Lord Of Flies Essay, Research Paper

Why is it that when people are placed in situations where sanity and reason are

the keys to survival, people go crazy and end up ruining their chances to live?

All that they needed to ensure a chance for their rescue was the fire. I don’t

see what is so hard about that. The fire gives off smoke, they then see the

smoke as a signal showing inhabitants on the island, then passers-by will go and

search for them. Plain and simple! Why did you require us to read this book? I

can think of one reason, being that no matter how old you are, morals and law

are necessary for survival. Yet, I still believe that this book, despite its

strong message, was weak and uninteresting. What was so great about hunting?

This obsession with hunting was what baffled me the most throughout this book. I

honestly don’t see what was so great about it, and why they let it interrupt

their responsibilities. If they had not been distracted with hunting and just

tended to the fire like they were supposed to, it’s possible that could have

been rescued earlier on in the book. "Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Kill

the pig! Bash him in!" (Chap. 7, pg. 114) This line shows that they have

pretty much lost it by now. It describes their loss of hope for rescue, and that

they have developed a superiority complex. The rush they get from ending a life

has made them go insane and clouded their judgement. As the book goes on and

they say this line more often, wackiness follows. "Coming?" (Chap. 7,

pg. 119) Although Ralph was a good leader and had good intentions, he was still

somewhat passive because he always gave in to whatever Jack said. He would let

Jack walk all over him which was a factor in the "biguns" leaving his

group and joining Jack’s chaotic tribe. "No. They’re not as bad as that. It

was an accident." (Chap. 12, pg. 184) Despite the bad things they’ve done

and the chaos that was spreading throughout the island, they were still just

children. Innocent, naive, and unaware of the outcomes of their actions. They

know that what they’ve done was wrong but they refuse to admit it, they dilute

themselves. The title: Lord of The Flies relates to the story mainly through

Simon. We hear about him seeing and speaking to the Lord of The Flies and the

pig’s head in the book. He is the only character known to interact with the Lord

of The Flies and is told by him that he holds their fates on this island. Also,

the title Lord of The Flies relates with the story through the children. They

flutter around the animal carcasses the way flies would. The boys celebrate

killing pigs by dancing about its carcass. Similar to the way flies swarm around

a rotting corpse. Which would make Jack, the Lord of The Flies since he leads

the boys in their wrong doings and gets the biggest rush from killing, and

celebrates the most. The scene opens with the survivors gathering and trying to

act rationally by creating electing a leader and focusing on the most important

thing, their rescue. This relates to the way the boys try to act civilized and

just, yet they cannot escape the fact that they are still mere children.

Susceptible to the "dark side" and not fully responsible. It describes

how naive they are. The physical setting of this story, takes place on an

uncharted desert island in the ocean. Very similar to the tropical islands of

the Pacific. It is very lush, verdant, and fruitful. The island is shaped like a

boat. It contains a jungle and orchards that are at the low end of the island,

which rise to a treeless, rocky mountain ridge. There is a warm water lagoon

which the boys bathe in, and a natural platform of fallen trees where they would

hold their meetings. Also, there is a castle at the other end of the island that

rises several hundred feet above the sea. The societal structure was democratic

yet bias. All of the boys were from somewhat aristocratic societies since they

most likely belonged to a rich boarding school if they were flown from place to

place. They discriminated against the "littluns" and Piggy because

they were unable to help and saw them as useless. Many felt the need to be in a

higher position than the other. Yet they elected a chief and made up laws. They

were contradicting themselves. The values of the children really varied from boy

to boy because most were insane and diluted, and very few were sane. Ralph

valued how others perceived him more than being rescued. He should have just

lectured from the very beginning instead of caring what Jack thought of him.

When he finally realized that Jack was an idiot and decided that being rescued

was more important, it was too late to keep the other boys. Since they now saw

Ralph as a weak leader and that Jack’s tribe showed more promise. The boy who

had values was Piggy. He was the brain, and he knew that the fire was the most

important thing, and that Jack was a threat to Ralph’s leadership. If Ralph had

only listened to Piggy earlier, they could have averted many bad things. A major

conflict in the story was Hunting vs. The Fire. They develop this in the book

when many of the boys lose faith in their rescue. They decide to dilute

themselves by painting prettier, more happier pictures by hunting and becoming

savage. They lose sight of what is important and decide to hunt rather than tend

to the fire in the hopes of being spotted and rescued. This is relevant because

adolescents are always distracted and from doing the right thing, and often we

are put in a position where we’d feel that taking the easy way out would be

better. Or here, become delusional and not be rescued. Another is the conflict

in leaders, Ralph vs. Jack. They see this conflict very early in the book with

their many opposing ideas and petty little arguments. Basically, Ralph is the

"light side" and Jack is the "dark side." Naturally they

clash with one another, especially since both are somewhat power-driven in

certain ways. Ralph was reason, Jack was rebellion, and the rest of the boys

didn’t know who to follow because they were without responsible adults to guide

them. This relates to me because in many ways teenagers are "stranded on an

island." There are often when there won’t be an adult to tell us what to do

and it will be up to us to decide. We’ll need to know who’s right and who’s

wrong, a process we need to pick the right friends. Ralph is the main character.

He’s a tall light-skinned, light-haired, and slightly. In a certain way, he

takes on slightly an anthropocentrism-type feel, since he is the center of

everything. The main character, the leader, the decision maker, and the one

screw up. He allowed Jack and the other to walk over him, which is not good to

do if you’re supposed to be a leader. He’s assertive, yet passive. Intelligent,

yet a fool. He knows what is right, yet has a hard time grasping it, evident in

the way he treats Piggy. Jack is another main character, being the enemy of

Ralph. He has red hair, freckles, and is slightly scrawny. He’s a rebellious and

chaotic young boy, which I find hard to believe sometimes. He’s a young boy yet

he behaves like a mischievous, spoiled, vindictive, and pessimistic adult. Jack

reminds me of that little boy Damien from The Omen. Piggy is the only reasonable

person on that island. He’s the only boy who doesn’t go insane! He’s a short,

fat, little boy who is very smart and wears glasses. So typically the other boys

to pick on him because he’s different. Piggy’s character develops in the story

as Ralph notices how much he should listen to him rather than Jack. In some

ways, Piggy is reason. Piggy is Ralph’s support and conscience, always letting

Ralph know what is right and giving him confidence when Jack stole Ralph’s

group. Naturally, Jack hates him because Ralph always listens to him and because

Piggy knows about many things. The narrator of the story would be Ralph. He is

the integral character and many things are the way they are because of him. They

see many things from his point of view and the story focuses on him, his

actions, thoughts, and the story is focused on him. He narrates the story

because was the one who blew the conch, found everyone else, formed the

government, leads them, ruined them, and fought to convince them of what was

right. I brought up a sort of anthropocentric feel in this book, it is true

because of Ralph, because he is the center if everything in the story. Also,

they told it through his point of view because he was the only good leader that

was sane. The conch was a very big symbol throughout the book. It symbolized

power and authority over everyone else. When it was held in one’s hand, it gave

you the power for you and only you to speak. Which is why Piggy treasured it

because holding the conch was the only times that people would really listen to

him and not interrupt or make any comments. The pig’s head symbolized the boys’

spiral down toward insanity. At this point, when they decided to plant a pig’s

head on a stick, they were already obsessed and diluted with hunting and

killing. They were "off their rockers." The beastie/Lord of the Flies,

symbolized the darkness a human can possess in his soul. I never thought it

possible for young and innocent children to be capable of such heinous.