Lord Of The Flies By William Golding example essay topic

The Lord of the Flies by William Golding is considered to be one of the most influential and often controversial pieces of literature from the 1950's. Published in the midst of the Cold War, this novel was perhaps a fulfillment of whatever prophecy convinced Golding to abandon the sciences at the Oxford College where his father taught in favor of studying the English language and literature in greater depth. Work in the independent theaters of "very, very far-off-Broadway theater", Royal Navy during wartime, and even the English educational system, were all in preparation for his masterpiece to come in 1954. Dissatisfied with wars between nations and within the school system, Golding made profound statements through the book. Success would finally accompany Lord of the Flies when, in 1959, it was published in the United States. Something about this book struck America - and the rest of the world - as frightening and truthful, insightful and dangerous, abhorrent and appealing.

Why would a novel about a group of shipwrecked schoolboys on a deserted island, fighting for survival against the forces of nature, instantly become a classroom standard? So easily this plot line could have dissolved into the trash of 1950's pulp fiction, yet it easily maintained the dignity and importance of the great literature Golding held in high esteem. The forces of nature at work against the school boys of The Lord of the Flies were not just those brought in with the wind and the rain and hiding beneath the dense brush of the forest; the real forces of nature at work for these children was the darkness within their own hearts and the fear that accompanies it. This book is an examination of the inherent evil that is human nature, and the fear that controls every human's actions. Golding was able to convey this darkness and fear through his mastery of the English language; the vivid and visual writing style, execution of allusion and metaphor through characters and story elements, and portrayals of major plot events create a book that is not only readable, but also an important journey into the nature of every human. The Lord of the Flies is a book that reads at a fast pace but remains in the mind for careful consideration.

Not dissimilar from the works of James Barrie (Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, Peter and Wendy), this complex story has the air of the children's adventure book. Simple and descriptive chapter titles are fitting for the sans-serif type narration that clearly states the facts at hand. Yet this is not dull writing, but rather a style that utilizes vivid colors and images. For example, color imagery is common - pink relating to the innocent, black and red relating to the tainted, and yellow to the emerging innocent but messianic themes. The descriptions of that which are good and right in the world fall like baby's breath into the mind's ears of the reader, and the things which are unsettling scrape like poisoned sidewalk gravel. In fact, the simplicity of the sentence structure make the visual descriptions even more effective because they are so stark, almost as naked as the boys turning savage on the island.

The use of color as a visual and metaphorical aid is highly important to the foundation of Golding's tale of evil within the hearts of men. Light and dark become important factors throughout the book. It is Ralph that ponders, "If faces were different when lit from above or below-what was a face? What was anything?' (78) Use of the shadows to deceive occurs throughout Lord of the Flies. It is very much up to the interpretation of the beholder to decide who is showing his true face and who is showing a face meant to deceive, and also to understand that everything in the world around a person can only take on the meaning that he allows it to.

It is the darkness on the island that keeps the physical incarnation of the beast masked from discovery by the boys. Not wanting to admit that the darkness and evil that was there on the island was actually themselves, they searched for a physical beast, and when the dead pilot was found hanging from a tree, he looked to the children to be an ape-like monster. The darkness allowed them to see a horrible creature onto which to vent all fears and avoid turning that fear inward. This incarnation of the beast within the children and physically upon the island - and in fact the island itself -- are allegorical of the Christian mythology that so rampantly preaches about the inherent evil of man and his fear of punishment for that very nature. Golding's description if the island implies it to be a kind of Neverland / Eden. 'Here at last was the imagined but never fully realized place leaping into real life.

' (15) But even from the title of the book, the reader knows that this paradise, and the new people that reside within it, are destined to fall. Golding has named his work Lord of the Flies after a (possibly mistranslated) title of Satan. Beelzebub, the mythical, rebellious, and powerfully dangerous beast of the Christian pantheon, tempted Eve within her Garden to taste things forbidden in exchange for knowledge and defiance, and forever she tainted all humankind with Original Sin. The boys attempt to weed out the evil in the form of a hunt for the body of the Beast, but the Lord of the Flies mocks their misled efforts. "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?" (142) In the Bible, the Beast is prophesied to come from the air and from the sea. From the air falls the physical incarnation of the beast in the form of the downed pilot; from the sea comes the plane-full of the boys themselves. It comes to be understood that while there may be a traditionally non-kosher swine head idol-offering standing as a visual representation of the beast, the true beast is the evil and corruption of the humans. When speaking of the Beast, Simon said", 'What I mean is... Maybe it's only us.

