sc15pcz
Apr 13, 2009
Book Reports / (symbolic / character interpretation)? - my new essay is on lord of the flies. [15]
i had to rush at the end but here it is. i kind of lost interest in the topic because i didnt do it right away...
56093
An Adaption to Ruthlessness
What would it mean to be the lord of the flies? William Golding entitles his work the Lord of the Flies leading one to wonder weather he refers to the decapitated pigs head or to Ralph. The fly is an ignoble creature. It is small. It is a bearer of germs. It is known to feed on feces. If Golding perceives the boys as flies, his view of human beings is completely pessimistic. His premise is that if left alone on an island away from the supervision, rules, and laws of adults, boys would revert to a state of total savagery and would proceed to murder one another. Survival of the fittest would be enacted. To become a lord or ruler of such creatures would require becoming the most violent and vicious person among the group. In short this ruler would rule over insignificant creatures and thus be no true lord at all. Ralph is not able to maintain his rule over the boys because his power stems from his ability to think with forethought rather than physical strength. Ultimately Ralph's intelligence cannot overcome jack's force. One of the true marks of maturity is learning that simply because you can, doesn't mean that you should. In a human context, what does it take to maintain rule, intelligence or strength? Golding puts forth the idea that force is superior to intelligence in the quest for power.
In the beginning it appears that Ralph is the logical leader of the group, but if Ralph hadn't been so calm, Piggy so smart, and Simon so gentle, the other boys would still have come to kill. These softer characters were used as a catalyst to expose the true nature of the boys. They were all just looking for food and playing at first, but when the hunters start messing around and let the fire go out, Ralph says the "smoke is more important than the pig, however often you kill one" (81), and he is not impressed by their kill. They are angry because they think their game is impressive, and they do not appreciate him telling them that all their manly efforts were not of any use. Jack uses this annoyance towards Ralph to his advantage; planting the idea that Ralph is an annoying know-it-all and causing the rest of the hunters to want to show off more to spite him. He revs them up into a frenzy until all they want to do is "Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood" (69), and all Ralph's ideas about keeping the fire going seem to be a joke. The hunters feel that they are too strong to take orders from a weakling that "[is] not a hunter. [And would] never have got [them] meat" (126). They don't know anything about him, so when Jack says, "He just gives orders and expects people to obey for nothing" (126), the hunters start to question the idea that they will be rescued with fire, and begin to follow Jack even more. Piggy and Simon are similar to Ralph, being smart and unique. They consider the consequences of their actions, rather than just going for whatever whim comes their way. The hunters don't like this. They want to be able to do what they want, when they want, so when the odd ones tell them to behave, they get annoyed and think they are better than them and shouldn't be ruled by the ones who are not the most vicious or violent. They are not the lord, and therefore are nothing.
That which we want the most is often the worst possible thing for us. It is important in life to know when to draw the line. To know what is ok, and what is going too far. The flies have lost this sense. They can no longer tell the bad from the good, they simply do what they feel is necessary to survive, so when they attack they never think to stop. Never think it is wrong to kill another boy. Thus as the boys forget about their civility, the reader begins to wonder how far they have really gone, and Golding uses the littluns to remind us of the empire waiting for them back home. They act as a gauge, to tell us how far each character has fallen. The littluns are around six, terrified of everything, spend all their time eating and playing, but are essentially harmless. They aren't expected to do anything, but what really shows a persons character is how they act towards those who cannot protect themselves. If you go and poke a baby with a stick, you cannot be a very nice person. Some people pretend, but on the island with no consequences, how they act towards the weak shows a lot about who they are. Ralph, being the leader, is not mean to them, and tries to include them in meetings by using "simple words so that even [they] would understand"(79); however, he doesn't find them useful. This demonstrates his nature. He is a pensive boy who finds delight in swimming, and simple things, and does not find the affairs of others particularly intriguing unless they directly affect him. This is displayed when he tells them to make sure they do not go to the bathroom