Impulsive Decisions In Lord Of The Flies, By William Golding

The encounter with the Lord of the Flies supports Simon’s thoughts that the beast that the boys are hunting for is not an actual animal. The Lord of the Flies tries to persuade Simon to let go of his rational thoughts and be taken over by his primal instincts in order to have fun like the other boys. However, when Simon’s silence declares that he refuses to let go of logic and rationality, the Lord of the Flies realizes that Simon knows what the beast really is—the innermost part of the boys. Simon seems to make this connection that the Lord of the Flies is representational to the inner beast within the boys almost instantly. “His gaze was held by that ancient, inescapable recognition”(Golding 139). Simon instantly The Lord of the Flies quickly makes the connection, too. “You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are?” (Golding, 1 ). The Lord of the Flies is symbolic to all the evil that is in humans. As Simon realizes that he was right about the beast, he tries to go back to the other boys to warn them about his discovery, but the Lord of the Flies gets angry. “This is ridiculous. You know perfectly well you’ll only meet me down there—so don’t try to

Both of the boys change a lot during their stay on the island. Ralph begins the novel as a leader and role model to the other boys. But eventually, the group gives in to savage instincts and Ralph's position

Simon and Beowulf prove themselves to be the exceptions. While the boys in Lord of The Flies are quickly reduced to violent savages by the mere idea of the ’Beastie’, Simon remains passive throughout the course of the novel. He realizes long before the others that the beast is not a physical being, but the product of “mankind’s essential illness’’ (Golding 89). This is realization made especially apparent when Simon converses with The Lord of the Flies, discovering that the Beast was not something one could ‘’hunt and kill’’, but something that was ‘’close, close, close’’ (Golding 143). Simon is the first to discover that the Beast was the manifestation of evil within all of the boys, and this knowledge eventually dies with

Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a classic novel and portrays just how the society surrounding us can corrupt our once pure nature No one is born a killer, no one is born with an intense compulsion to kill, the island that the boys are stranded on has a very unusual, corrupting society; A society that erodes the boys innocence through the power struggle between Jack and Ralph, readers see the transfer from innocent to savagely through the hunting and Piggy’s death.

As the book rolls on, more boys seem to allow this trait to come out of their bodies. This shows that the boys have a much deeper interest into themselves rather than the community. Selfishness and individual indulgence is represented through Jack and Ralph. This is because Jack is looking to only have a fun time and find the satisfaction to ease the bloodlust that dwells within him. On the other hand, Ralph is looking to do the best for the community and doesn’t need to please himself. It is very clear that Ralph’s outlook on the society is the most reasonable but it relies on a lot of sacrifice from the boys on the island. Due to this, the boys choose to follow Jacks lead and fulfil their individual desires as it is much easier work and doesn’t rely on them working to help

Both Jack and Ralph were struggling for power. At first, Jack and Ralph had similar goals for what they should do on the island. They quickly retreated when Jack became obsessed with hunting for pigs on the island. Ralph thought that they should keep the signal fire going at all times. Jack started to see that he did not want to leave the island he like that there were no rules. Ralph on the other hand felt that they could not be here forever. Ralph wanted to be rescued from the island. They're very different opinion forces Jack to leave Ralph's group and start his own. Jack toke most of the other boys with him leaving Ralph with very few people. From all of this Ralph started to realize that leading a group of people was not easy. There would always be people like Jack that would disagree. Jack left feeling insulted from Ralph insulting his hunting he felt that Ralph had undermined him as a result Jack turned mean and

Ralph's antithesis in the novel is Jack, the book's antagonist. Jack is uncompromising as well as domineering and represents impulsive savagery and violence; he has a desire and craving for power, which is shown early in the book when he is infuriated that he loses the election of island leader to Ralph. However, Jack soon learns how to become the real leader over all of the boys. He begins by instinctively appealing to their base instincts, becoming more savage and barbaric; he hunts pigs and obsesses over this violence. He eventually learns to control the boys with their fear of the beast. Jack is the quintessential example of one who misuses free will; Jack chooses to use his knowledge and power to bring out the savagery in the little ones. Jack's savage mindset becomes even more power-hungry and violent after he kills his first pig, "His mind was crowded with memories; memories

Through all the fear and savagery, one boy saw through it all, and began to speculate as to what the beast really was, this boy being Simon. As the idea of a beast arises, the tribe becomes chaotic. Simon however, a persona of neither savagery nor civilisation, questions the existence of a beast. “Maybe there is a beast...maybe it’s only us” as quoted by Simon, shows that he believes that there is a beast, but not the same beast everyone else has in mind. Instead, Simon, unaffected by the fear, believes that the beast is within each boy. Later on in the book, Simon’s speculations are proven true, as in a vision, he sees the Lord of the Flies who confirms that "You knew, didn 't you? I 'm part of you? Close, close, close! I 'm the reason why it 's no go? Why things are what they are?"(Page 143). Simon also discovers the supposed beast is just a human being. Certain of this, Simon runs towards the tribe in order to tell them the truth. Fearful however, the boys see him as the beast and kill him and their only way of destroying the beast. From this, it is evident that the boys could not destroy the “beast” as they had killed the only boy who knew the truth.