'. .. Simon became inarticulate in his efforts to express mankind's essential illness. ' (89) The evil nature of mankind is not without some limitations however, because the fear of punishment for acts of wrongdoing remains within each person.

In agreement with Ralph, Jack says, "We " ve got to have rules and obey them". (42) Why hold onto rules except out of fear of retribution if things are done otherwise? In the Christian mythological world, the punishment of God for sins is damnation, often represented as an eternity in burning agony. Within Lord of the Flies, fire is an important reoccurring theme and element. Early in the story, the mountain-fire claims a victim when it burns out of control, and later the fire distinguishes itself and prevents the rescue of the stranded boys from the island. Fire nearly claims the life of Ralph in the end, but instead signals for help.

Ralph says of the defeat brought upon them by the fire's wrath, "We can't keep one fire going. And they don't care. And what's more, I don't sometimes". (139) Later, when Ralph has come to terms with his own darkness and separated himself from those who have killed Simon, 'There was something good about a fire. Something overwhelmingly good.

' (163) The intense fear of The Beast, of course, is also because the boys are afraid that it will bring them harm in return for their actions upon the island. The most important elements, though, through which Golding expresses the evil nature of man is through his particular wording of the character development. In keeping with the Christian imagery, the boys who are to become The Hunters were originally choir boys, described in full as donning altar robes and crosses. It is Jack, the choirmaster, who will actually take on the role of the Antichrist-like Chief of the Hunters and be largely responsible for the cold-blooded murders of several of the boys.

Jack would try "to convey the compulsion to track down and kill that was swallowing him up;' (51) this compulsion being a descent into his own sinful nature. Jack most fully experiences his forbidden knowledge after the first kill: " 'His mind was crowded with memories; memories of the knowledge that had come to them when they closed in on the struggling pig, knowledge that they had outwitted a living thing, imposed their will upon it, taken away its life like a long satisfying drink. ' (70) He is consumed by the Beast within, and he leads the other choirboys who were once righteous down the path to evil. Golding lines this path with words like the blood of slaughtered pigs offered to a pagan war-god: " 'This head is for the beast. It's a gift. ' (124) When the Hunters completely lose their innocence in an orgy esque ritual rape and slaughter of the pig, Golding's attention to detail brings to stinking life the sadism of humankind.

It is not by accident that Jack proclaims himself to be chief in parallel to the end-times prophecy that the Anti-Christ will proclaim himself to be God; Golding has intentionally built the words of his novel to fit into this religious mold. William Golding creates within Lord of the Flies a sort of dystopian Neverland, a fallen Eden in a time of already established Original Sin. The Satanic influence of The Beast is not only incarnate on the island in the form of "the half-shut eyes... dim with the infinite cynicism of adult life" (137) which belong to the Beast and all that is the Grown Up world, but sadly also within the hearts of the young boys who enter this garden. In his magnificent vivid written creation of the isolated island and the horrors that lie and land upon it, Golding nonetheless somehow maintains an almost academic lecturing tone to his work. Sunday school simple sentence structure allows an incredible degree of freedom to symbolize and metaphor to the brim, creating a captivating allegory of the mythological Christian paradigm of evil within each man's heart and his fear of punishment - whether that be in the form of God, The Beast, Fire, Nature, or the other boys on the island. Without proper use of language, Lord of the Flies could have easily become a cookie-cutter adventure tale, but instead it now ranks among the most celebrated and disturbing of modern novels.

Bibliography

Golding, William. The Lord of the Flies. B owns, Jason. 'Book Rags Book Notes on Lord of the Flies. ' 1 July 2004.