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'In the Lord of the Flies...' - Part of an Essay


ss03 3 / 5  
Jan 17, 2007   #1
I do hope you get a chance to read this and provide feedback before the time it is due, but its understandable if you cannot. I would have posted sooner, unfortuantely, I failed to see many of the problems I see now until my last-minute edit. I don't know what I was thinking when writing this, and I can't figure out how to fix it either. I see run-on sentences, and some sentences which make no, or very little sense, but for some reason I just can't figure out how to change them. Also, you previously mentioned that there are some issues with my punctuation, so I'm curious to know where those are as well. I had a lot of issues with tense agreement (verb tense, and making the entire thing present), but I did all I could to fix that, if you see any other problems with it, please let me know.

If you get a chance to read this in time and suggest changes, thanks a lot. If not, it's completely understandable.

Thank you

P.S. This is part of an essay about the Lord of the Flies.

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In the Lord of the Flies, Ralph serves as the leader while Piggy plays the roles of Ralph's supporter and adviser. Both characters maintain their connection to civilization by developing a political structure on the island to set and enforce rules. Both these characters also focus primarily on being rescued, and returning to the society in which they grew up. One can easily appreciate the importance of a logical political system and the necessity of respectable individualsïin this case Ralph and Piggyïestablishing and maintaining that system; however, the importance of political leaders often wrongly overshadows the importance of moral and compassionate leaders such as Simon.

Throughout the novel, Simon distances himself from other characters because of his moral values, kindness, and selfless personality. Simon symbolizes the small portion of mankind which is voluntarily righteous no matter the situation, while many of the other boys do not. The other boys fear the fallen parachutist because they, in blind faith, believe Sam and Eric's story of the beast. Simon does not worry nearly as much as the other boys because he does not "believe in the beast" (Golding 130). Simon thinks about the beast and sees "the picture of a human at once heroic and sick" (Golding 128), therefore, one can see that Simons's greater concern is regarding the parachutist's well-being than about being murdered by the beast. His sense of humanity is convincingly apparent in this situation.

Furthermore, Simon retains a positive attitude when most others, including Ralph, fear that their future is grim. Simon suggests to Ralph that he will "get back to where [he] came from" (Golding 137). Some may see Ralph's vulnerable state in this situation as an opportunity to take advantage of him, or may simply ignore him. Simon, on the other hand, attempts to alter Ralph's pessimistic attitude and aid him in his role as the island chief. The morality in society which one learns to accept and be apart of in childhood is clearly the basis of Simon's actions in this novel. Simon's morality is evidently not superficial and does not depend on adult supervision, which is not true of the morality possessed by most other characters.

Moreover, Simon's empathetic behaviour appears to be inherent while many others choose to be ill-mannered and heartless since there is no one on the island to stop them from doing so. Simon illustrates this compassion countless times through the novel. One such occurrence is when he obtains "for them the fruit that they [the littluns] could not reach" (Golding 71). Simon helps the littluns despite there being no obligation for him to do so. Through events such as these, one can unmistakeably realize that Simon has a self-sacrificing personality. Golding explores this aspect of his personality when Simon confronts the Lord of the Flies. Simon realizes that his beliefs are true, which suggests that the Beast is not something that the boys can hunt and kill (Golding 177). However, Simon also realizes that "[t]he beast was harmless and horrible" at the same time (Golding 181); thus, he realizes that, in actuality, the beast is simply the collective faults of all the boys on the island. Simon, unlikely the other boys did not possess these faults and was therefore able to make this realization.

Despite knowing that the boys would reject his views, and the fact that the Lord of the Flies foreshadows his death, Simon wishes to warn the others to stop them from continuing to make the same mistakes. Just as the Lord of the Flies foreshadows, Simon does die in his attempt to warn the others; however, Simon was aware of the risks from the start, unfortunately, Simon's selfless characteristics resulted in him having greater concern for the other boys than for himself.

Ralph and Piggy do show concern for others throughout the novel, but not as selflessly as Simon does. While the rules and political structure that Ralph and Piggy symbolize are necessary in ensuring that members of a society know the basics between right and wrong, Simon provides more hope for mankind simply because he does not need society's strict rules governing him to prevent him from becoming ruthless, and susceptible society's faults.
EF_Team2 1 / 1,708  
Jan 17, 2007   #2
Greetings!

I think your assessment of your work is much too harsh! I find very little about it to criticize and have only a couple of suggestions for revision:

"Simon, unlikely the other boys did not possess these faults and was therefore able to make this realization." - I think you must have meant, "Simon, unlike the other boys, did not possess these faults and was therefore able to make this realization."

"Just as the Lord of the Flies foreshadows, Simon does die in his attempt to warn the others; however, Simon was aware of the risks from the start, unfortunately, Simon's selfless characteristics resulted in him having greater concern for the other boys than for himself." - I'd suggest "Just as the Lord of the Flies foreshadows, Simon does die in his attempt to warn the others; however, Simon was aware of the risks from the start. Unfortunately, Simon's selfless characteristics resulted in his having greater concern for the other boys than for himself."

A question: are you sure "foreshadows" is the word you want? It means "to present an indication or a suggestion of beforehand." I will admit to being one of the few people in Western civilization who has never read this book. ;-) So, that may well be what you mean. But just check to make sure the Lord of the Flies was "foreshadowing" rather than "predicting." It depends whether it was more of a literary suggestion or a stated prediction by a character of a future occurrence. When you said "Just as the Lord of the Flies foreshadows" it sounds like something that was expressly stated by him.

I think you've done an excellent job!

Thanks,

Sarah, EssayForum.com
OP ss03 3 / 5  
Jan 17, 2007   #3
Thank you for an incredibly quick response. Well, if you saw what the paragraphs were like prior to some changes I made you'd understand the harsh judgement; however, I'm still surprised that this is all you managed to find, I was expecting some problems with staying in the present tense.

I'm going to change it to predicting simply because the "Lord of the Flies" is technically a collection of his thoughts put into a sort of medium that forces him to think about them. As such, it is likely a prediction when the LOTF hints at his death, since in actuality they are his thoughts.

It is difficult to admit to being one of the few to have never read this book, but thats fine, I find that it's slightly overrated. A good portion of the people who do read this book nowadays are likely forced to do so in school.
EF_Team2 1 / 1,708  
Jan 17, 2007   #4
I think you're probably right about that. Not that it's always a bad thing to be "forced" to read something in school ... but I suspect there are books written in the last 30 years that are worthy of attention, too. ;-))

You're welcome, and good luck!

Sarah


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