Ralph, one of the main characters, was initially the leader, but a boy named Jack came along, and took over the group of boys and the madness began. When Jack took over, Ralph was pushed over to Piggy’s side, Piggy is a slightly overweight boy, and is often teased by the surrounding boys, including Ralph. “Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy.” (Golding 202). The quote explains how the island and the people surrounding him stole his innocence and savageness lies within everyone’s hearts. Similarly, Ralph resembles the Jews being killed by Hitler (Jack) and the German Nazis (Jack’s followers) for their beliefs. The overall theme of his novel is all humans naturally have a little bit of evil and savagery inside of them. All of the boys stranded on the island are initially innocent and civilized, but as the leaders changed along with the rules, the evil and savageness buried in their hearts shone through. Both Jack and Ralph have very different views of leadership. Ralph is more interested in making the boys build shelters and fires and do useful stuff to help keep them alive. Whereas on the other hand, Jack is primarily interested in hunting. Jack’s camp is parallel to the practice of the internment camps of World War Two. Ralph realizes that Jack had stole the fire so he

Ilana Gluzman Ms.Miller English II, Period 6 09 September 2015 Sometimes leadership takes years to learn, and other times it takes a few boys and an adventure. In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, Golding demonstrates how when faced with the necessity of survival, desperation can cause irrational decisions. Younger children these days tend to think that life is a little more exciting and adventurous without adults; however, this viewpoint soon transforms into something greater when the boys are stranded by themselves without any supervision and have to survive on their own. But in order to hold themselves together, the boys must develop new life skills, outlast fear of the unknown, and maintain order until they are rescued.

Simon is a critical thinker who shows affection toward little kids and acts morally due to his values of virtue. When the other boys, including Ralph and Jack start to lose their innocence and humanity due to hunting the beast, which they consider to be real, Simon is wise enough to realize that the existence of the beast is not factual and that it is an imaginary figure. He is shrewd enough that “Simon thought of the beast, there rose before his inward sight the picture of a human at once heroic and sick.” It indicates that Simon knows that the beast on an island is only something that was inside of humans’ soul. Because he knows that it is an imaginary, he is capable of maintaining his innocence and humanity.

The times of childhood and adolescents are portrayed very differently by different authors, commonly as either full of innocence or on the contrary, plagued by terror. William Golding brings up an interesting view of children as artificially restrained by society. In Golding’s novel, The Lord of the Flies, the children go through a transition from uniform-wearing, obedient, innocent children to savage, murderous beings, exposing their true selves and beasts. This important transition in the novel is representative of all humans in society and the beast inside everyone. In the Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the transition of the boys from a state of innocence to a state of treachery represents how adult society is not a level of

To begin with, Simon speculates that the beast is only the boys themselves. There is an idea of evil being on the island, however, it is only their fear taking over. Simon states, “There isn’t anyone to help you. Only me. And I’m the Beast. . . . Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill! . . . You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are the way they are?” (Salinger 143). In other words, Simon believes that the beast is inside the and he has to go tell everyone what he knows. Simon was on his own and was facing the fear of the beast all by himself. The others did not help him, he goes alone. The Lord of the Flies identified itself as the beast; the thing everyone on the island was frightened of. The littluns were horrified of the beast, Simon tried to convey to the rest that that the evil and savagery is inside them. However, the boys were guided by the fear of the beast. They mistake Simon for the beast and kill him. The boys were not thinking clearly before they murdered Simon. The boys were guided by the fear inside of them; they did not think before they killed one of their own. Therefore, humans are guided by

Ralph asks the boys to build huts and find food. In the process of doing this the boys, and littluns goof off, and Ralph is infuriated. Making him lose his temper and altering his personality with the patience he had for the boys. Although Simon does help Ralph build the huts and find food, Ralph doesn't find that it is enough and thinks that everyone ends up doing the work very wrong. During this event it shows Ralph becoming aggressive with the boys, and the things that go on, on the island. In chapter Ralph calls a meeting discussing the rules and character Jack becomes loud and tries to take over the meeting and leads off with a group of boys and his “choir”. Leaving Ralph alone angered and with fewer boys.

In the novel Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, the isolated group of boys demonstrates the innate evil in mankind. The true beast is within the boys and not a supernatural source. Simon explains to the group of boys at the assembly his wisdom of the beast, “What I mean is … maybe it’s only us” (Golding 96). This shows that Simon realizes that there is a beast however, it exists within their own hearts and it is not a make-believe being. His awareness of evil is in the nature of mankind proves the threat of wickedness that will presage throughout the novel. Simon’s attempt to expound that one should not fear the beast, one should only fear themselves is laughed off and not taken into consideration. This foreshadows the ignorance of the