"Lord Of The Flies" by William Golding

Essay by bakerstreetHigh School, 11th grade April 2006

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William Golding first presented "Lord of the flies" in 1954 during the threat of a nuclear holocaust just after the cold war when people were still in concentration camps. He uses the story as an allegory to show how man kind has descended into savagery. An example of how he shows this, is the characters themselves (mankind or world leaders) and the actual geography of the island (earth.) Golding's novel shows us how a group of civilized English boys who's back grounds stem from singing in a church choir, have become isolated on a desert island after the plane has been shot down by a Russian jet fighter. The crashing down of the plane which left a scar signified the arrival of the boys and the future demise of there environment. The storyline shows how these boys have descended into uncontrollable savagery and also makes them appear to link back to an early stone age tribe with farcical superstitions about beasts and strange objects.

At the opening of the novel, Ralph and Jack first meet and they appear to get on extremely well. However Ralph's neoursies tell us that he is thinking otherwise and that there is a tension between the pair. We are informed that Jack "shared his burden," and there was an, "invisible light of friendship," between the two boys. Ralph is seen as trying to represent all that is good through out the novel and is the typical hero who is : tall fair haired and very athletic in contrast with his only alliance, Piggy. Jack and Ralph both try to become leader and this is when tension first comes apparent between them, they both think that they should be leader of the people. Jack thinks he should be leader because of the fact that...