Informative Essay on Lord Of The Flies

slowly evolves, Ralph is too civil for the kids' liking and would rather have fun as long as they have no higher power or authority as it is plainly stated on page 34, "While we're eating we can have a good time on the island". Ralph must cope with a group of boys who take nothing seriously, "and they keep running off.... They're off bathing, or eating, or playing. " Basically, the growing conflict in Rally's mature but young mind is a question of giving in to the majority of barbarism or maintaining his role as leader and following through with it by ignoring his own inner savagery.

Ralph searches for the knowledge from school and realizes with a shock, the lack of rules, discipline and structure. He tries to obtain the order before chaos breaks out but fails to do so, "This is our island. It's a good island. Until the grownups come to fetch us we'll have fun. " This quote from page thirty- five, shows exactly what Ralph is dealing with. At one weak point, Ralph plays with the idea of giving in to his temptation and Joining the carefree savage boys, but doesn't from listening to his yearning for obtaining the sense of civilization.

While Ralph is building fires, shelter and thinking of ways to -2 heighten their chances of being saved, Jack, and his supporters would rather have fun, and act barbarically. After countless attempts of ordered focus, Ralph is left with restoration, "Ralph dismissed Simon and went back to his personal hell. " (Gilding 113). Since Ralph was voted leader by a show of hands, one could say his

'ruling' is democratic, while Jack's is dictatorial. Eventually, from these opposite attitudes, two sides were formed, Jack's and Rally's.

Jack and Ralph were once on good terms, but after the ship passes without noticing the boys on page seventy three, "Not even Ralph knew how a link between him and Jack had been snapped and fastened elsewhere. " The island's inhabitants are fixed on the idea of the beast. On page thirty even, Ralph states his feelings for the animal, "He felt himself facing something ungraspable. " After Simon and Piggy; his only two companions are killed, Ralph panics and runs from the group, which is when he encounters the naval officer on the beach.

Rally's conflict is like a teacher struggling to force his students to work and not play, should Ralph give up and let them play? Or fight since he is the teacher; the leader of the group? Jack Merrier, the antagonist of the novel and the assumed oldest of the group is described like this, "... He was thin and bony; and his hair was deed beneath the black cap. His face was crumpled and freckled, and ugly without silliness. Out of this face stared two light blue eyes, frustrated now, and turning, or ready to turn, to anger. " Throughout the novel, Jack's eyes always depict the mood he is in.

Jack doesn't agree with having rules or abiding by them of any kind, however, at the start of the book, there were no set rules, so Jack caused no trouble. He enjoyed life without "the cynicism of adult life" (Gilding 137). Once rules were established, Jack took no intention

of following them. Paranoia plays a huge role in Gilding's evolve as the "beastie" becomes an actual character and a God-like figure in the boys' minds. The longer the group stays on the island, the more savage they seem to get. Since he and his tribe didn't seem to care about being rescued, they are a symbol of the beast' running rampage.

Jack could be described as mysterious and bizarre. He is always scheming or manipulating the boys very subtly. Oddly enough, he is the only boy who's last name is ever learned. Jack Merriment's inner conflict is the struggle to maintain sanity and control within himself. He is a perfect relation of how inner savagery is inescapable once one is presented to it. The ideal example is on page thirty-one where Jack cannot kill the pig, "They knew very well why he hadn't [killed the piglet]: because of the enormity of the knife descending and cutting into living flesh; because of the unbearable blood. Jack is now presented to the theme of savagery and surprisingly, cannot bear the thought of murdering an animal. This was his -3 presentation into savagery and from then on, he becomes immune to the killings and virtually obsessed with the idea of hunting, "He tried to convey the compulsion to rack down and kill that was swallowing him up. " (Gilding 51). Civilization is no longer present in Jack's mind, instead his conflict to maintain his composure and morality is quickly replaced by the thirty sense of barbarity.

Jack paints his face, and this mask becomes him, "... The mask was a thing on its own, behind which Jack

hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness. " (Gilding 64). Jack manipulates the others on the island whilst lacking the sense of composure. Eventually, he is the man with order; the conch shell and somehow tricks them into killing two harmless boys by the names of Simon and Piggy. Unlike Ralph, Jack doesn't have self control and allows himself to be pulled into the human savagery which lies in everyone.

