Only Boy On The Island example essay topic

... he first time, had an opportunity to join the hunters and share their desire for violence. 'Ralph too was fighting to get near, to get a handful of that brown, vulnerable flesh. The desire to squeeze and hurt was over-mastering. ' (p. 126) Without rules to limit them, they were free to make their game as real as they wanted. Ralph did not understand the hatred Jack had for him, nor did he fully comprehend why their small and simple society deteriorated. This confusion removed his self-confidence and made him more dependent on Piggy's judgement, until Piggy began prompting him on what needed to be said and done. Towards the end of the novel, Ralph was forced into independence when he lost all his followers to Jack's savagery, and when Piggy and the conch were smashed by Roger's boulder.

He was forced to determine how to avoid Jack's savage hunters alone. Ralph's more responsible behaviour set him apart from the other savage boys and made it difficult for him to accept and realize the changes they were undergoing. Becoming lost in his exposure to their inherent evil, Ralph's confusion brought about the deterioration of his initial self-assurance and ordered temperament, allowing him to experience brief outbursts of his beastly self. Piggy was an educated boy rejected by the kids of his age group on account of his being overweight.

It was his academic background and his isolation from the savage boys that had allowed him to remain mostly unchanged from his primitive experiences on the island. His unattractive attributes segregated him from the other boys on the island. He was not welcomed on their first exploratory trip of the island. 'We don't want you,' Jack had said to Piggy. (p. 26) Piggy was like an observer learning from the actions of others.

His status in their society allowed him to look at the boys from an outsider's perspective. He could learn of the hatred being brought out of the boys without having to experience the thirst for blood that Ralph was exposed to. Although he was easily intimidated by the other boys, especially by Jack, he did not lack the self-confidence to protest or speak out against the indignities from the boys as the shy former choirboy Simon did. This self-confidence differed from that of Ralph's as it did not come from his acceptance by their peers nor did it come from the authority and power Jack had grown accustomed to.

It came from the pride in having accumulated the wisdom that was obviously greater than that of most of the other kids at his age. Piggy not only knew what the rules were, as all the other boys did, but he also had the patience to at least wonder why the rules existed. This intuition made Piggy not only more aware of why the rules were imposed, thereby ensuring that he would abide by them even when they were not enforced. When the boys flocked to the mountaintop to build their fire, Piggy shouted after them, 'Acting like a crowd of kids!' (p. 42) Piggy was a very liable person who could look ahead and plan carefully of the future. He shouted at the boys' immature recklessness, 'The first thing we ought to have made was shelters down there by the beach... Then when you get here you build a bonfire that isn't no use.

Now you been and set the whole island on fire. ' (p. 50) Like Ralph, his sense of responsibility set him apart from the other boys. The author used the image of long hair to illustrate Piggy's sustenance of his civilized behaviour. 'He was the only boy on the island whose hair never seemed to grow. ' (p. 70) The author's description of his baldness also presented an image of old age and made Piggy seem to lack the strength of youth. The increasing injustice Piggy endured towards the end of the novel was far greater than any that he had encountered previously. In his fit of anger, Piggy cried out, 'I don't ask for my glasses back, not as a favour. I don't ask you to be a sport, I'll say, not because you " re strong, but because what's right's right. ' (p. 189) This new standard of harshness brought tears out of him as the suffering became intolerable.

For a brief moment, Piggy's anger at the unfairness and his helplessness robbed him of his usual logical reasoning, which returned when he was confronted with his fear of the savages. Piggy was an intelligent boy with a good understanding of their situation on the island. He was able to think clearly and plan ahead with caution so that even in the freedom of their unregulated world, his wisdom and his isolation from the savage boys kept him from giving into the evil that had so easily consumed Jack and his followers. The resulting cruelty Jack inflicted upon him taught Piggy how much more pain there was in the world. Lord of the flies used changes experienced by boys on an uninhabited island to show the evil nature of man. By using different characters the author was able to portray various types of people found in our society.

Their true selves were revealed in the freedom from the laws and punishment of a world with adults. Under the power and regulations of their former society, Jack's inner evil was suppressed. But when the rules no longer existed, he was free to do what malice he desired. Ralph had grown so used to the regularity of a civilized world, that the changes they underwent were difficult for him to comprehend. He became confused and less capable of thinking clearly and independently. Although he too had experienced the urge for violence that had driven Jack and the hunters to momentary peaks of madness, his more sensitive personality and his sense of obligation saved him from complete savagery.

These two traits also helped to keep Piggy from becoming primitive in behaviour. He was made an outcast by his undesirable physique and his superior intelligence. This isolation and wisdom also helped Piggy to retain his civilized behaviour. As well, he was made painfully more aware of the great amount of injustice in the world. From these three characters, it could be seen that under the same circumstances, different individuals can develop in different ways depending on the factors within themselves and how they interacted with each other.

Their personalities and what they knew can determine how they would interpret and adapt to a new environment such as the tropical island. Not everyone has so much malevolence hidden inside themselves as to become complete savages when released from the boundaries of our society. Some people will, because of the ways they were conditioned, remember and abide by the rules they had depended on for social organization and security. -- William Golding, Lord of the Flies (1954; London: Faber and Faber Limited, 1989), p. 23.