Essay William Golding's Lord of the Flies

A recurring theme among leaders in many societies today is that “absolute power corrupts absolutely” (John Acton, a 1700’s English Catholic historian, politician, and writer). In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, this idea of leadership, power, and corruption is put in the spotlight. Jack, one of the boys on the island, forces his way into the leadership position without actually earning it. It is clear that Jack has become corrupt as he turns into a person who is intimidating, egotistical, and selfish. Ralph, on the other hand, is a quality leader under most conditions as he appeals to the boys’ sophisticated side and has a

In Golding’s novel, the lack of civilization and the corruption of power results in the deterioration of the boys’ morals and the loss of their integrity. Due to the lack of authority the boys seem to have no direction and can barely survive. Although, the boys do adopt civil rules and civility among each other, but with authority and power comes rebellion and a desire for more power. Lord of the Flies suggests that tyranny is the antithesis of civilization and the desires of power disintegrated the unity of the boys’ group and caused many unnecessary deaths.

Golding wanted to reveal to the reader his point of view and theory of human nature. He wanted to make it clear that each member of humankind has a dark side, which is portrayed

wrote this after publishing Lord of the Flies. It is our world, in the form of a story. The two leaders in the story are Ralph and Jack. Ralph starts off a comfortable leader of the boys, but by the end of the book, Ralph and his companion Piggy are alone facing Jack and the rest of the boys. As the novel progresses and the society on the island starts to change, so does Ralph. He begins thinking he has all the answers, but comes to realize that without Piggy he would have never gotten this far. By the end of the book, Ralph and Jack are complete opposites. Jack is about savagery and fun while Ralph is holding on to society, rules, and civilization. Appearing to be a weak leader due to defection of his followers, Ralph is actually dedicated and insightful, only loosing his followers because he could not compete with one category that attracts nearly everyone in the world: fun.

One example of Goldings pessimism being shown in his book is the boy's descent into savagery without rules set up by others. At first they try to make rules of their own but there is no real backing behind any of them to keep them from disobeying.

It may have taken millions of years for humans to evolve enough to create the sprawling civilizations known today, but it only takes a few months for a group of civil, educated boys to regress back into savagery. In his novel Lord of the Flies, author William Golding depicts a group of young British boys getting stranded on a deserted island sans adults. The boys must look out for themselves, forming a basic governing system and trying to survive. But the challenge soon proves too much to handle, and order deteriorates. William Golding conveys the universal theme of civilization vs. savagery in his novel Lord of the Flies using the literary elements of plot, setting, and characterization.

Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a classic novel and portrays just how the society surrounding us can corrupt our once pure nature No one is born a killer, no one is born with an intense compulsion to kill, the island that the boys are stranded on has a very unusual, corrupting society; A society that erodes the boys innocence through the power struggle between Jack and Ralph, readers see the transfer from innocent to savagely through the hunting and Piggy’s death.

In the novel Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, a group of English boys in their adolescence are stranded on an island. They crash-land while being evacuated because of an atomic war, so the boys must learn to cooperate with each other in order to survive. The boys are civil at first, but the bonds of civilization unfold as the rapacity for power and immediate desires become more important than civility and rescue. The conflict between Ralph, the protagonist, and Jack, the antagonist, represents the conflict between the impulse to civilization and the impulse to savagery, respectively. In Lord of the Flies, Golding uses Ralph and Jack’s struggle for power to show that greed and lust for power can corrupt the best

William Golding proceeded to tell us, “No human endeavour can ever be wholly good... it must always have a cost”. Throughout Lord of the Flies, Golding reminds us that the difference between a pessimistic and an optimistic society is in the hands of the boys themselves. All of us have savagery within but it is our choice to disguise it with the help of our morals and the structure of the boys and the society around

In our society, people are often cruel to one another in the want for personal gain, but this is restrained to mere social interactions and online in our industrial world. However, when we are separated from civilized society and the pressures that it places upon us, we are quick to turn to savage, cruel behavior to survive. Golding understood this idea, that we are only civilized when others are watching, and showed the possibility for even the purest to become affected by societal pressures in his novel, the Lord of the Flies. In order to show the role of cruelty in shaping the novel Lord of the Flies, Golding uses character archetypes, the idea of cosmic irony, and extended symbolism to highlight the inherent flaws of human nature and the potential for even the purest individuals to turn to cruel ways due to societal pressures.

Civilization can be destroyed as easily as it is created.  Without the walls of society, humans are capable of committing actions that they would have never thought possible.  Lord of the Flies focuses on a group of boys who are alone on an island without authority. The novel reveals what can become of humanity without the presence of authority.  In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the protagonist Ralph symbolizes leadership, civilization,  as well as the loss of innocence.  Ralph is the closest resemblance to authority that the boys have on the island.  His appearance plays an important role in him signifying authority, “You could see now that he might make a boxer, as far as width and heaviness of shoulders went, but there was a

The novel, The Lord of the Flies, seems to deal with the reality behind a person's primal instincts and how those are affected in an unreliable environment. The storyline consists of a young group of boys attempting to recreate the civility that pre-existed in their past lives and their struggles in doing so. Will Rogers claims, “We will never have true civilization until we have learned to recognize the rights of others.” This quote expresses the idea that whatever civilization one might have created, isn’t useful or productive without everyone involved or living within the community recipitating that respect for others. While Golding’s novel still includes these thoughts by illustrating failure after disrespectful encounters, it additionally conveys that if a civilization lacks the right kind of “chief” or leader to make the important decisions that its survival rate will be significantly decreased. For the expansion and the bettering of a society, as a primary base, it needs a commander who is willing to put his people first, the civilians and factors within them is more of a secondary component.

Golding’s message is indeed frightening; it tells us that without society’s harsh conditioning we will succumb to savagery and become savages like Roger and Jack. This challenges the idea that some people are born good and it makes us realize that without the constant threat of prison and other forms of conditioning, we would be no better than the so called scum of death row and this idea should terrify the readers down to their very bones.

The choices a person makes are what forms their identity. Sometimes there can be grey area between what is right and what it wrong. But a lot of times there is clearly a right choice and a wrong choice. The ability to differentiate the two and choose the write one is a skill not the lot people have. Throughout the Lord of the Flies everyone is constantly making choices and I think what Golding was trying to show is that humans are naturally drawn to choose the bad

To begin with, Golding incorporates a period in his novel in which young, innocent boys become savages. This is done to emphasize the importance on how the absence of parents in an individual’s life can result in a lack of a reason for him to behave. For instance, in the beginning of the novel, Roger and Maurice decide to go for a swim. It was only a matter of time before they become aware of the sand castles the littluns’ are constructing. In a ruthless attempt to convey superiority over them, Roger and Maurice start to kick and destroy the littluns castles, getting sand in their eyes. During this time, Maurice tends to feel guilty of his actions. He instantly remembers how he had once, “received chastisement for filling a younger eye with