Lord of the Flies
n William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, a group of English boys is trapped on an island that seems like paradise. However, when fear spreads through the paradise it takes charge of the boys’ lives and their innate fear destroys. Ralph’s fear destroys his hope of ever being rescued. Jack obliterates what civilization is left on the island when he splits the tribe due to his own fear, but this could also be shown through Piggy’s glasses. Finally, the boys’ fear of someone more powerful than them drives them to kill Simon and Piggy. Golding develops this theme throughout the novel.
On the surface, the novel Lord of the Flies tells a story about a group of English boys stuck on an island after a plane crash. When the boys first realize that the are on a deserted island without any adults, they are ecstatic and treat life as a game. They have feasts, build a large fire, and make rules to govern the island by. To them, it is not survival: it is a game.
In the novel, Golding makes it clear to the reader that Ralph’s innate fear overpowers his hope to be rescued. Throughout the entire novel, Ralph is the one person who insists on having the fire lit so that there is a chance of the boys’ rescue. When the fire goes out because Jack and his tribe won’t help, Ralph’s hope flickers and diminishes as well. To show the reader that Ralph is giving up hope, Golding writes a thought-provoking conversation between Piggy and Ralph where Ralph admits to Piggy that he is scared. “Not of the beast…but nobody understands about the fire. If someone threw you a rope when you were drowning. If a doctor said take this because if you don’t take it you’ll die-you would, wouldn’t you? Can’t they understand? Without the smoke signal we’ll die here?” (139). Ralph is shown to be afraid of death through this dialogue, and he is afraid that nobody else wants to be rescued. He also says, “And they don’t care. What’s more, I don’t sometimes. Supposing I got like the others-not caring. What ‘ud
On the surface, the novel Lord of the Flies tells a story about a group of English boys stuck on an island after a plane crash. When the boys first realize that the are on a deserted island without any adults, they are ecstatic and treat life as a game. They have feasts, build a large fire, and make rules to govern the island by. To them, it is not survival: it is a game.
In the novel, Golding makes it clear to the reader that Ralph’s innate fear overpowers his hope to be rescued. Throughout the entire novel, Ralph is the one person who insists on having the fire lit so that there is a chance of the boys’ rescue. When the fire goes out because Jack and his tribe won’t help, Ralph’s hope flickers and diminishes as well. To show the reader that Ralph is giving up hope, Golding writes a thought-provoking conversation between Piggy and Ralph where Ralph admits to Piggy that he is scared. “Not of the beast…but nobody understands about the fire. If someone threw you a rope when you were drowning. If a doctor said take this because if you don’t take it you’ll die-you would, wouldn’t you? Can’t they understand? Without the smoke signal we’ll die here?” (139). Ralph is shown to be afraid of death through this dialogue, and he is afraid that nobody else wants to be rescued. He also says, “And they don’t care. What’s more, I don’t sometimes. Supposing I got like the others-not caring. What ‘ud