near the food, water, or tents, and also when they start all the talk about the beast which makes all his followers begin to question him. Piggy is similar to Ralph in that respect, he is not mean, but does not think they warrant his attention. He feels that they are childish, and he is above their games, saying, "If the littluns climb back on the twister again they'll only fall off in a sec. So they might as well sit on the ground and listen" (84), in a rather irritated manner. Correspondingly, Piggy always feels that he is smarter than everyone else, and he comes up with most of the good ideas, even if no one listens to him. Simon on the other hand goes out of his way to be kind to them, bringing them "fruit they [cannot] reach" (56), and looking out for them when no one else does, which exemplifies his kind, caring nature, to sacrifice himself for the well-being of others. One of the middle kids (neither bigun, nor littlun), Maurice throws sand in their eyes and rocks around them; however, when they are all at a meeting he "save them" (87) crying out, "Look at me!" (87), and pretending to fall over in order to make them laugh and avoid their crying. This is not a completely selfless act, in that he would have to wait for them to stop, nonetheless, he still tries to help, which is illustrated later when he follows the rest of the hunters, not exactly wanting to kill, but simply trying to avoid being singled out like the other three, and saving his own skin. This leads to Jack who is mean and thinks they are a "useless lot of cry-babies!" (83), and it would "serve [them] right if something did get [them]" (83) for causing all the trouble about the beast. When Jack's tribe splits off, he leaves all the littuns with the nicer characters who care if they are unhappy or in danger, which shows how he is savage, and will waste no effort in trying to help out little children, simply hunting and killing whatever he can. It's like stealing candy from a baby, if you do it to make yourself happy, then you are a horrible person, and you can't deny it.
Golding uses clothing as a symbol for civilization. Every morning we put on clothes without thinking about their function. Clothes provide warmth and preserve modesty. They also maintain cleanliness and give a protective covering to the skin. The first description of Ralph is that he is trailing his school sweater by one arm and that the clothing he still wears is causing him to sweat. Thus his clothes do not suit the climate or circumstances in which he finds himself. As the book goes on, the boys' clothing deteriorates with their morals. It is a logical response to a tropical climate to wear less clothing. The boys take off their shirts and shoes to remain cool. This is liberating in a physical sense as well as a mental one as they would not be permitted to do this at home. They run around and play enlivened by this new freedom from the restrictions of vestments. The longer they live in this state of virtual nakedness, the dirtier and more ragged they become. The longer they exist without the restrictions of civilization, the mental reaction to autonomy is moral deterioration. Even at the beginning of the book when Ralph pulls off all his clothes, he stands "among the skull-like coconuts" (10), which foreshadows the future. A person who sheds all clothing and discards all morals is less protected from death. Near the end of the book when all the boys' shorts are in tatters and are being held up by mere threads as well as their links to society, Ralph makes one last attempt to rein them in. He puts on his shirt from the first day even though it is stiff with sweat and very uncomfortable. Just as in a restaurant a sign will warn "No shirt no shoes no service", the wearing of clothing represents accountability and responsibility or the consciousness that human nakedness requires covering to be civilized. As the deterioration of morality intensifies, the boys begin to rely more on their fear of danger to make decisions. Unlike animals who navigate their world with instinct, the fear begins to overshadow their common sense. They completely loose their minds when the "demented" dance starts. "Out of the terror (rises) another desire, thick, urgent, blind"(152). They are overcome by their fear and their instincts turn to bloodlust. They are possessed with the urge to kill and they cannot stop themselves. Then at Castle Rock, all the hunters chant and yell, and the "storm of sound beat at them, in an incantation of hatred"(180). Roger is gripped "with a sense of delirious abandonment" (180), and he leans on the lever, causing the boulder to crush piggy. Every time the boys start to chant someone dies. After that the hunters give up all control, and Jack shouts, "There isn't a tribe for you anymore!"(181) They all proceed to attack him with spears and every last trace of humanity is gone. The alpha instinct in Jack to lead overcomes him and he gets the whole tribe to attack. The bloodlust is summoned and the façade of civility is discarded like an unwanted garment.
