(no subject)
My introduction sucks a massive bunch of ass, they always do, as do my conclusions.
THE LORD OF THE FLIES
By William Golding
The Lord of the Flies is a truly moving novel. Reading it provoked me to think about a lot of topics that I probably never would have been interested in and to research all kinds of theories on human thought. The book is about a group of boys that are stranded on an island after a plane crash. All of the adults on the plane had died and the only survivors were young boys from entirely different walks of life. There are many aspects of their experience on the island that make the novel a fascinating read. The reader realizes that there are conflicts of dominancy among these peers, and that no matter what one’s age, certain behaviors are simply human nature rather than an issue of maturity.
The first major event in The Lord of the Flies occurs when one of the main characters, Ralph, finds a conch shell and finds out that by blowing into the end in a certain way, the immense sound produced can potentially be used to summon any other possible survivors. It turned out that Ralph was right. After the rest of the survivors, all young boys, had gathered a leader was elected. The election was a vicious one. The boys voted between Ralph and Jack Merridew, a determined but uncompromising choir leader, and both boys felt strongly about holding the position of the boy in charge. Ralph won the election and Jack was appointed to organize and direct all hunting that would take place.
Losing the election created some tension between the boys. As living circumstances became less and less tolerable, and a couple of specific events took place, certain aspects of each boy’s personality began to show through more than before. With some of the boys, such as Jack and his group of comrades, these behaviors and traits ran more along the lines of irrational thought and savage or barbarian behavior. Ralph and the boys that supported him were much more logical thinkers with civility and cooperation holding high priority. I interpreted these conflicting traits as what shows through when one is put in the most extreme situation possible; in other words I found this book to be an excellent demonstration of human nature. This book also made me realize that this type of conflict isn’t only one that would develop amongst children, but actually is something that exhibited by adults as well, leading me to believe that when one acts out of human nature, their actions are not necessarily associated with their age.
“Jack was on top of the sow, stabbing downward with his knife. Roger found a lodgment for his point and began to push till he was leaning with his whole weight. The spear moved forward inch by inch and the terrified squealing became a high-pitched scream. Then Jack found the throat and the hot blood spouted over his hands. The sow collapsed under them and they were heavy and fulfilled upon her. The butterflies still danced, preoccupied in the center of the clearing.” (The Lord of the Flies, page 135, paragraph 2.) Another thought-provoking event was when Jack and the group of boys that followed him away from Ralph were hunting the sow. During this part of the book, Jack’s savage instincts were clearly shown. This seemed to further define the difference between Jack and Ralph. If Ralph were hunting the sow, there would have most likely been an efficient, logical strategy of capture developed rather than a spontaneous hunt and kill.
The characters in The Lord of the Flies were not ones that I could personally relate to. However, I think that the reason The Lord of the Flies was as captivating as it was is because of the development of the characters. It is awesome to watch how the boys grow as the situation becomes increasingly more difficult and to see how they handle many challenges.
The Lord of the Flies is a tremendously unique book. I would recommend it to anyone who is interested by human nature and/or the idea of survival. This novel covers so many diverse topics so wonderfully, that I am sure it is hard to find anyone who has read it and not thoroughly enjoyed it.