Theme and Title

Throughout centuries, in efforts to construct society, various amounts of law and order have contributed to restrict and limit the inherent of savagery and wildness in humans. Humans show and develop those characteristics when placed in situations that can put their survival at risk. Golding conveys his belief of the longer humans are withdrawn from the strict customs of society, they may begin to act out with savage intentions. Golding states that when society is prolonged without law and order, they are more likely to become savages.  Without the strict customs of society, the likely people are to ignite their savagery. Golding shows how a character can innately develop savage intentions such as Roger pushing the boulder onto Piggy, which ended up killing him. The theme throughout the novel is that savagery is born within humans and is inevitable and can sometimes overpower one’s true identity.

Symbolism

“the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist […] Piggy fell forty feet and landed on his back across the square red rock in the sea. His head opened and stuff came out and turned red. Piggy’s arm and legs twitched a bit, like a pig’s after it had been killed” (Golding 181). This reveals how everything went downhill after the “conch shell exploded into a thousand white fragments”. When the conch shell was destroyed, that is when it was foreshadowed that there is officially no more civilization within their society. After the shell “exploded”, Piggy was killed right after by Rodger, one of Jack’s hunters. Although Piggy has been brutally slaughtered by Rodger, no one showed any sympathy for his death, instead they ignored the fact that he had been murdered and they focus on hunting. This reveals how people would go beyond limits when it comes to survival in life or death situations. Aside from foreshadowing, Golding also uses the characterization of Jack to reveal the limits humans would push if they were put in life or death situations.

Mood and Setting

“Ralph turned toward the platform. The conch glimmered among the trees, a white blob
against the place where the sun would rise. He pushed back his mop. “I don’t know.”’ At the beginning of chapter 8, Ralph and Jack confront Piggy with the news that they had seen the beast on top of the mountain the night before. Ralph and Piggy discuss what to do while Jack remains distant. Ralph admits to Piggy that none of the boys, even Jack and his hunters, would be capable of handling the beast because they are young, small, and only have sticks for weapons. Jack is furious that Ralph insulted him and his hunters’ capability and he runs off. He later calls a group meeting with the conch. When everyone gathers, Jack tells them that they saw the beast and proceeds to try to turn everyone against Ralph by telling them that he is a poor chief, that he is becoming more like Piggy, and that he was too afraid to go up the mountain to find the beast. He tries to persuade the group to vote to get rid of Ralph as chief, but no one does. 

Tone

In order to show Golding’s mood of disapproval towards human nature in Lord of the Flies, he adds tones throughout it to add depth and help clarify his points. An example is that the boys are still “innocent.” The tone throughout the beginning of the novel is curious and very neutral. Later on in the book, the boys begin to give in to their inner savage. To show some problems evolving in the boys, Golding adds dark tones through events such as the smashing of Piggy’s glasses, the killing of Simon, and the fall of the parachutist. The goal towards the end of the book was to get the reader to feel exhausted by the intense tone of fear and anguish.

“Jack’s face was white under the freckles […] ‘I was choosing a place,’ said Jack, ‘I was just waiting for a moment to decide where to stab him.’ […] ‘I was going to.’ said Jack […] ‘I was choosing a place. Next time—! […] Next time there would be no mercy” (Golding 31).Jack’s emotions are revealed when he is “white under the freckles” which shows Jack’s sense of uneasiness to the idea of killing the pig. When Jack failed to execute the wounding of the pig, he begins to create excuses by saying “I was just waiting for a moment to decide where to stab him” revealing that he was innocent before the arrival on the island, but needs to hunt to survive on the island. Jack states “there would be no mercy” when he reveals his transformation to being a savage. Jack develops more of a positive attitude towards hunting rather than his old innocent self. Jack brags about killing a pig during his hunt and displays an unusual reaction while doing so.

allegory

“I was asleep when the twisty things were fighting and when they went away I was
awake, and I saw something big and horrid moving in the trees.”
Ralph held out his hands for the conch and the littlun sat down.
“You were asleep. There wasn’t anyone there. How could anyone be wandering about
in the forest at night? Was anyone? Did anyone go out?” The character of Simon in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies is often viewed as the a spiritual figure such as Jesus in the novel. When comparing the actions of Simon and Jesus, you will find a lot of similarities. In chapter 5 the boys express how they don’t know who or what the beast is like how Adam and Eve didn’t know snake is the Devil. The boys didn’t believe Simons warning like how Adam and Eve didn’t believe in jesus’s warning. Jack didn’t have faith in getting rescued like how Adam and Eve didn’t faith God’s power. During his lifetime, Jesus often aided the hungry, one example being when he turned 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish into enough food for thousands of people. Later in the chapter Simon finds himself in the wilderness. Many of the prophecies revealed by Jesus were also disregarded and not accepted by everyone. This depicts that both Simon and Jesus were misunderstood by the people around them. 

Character development

Within chapter 1 of Lord of the Flies, William Golding reveals the character development within Ralph. Right when the boys got off the plane, the boys needed a leader, someone to help guide them and help keep the boys civilized. Ralph single-handedly stepped up and suggests that he will be the leader. This reveals that he is a natural born leader. Although he is one of the older boys, he still is a child hence him making fun of Piggy’s nickname. It shows that he still has an inner child within him, but is willing to give that up in hopes of getting him and the other boys rescued.

The overall tone in this book is gritty and realistic. Although it may be vulgar, it expresses the harsh truth of reality. Everyone goes through rough patches in life, some tougher than others. No one’s life is going to be rainbows and sunshine 24/7, either we go through something silently or have others to help guide us t the right path. The tone of the book may be overlooked at because it is seen as a taboo to talk about in today’s society, but someone is probably going through a similar experience as you are reading this. Everyone has a story, the only thing that differs is what happens.

In chapter one, Luis uses metaphor to compare himself to a ball. The ball describes his mental stability. He feels like he’s bouncing one place to another. In life, you’re going to feel mentally exhausted/unstable and have no motivation. Lately, everyone I’ve encountered feels like a ball. They feel like they don’t have control over their lives. Due to their circumstances, they’ve lost motivation when it comes to everything such as school and extracurricular. Teenagers often feel this way because we are stuck between being an adult and a child. We are constantly being told how to control our own lives. We want the freedom but not the responsibility that comes along with it.

In this chapter, Luis starts working at his car washing job at the age of 13. At a very young age, he has been involved with gangs and violence, but he constantly struggles to try to get back into school and wanting to succeed in life. I can relate to this because at a young age my parents were barely home. My brother and I had to take care of ourselves and find out how to work that around school and homework. Although we weren’t involved with gang violence or anything, we did eventually have to stop complaining about our circumstances and begin to take ignition. We all want to succeed in life, but the real question is how much do you want it.