As the boys deteriorate, they begin to rely more on their fear to determine danger than common sense, more animal than human. When the "demented" dance starts they loose their heads, and "out of terror [rises] another desire, thick, urgent, blind" (152). They are overcome by their fear and it turns into bloodlust, they are possessed, and cannot stop themselves from killing, nor do they want to. Then at castle rock when all the hunters are chanting and yelling, and the "storm of sound beat at them, in an incantation of hatred" (180), Roger is gripped "with a sense of delirious abandonment" (180), and he leans on the lever and the boulder crushes Piggy. When they let themselves be taken over they let all their human thoughts fall away. The sound revs them up, and every time they start to chant, someone dies. After that the hunters give up control all together and Jack shouts "there isn't a tribe for you anymore!" (181). They have fallen into an animalistic state, and Ralph is forced to run for his life as they stab at him. Every last trace of their attempts at society is gone. The alpha instinct in Jack to be leader overcomes him and he gets the whole tribe to attack. Underneath it all, the bloodlust comes out, the façade crumbles, and there is nothing you can do about it, its just human nature.
We need society's structure to keep us from reverting back to animals. When all the hallmarks of civilization have been striped away it is all we can do to refrain from using our instincts to make decisions, and attacking whatever we fear. It is important to try to understand what we fear, or we will live in fear forever, and that fear will turn to aggression and we won't be able to resist. It is our ability to consider the consequences of our actions that separates us from animals. We can consider all angles of a situation, and determine weather it is better to stay and fight, or run and hide. Golding uses the island as a model of larger societies to illustrate how they sink into violence, which makes everyone scared, which in turn brings more carnage. Just like Bush's "war on terror", everyone fights out of fear, fear of loosing what they have. Most do not simply fight for the sake of fighting. Humans fear what they do not understand, and unfortunately we understand very little. It is up to us to try to explain the mysteries of our world in order to maintain civility and refrain from aggression, or we will undoubtedly be doomed to repeat, over and over, all the violence.
i had to rush at the end but here it is. i kind of lost interest in the topic because i didnt do it right away...
56093
An Adaption to Ruthlessness
What would it mean to be the lord of the flies? William Golding entitles his work the Lord of the Flies leading one to wonder weather he refers to the decapitated pigs head or to Ralph. The fly is an ignoble creature. It is small. It is a bearer of germs. It is known to feed on feces. If Golding perceives the boys as flies, his view of human beings is completely pessimistic. His premise is that if left alone on an island away from the supervision, rules, and laws of adults, boys would revert to a state of total savagery and would proceed to murder one another. Survival of the fittest would be enacted. To become a lord or ruler of such creatures would require becoming the most violent and vicious person among the group. In short this ruler would rule over insignificant creatures and thus be no true lord at all. Ralph is not able to maintain his rule over the boys because his power stems from his ability to think with forethought rather than physical strength. Ultimately Ralph's intelligence cannot overcome jack's force. One of the true marks of maturity is learning that simply because you can, doesn't mean that you should. In a human context, what does it take to maintain rule, intelligence or strength? Golding puts forth the idea that force is superior to intelligence in the quest for power.
In the beginning it appears that Ralph is the logical leader of the group, but if Ralph hadn't been so calm, Piggy so smart, and Simon so gentle, the other boys would still have come to kill. These softer characters were used as a catalyst to expose the true nature of the boys. They were all just looking for food and playing at first, but when the hunters start messing around and let the fire go out, Ralph says the "smoke is more important than the pig, however often you kill one" (81), and he is not impressed by their kill. They are angry because they think their game is impressive, and they do not appreciate him telling them that all their manly efforts were not of any use. Jack uses this annoyance towards Ralph to his advantage; planting the idea that Ralph is an annoying know-it-all and causing the rest of the hunters to want to show off more to spite him. He revs them up into a frenzy until all they want to do is "Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood" (69), and all Ralph's ideas about keeping the fire going seem to be a joke. The hunters feel that they are too strong to take orders from a weakling that "[is] not a hunter. [And would] never have got [them] meat" (126). They don't know anything about him, so when Jack says, "He just gives orders and expects people to obey for nothing" (126), the hunters start to question the idea that they will be rescued with fire, and begin to follow Jack even more. Piggy and Simon are similar to Ralph, being smart and unique. They consider the consequences of their actions, rather than just going for whatever whim comes their way. The hunters don't like this. They want to be able to do what they want, when they want, so when the odd ones tell them to behave, they get annoyed and think they are better than them and shouldn't be ruled by the ones who are not the most vicious or violent. They are not the lord, and therefore are nothing.
