Boys example essay topic

Viewing the Text from a Different Perspective Many times in novels the elements of setting, mood and tone are used to extend beyond the words in a text and elaborate the reader's mind into imagining the actual events taking place. In the classic novel, Lord of the Flies, William Golding utilizes the setting, mood and tone in great detail to reflect how the characters think, act and feel. Upon a desolate tropical island, a group of boys of different characteristics get marooned when their plane crashes. Golding describes the island in a way that appeals to the reader as paradise, "The palms that stood made a green roof, covered on the underside with a quivering tangle of reflections from the lagoon... It was clear to the bottom and bright with the efflorescence of tropical weed and coral. A school of tiny, glittering fish flicked hither and thither". (p. 12) The island itself suggests a place of wonder and relaxation.

Providing the reader with the impression of an utopia society, an impression that will soon be contradicted as the novel progresses. After a signal fire is ignited by Ralph's orders, two young twins, Sam and Eric stand guard in maintaining the fire. While on duty, an eerie figure drifts down from the sky and lands in the forest several yards away from Sam and Eric. "There was a sudden bright explosion and corkscrew trail across the sky... There was a speck above the island, a figure dropping swiftly beneath a parachute, a figure that hung with dangling limbs.

The changing winds of various altitudes took the figure where they would. Then three miles up, the wind steadied and bore it in a descending curve round the sky and swept it in a great slant across the reef and the lagoon toward the mountain". (p. 95) The dead parachutist, also known as the beast, is used to foreshadow the death of Simon, a small although intellectual boy. The parachutist shows the idea of one man slaughtering another as he dies in war. As Simon, returns to the other boys to inform them of his encounter with the parachutist (the beast), he is mistaken for the beast and is brutally attacked. The effects of lighting, rain as well as wind aroused the sensation of rage and excitement in the boys in their slaughter. "The beast struggled forward, broke the ring and fell over the steep edge of rock to the sand by the water...

The clouds opened and let down the rain like a waterfall. The water bounded from the mountain-top, tore leaves and branches from the tress, poured like a cold shower over the struggling head on the sand... A great wind blew the rain sideways, cascading the water from the forest trees". (p. 153) The atmosphere created, portrayed a mysterious and depressing feeling as the boys continued to slaughter "the beast" in their rage and excitement. Simon eventually dies; killed by those whom he depended on for survival. During the end of the novel, Ralph, a "fair boy" (p. 9) is left alone and defenseless. Jack, the leader of the hunters, forces the boys in his camp into a manhunt for Ralph; behind them trailed a fire that will eventually engulf the island".

Smoke was seeping through the branches in white and yellow wisps, the patch of blue sky overhead turned to the color of a storm cloud". (p. 195) Golding created tension and suspense with Jack's manhunt and uses the fire to construct the mood. Ralph eventually dashes to the shore of the beach finding a naval officer. If not for the naval officer, the boys would surely have been left to deteriorate in the evil within themselves. The setting, mood and tone in Lord of the Flies are essential as Golding utilizes these elements to foreshadow and build suspense with upcoming events. Golding successfully paints a picture for the reader as he descriptively expresses the setting.