Piggy, Rally's closest friend, is the social outcast on the island and is constantly picked on and left out. He possesses all the qualities to act as bait to the other boys: short, chubby, wears glasses, myopic, physically weak, and regularly complains about his asthma. Although, Piggy might be physically strange and therefore, entertaining to the eye, he is incredibly smart and is the intellectual of the group. Piggy warns and reprimands the other boys for behaving so foolishly. For this reason, Ralph becomes his best friend and Piggy serves as an advisor to his admirable leader.

Piggy's internal conflict revolves around the idea of piggy vs.. Himself. He battles with the prospect of fitting in and having his voice heard through the cries of laughter. Piggy's lack of self esteem doesn't hold him back from believing what he knows to be right. The conflict of no order grows within him and he undoubtedly becomes disgusted by the group of savage boys and their repulsive behavior. In chapter two, Piggy questions the barbarians sharply, "How can you expect to be rescued if you don't put first things iris and act proper? He is directly asking the group if they have any intentions of shaping up, taking

a stand, and focusing on being rescued Just like Ralph questioned Jack if all he can think about is hunting pigs. Piggy is acting like a leader and Ralph doesn't have a problem with it, however, the same cannot be said about Jack. Once Jack senses the loyalty between the three boys, Ralph, Simon, and Piggy, he senses his own insecurities. Before anyone can turn on him, Jack manipulates the boys to kill the opposing group one by one. They start with Simon and make their way to Piggy.

Piggy, the weakest and most vulnerable of the group, was always used for something; first, his knowledge of how to use the conch shell, then his glasses to make the fire... Etc. He was also the boy with an unknown name since he was always called 'piggy' which he openly despised. If one analyzed the death of this boy, one would find many crucial -4 connotations that were hidden in clues throughout the novel. The boys, especially Jack, become obsessed with hunting pigs, hence the name 'piggy'. They were so brainwashed with being savages that they forgot who is who and would kill anything hat even slightly resembled meat.

Roger, Jack's closest supporter, is the boy who murdered Piggy. We begin to understand the death as we see Rorer's vantage point. He took away Piggy's humanity and replaced it with nothing; an animal, "Below him, Ralph was a shock of hair and Piggy a bag of fat. " (Gilding 198). A bag of fat. Pigs were often referred to as bags of fat as well. The boys killed bags of fat- from pigs to piggy. Piggy's

death is extremely symbolic based on these small, but crucial facts. Roger used to throw smallish stones at the 'littlest', foreshadowing the death of Piggy.

As it is stated prior, Piggy was practically blind without his glasses, and Roger took advantage of that. He pushed a huge beclouded down a hill and it crushed Piggy instantly. In his hand, was the conch shell, "The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist. " (Gilding 164). The symbolism of the conch shell is order, and Piggy represented it, now that he's dead, so is the conch shell; so is the order on the island. The beast only affected the weak; only became the vulnerable. Piggy, Ralph and

Simon were too rational to become savage boys Just because they could. Piggy had his voice heard, but was killed before anything could be done about what he said. He died Just before they were rescued. Piggy had very strong wall against peer pressure, he didn't let it affect him in any way. Piggy may have died, but Jack, Roger and all of his followers will have to live with themselves. In William Gilding's Lord of the Flies, the decline of civilization can be attributed to the theme of inner conflict. Three boys were thoroughly analyzed based on their inner conflicts and are therefore understood.

Throughout the second half of the novel, it is said that two boys were killed, but in reality, there was one boy who was never seen again, nor heard of; the boy with the mulberry birth mark. He is never

mentioned again, he Just seemed to disappear; vanish. To sum up Gilding's dark, yet brilliant novel, an appropriate quote from page ninety six is used, "what I mean is... Maybe it's only us. " This quote is so powerful and striking since that was the whole message in the novel. Simon figures it out; the beast lives inside of us, it is us. Gilding's genius novel forced us to examine and reflect upon the human characteristics of inhumanity.