescued. Ralph means well by these orders, he wants to see that every boy on the island survives. At the same time he is struggling to be calm and he is not doing a good job at it. Also as the leader Ralph is not the one

“We all have a social mask, right? We put it on, we go out, put our best foot forward, our best image. But behind that social mask is a personal truth, what we really, really believe about who we are and what we 're capable of” (Phil McGraw) one once said. In Lord of the Flies the characters wear a social mask that opposes their true feelings. Written by William Golding, the story revolves around a group of boys who become stranded on an island and must depend on themselves to survive. They elect a chief, a boy named Ralph. However, as the story progresses, the group become influenced by Jack, an arrogant choir chapter boy. Intriguingly, although they desire to be with Jack and join his tribe, the boys remain with Ralph for most of the story. The rhetorical triangle, which analyzes a speaker or writer based on three ideas- ethos, pathos, and logos-, helps many to better understand the children’s actions and mentality; ethos focuses on the credibility and ethics of the speaker while pathos concerns how the speaker appeals to the emotions of the audience and logos is about the speaker’s use of evidence to appeal to the audience’s sense of reason. The boys stay with Ralph because of Ralph’s use of ethos but prefer to be with Jack because of Jack’s use of pathos and ethos which shows Golding’s message- humans were masks.

Humans develop in societies with rules, order and government, but humans are not perfect, they have many deficiencies so do the societies they live in. When a group of schoolboys land on a tropical island, Ralph takes on the role of leader by bringing all of the boys together and organizing them. He first explains “There aren’t any grownups. We shall have to look after ourselves.”(p.33), this brings up the question if the boys will have prosperity or will they succumb to the evil on the island. At first the young boys start being successful and civilized, but chaos soon overruns them and evil starts to lurk over the island.The fictional story of the group of British schoolboys stranded on an island and the decisions they make, relates back

Ralph cares for the greater good of the group of boys rather than just for himself which signifies one of the traits a leader should have.   Golding tries to show that leadership is an important part of keeping an island civilized and from keeping it stable.  Ralph’s leadership is the only hope the boy’s have to be able to survive on the island while they wait to be rescued.  Ralph's leadership starts to change as he and Jack have a power struggle because he starts to lose faith in himself as well as the boys.  In a sense, it would seem as though Ralph’s leadership was the one to cause the boys to rebel against being civilized because they didn’t want to listen to someone who would tell them what to do when they could do whatever they wanted and become savages without morals.  Ralph’s leadership helps the boy’s civilization have stability.  Leadership relates to the meaning of the work as a whole because leadership is what keeps a civilization from going into ruins, but the boys instinct to do what they want is much greater than that of living a life with rules.

Lord of the Flies is a novel written by William Golding. It is about british schoolboys who are stranded on an island after their plane is shot down. They are on the island with no adult supervision. Their group is civilized but turns to savagery. In Lord of the Flies, Golding uses the characters of Ralph, Jack, and Roger to symbolize that there are violence, evil, savagery, and good that exist in every society.

Although children are usually portrayed as innocent, the island possesed the childrens purity, Throughout the book, the boysget worse and lack their humanity. I think that the tragedy in the book made the boys feel as though they had to mature and forget their youthful

Brutal savagery symbolizes the absorption of man into a black hole of decivilization. William Golding, author of the popular novel Lord of the Flies, emphasizes the role of cruelty and evil in the deterioration of morality, virtue, and conduct. Admirable characters such as Ralph and Simon give importance to morals and values; however, characters such as Jack and Maurice forget their morals and create new values in their savage filled society. Consequently, the theme of Savagery of Man supports the Lord of the Flies as a moral allegory through the connections with the loss of morality, the corruption of man, and the civilized excuses of savagery.

When your life is on the line and you are threatened, some of you human instincts will take over. In the next couple paragraphs you will see how the boys on the island express their survival skills against nature, deal with their surroundings and how it reflects their character, and how they evolve and adapt to their isolated world. But maybe most of all just being a little lucky and being the most fit for the environment. When it comes down to it, you will do whatever necessary to survive.