That which we want the most is often the worst possible thing for us. It is important in life to know when to draw the line. To know what is ok, and what is going too far. The flies have lost this sense. They can no longer tell the bad from the good, they simply do what they feel is necessary to survive, so when they attack they never think to stop. Never think it is wrong to kill another boy. Thus as the boys forget about their civility, the reader begins to wonder how far they have really gone, and Golding uses the littluns to remind us of the empire waiting for them back home. They act as a gauge, to tell us how far each character has fallen. The littluns are around six, terrified of everything, spend all their time eating and playing, but are essentially harmless. They aren't expected to do anything, but what really shows a persons character is how they act towards those who cannot protect themselves. If you go and poke a baby with a stick, you cannot be a very nice person. Some people pretend, but on the island with no consequences, how they act towards the weak shows a lot about who they are. Ralph, being the leader, is not mean to them, and tries to include them in meetings by using "simple words so that even [they] would understand"(79); however, he doesn't find them useful. This demonstrates his nature. He is a pensive boy who finds delight in swimming, and simple things, and does not find the affairs of others particularly intriguing unless they directly affect him. This is displayed when he tells them to make sure they do not go to the bathroom near the food, water, or tents, and also when they start all the talk about the beast which makes all his followers begin to question him. Piggy is similar to Ralph in that respect, he is not mean, but does not think they warrant his attention. He feels that they are childish, and he is above their games, saying, "If the littluns climb back on the twister again they'll only fall off in a sec. So they might as well sit on the ground and listen" (84), in a rather irritated manner. Correspondingly, Piggy always feels that he is smarter than everyone else, and he comes up with most of the good ideas, even if no one listens to him. Simon on the other hand goes out of his way to be kind to them, bringing them "fruit they [cannot] reach" (56), and looking out for them when no one else does, which exemplifies his kind, caring nature, to sacrifice himself for the well-being of others. One of the middle kids (neither bigun, nor littlun), Maurice throws sand in their eyes and rocks around them; however, when they are all at a meeting he "save them" (87) crying out, "Look at me!" (87), and pretending to fall over in order to make them laugh and avoid their crying. This is not a completely selfless act, in that he would have to wait for them to stop, nonetheless, he still tries to help, which is illustrated later when he follows the rest of the hunters, not exactly wanting to kill, but simply trying to avoid being singled out like the other three, and saving his own skin. This leads to Jack who is mean and thinks they are a "useless lot of cry-babies!" (83), and it would "serve [them] right if something did get [them]" (83) for causing all the trouble about the beast. When Jack's tribe splits off, he leaves all the littuns with the nicer characters who care if they are unhappy or in danger, which shows how he is savage, and will waste no effort in trying to help out little children, simply hunting and killing whatever he can. It's like stealing candy from a baby, if you do it to make yourself happy, then you are a horrible person, and you can't deny it.
Golding uses clothing as a symbol for civilization. Every morning we put on clothes without thinking about their function. Clothes provide warmth and preserve modesty. They also maintain cleanliness and give a protective covering to the skin. The first description of Ralph is that he is trailing his school sweater by one arm and that the clothing he still wears is causing him to sweat. Thus his clothes do not suit the climate or circumstances in which he finds himself. As the book goes on, the boys' clothing deteriorates with their morals. It is a logical response to a tropical climate to wear less clothing. The boys take off their shirts and shoes to remain cool. This is liberating in a physical sense as well as a mental one as they would not be permitted to do this at home. They run around and play enlivened by this new freedom from the restrictions of vestments. The longer they live in this state of virtual nakedness, the dirtier and more ragged they become. The longer they exist without the restrictions of civilization, the mental reaction to autonomy is moral deterioration. Even at the beginning of the book when Ralph pulls off all his clothes, he stands "among the skull-like coconuts" (10), which foreshadows the future. A person who sheds all clothing and discards all morals is less protected from death. Near the end of the book when all the boys' shorts are in tatters and are being held up by mere threads as well as their links to society, Ralph makes one last attempt to rein them in. He puts on his shirt from the first day even though it is stiff with sweat and very uncomfortable. Just as in a restaurant a sign will warn "No shirt no shoes no service", the wearing of clothing represents accountability and responsibility or the consciousness that human nakedness requires covering to be civilized. As the deterioration of morality intensifies, the boys begin to rely more on their fear of danger to make decisions. Unlike animals who navigate their world with instinct, the fear begins to overshadow their common sense. They completely loose their minds when the "demented" dance starts. "Out of the terror (rises) another desire, thick, urgent, blind"(152). They are overcome by their fear and their instincts turn to bloodlust. They are possessed with the urge to kill and they cannot stop themselves. Then at Castle Rock, all the hunters chant and yell, and the "storm of sound beat at them, in an incantation of hatred"(180). Roger is gripped "with a sense of delirious abandonment" (180), and he leans on the lever, causing the boulder to crush piggy. Every time the boys start to chant someone dies. After that the hunters give up all control, and Jack shouts, "There isn't a tribe for you anymore!"(181) They all proceed to attack him with spears and every last trace of humanity is gone. The alpha instinct in Jack to lead overcomes him and he gets the whole tribe to attack. The bloodlust is summoned and the façade of civility is discarded like an unwanted garment.
As the boys deteriorate, they begin to rely more on their fear to determine danger than common sense, more animal than human. When the "demented" dance starts they loose their heads, and "out of terror [rises] another desire, thick, urgent, blind" (152). They are overcome by their fear and it turns into bloodlust, they are possessed, and cannot stop themselves from killing, nor do they want to. Then at castle rock when all the hunters are chanting and yelling, and the "storm of sound beat at them, in an incantation of hatred" (180), Roger is gripped "with a sense of delirious abandonment" (180), and he leans on the lever and the boulder crushes Piggy. When they let themselves be taken over they let all their human thoughts fall away. The sound revs them up, and every time they start to chant, someone dies. After that the hunters give up control all together and Jack shouts "there isn't a tribe for you anymore!" (181). They have fallen into an animalistic state, and Ralph is forced to run for his life as they stab at him. Every last trace of their attempts at society is gone. The alpha instinct in Jack to be leader overcomes him and he gets the whole tribe to attack. Underneath it all, the bloodlust comes out, the façade crumbles, and there is nothing you can do about it, its just human nature.
We need society's structure to keep us from reverting back to animals. When all the hallmarks of civilization have been striped away it is all we can do to refrain from using our instincts to make decisions, and attacking whatever we fear. It is important to try to understand what we fear, or we will live in fear forever, and that fear will turn to aggression and we won't be able to resist. It is our ability to consider the consequences of our actions that separates us from animals. We can consider all angles of a situation, and determine weather it is better to stay and fight, or run and hide. Golding uses the island as a model of larger societies to illustrate how they sink into violence, which makes everyone scared, which in turn brings more carnage. Just like Bush's "war on terror", everyone fights out of fear, fear of loosing what they have. Most do not simply fight for the sake of fighting. Humans fear what they do not understand, and unfortunately we understand very little. It is up to us to try to explain the mysteries of our world in order to maintain civility and refrain from aggression, or we will undoubtedly be doomed to repeat, over and over, all the violence.
