Critical Lens Regents Essay
Critical Lens Essay
According to Ernest Hemingway, “...all things truly wicked start from innocence.” This quotation means that everything that is evil was once pure. I agree with the quotation because when your are pure of anything contaminated, the environment can create evilness in a person. Through the use of symbolism in Lord of the Flies, and irony in Oedipus the King, William Golding and Sophocles shows the readers that corruption stems from innocence.
William Golding uses symbolism in Lord of the Flies to prove that everything bad began with goodness. Lord of the Flies is about a group of boys from England who are stranded on an island with no adults. For example, the boys were having a feast sharing and getting along. The narrator states, “The boys with the spit gave Ralph and Piggy each succulent chunk. They took the gift, dribbling. So they stood and ate beneath a sky of thunderous brass that rang with the storm coming(149).” The boys then killed simon, mistaking him for the beast. The boys chant, “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood! Do him in!(152)” This example shows that the boys go from innocent boys to savages animals, who kill without remorse. When Piggy goes to Castle Rock to get his glasses back from Jack’s tribe he gets killed and the conch gets smashed by a boulder rock. The narrator states, “The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exit(181).” This example proves that the symbolism of the conch’s meaning has vanished. It meant togetherness, power and leadership, but when the conch breaks the meaning of the conch is gone. The boys act like animals and forget the true meaning of the conch, and they begin acting like animals. The environment is influencing the once innocent boys to act in an immoral way. William Golding is not the only author that proves that everything evil started form virtuousness.
Sophocles uses irony in Oedipus the King to
According to Ernest Hemingway, “...all things truly wicked start from innocence.” This quotation means that everything that is evil was once pure. I agree with the quotation because when your are pure of anything contaminated, the environment can create evilness in a person. Through the use of symbolism in Lord of the Flies, and irony in Oedipus the King, William Golding and Sophocles shows the readers that corruption stems from innocence.
William Golding uses symbolism in Lord of the Flies to prove that everything bad began with goodness. Lord of the Flies is about a group of boys from England who are stranded on an island with no adults. For example, the boys were having a feast sharing and getting along. The narrator states, “The boys with the spit gave Ralph and Piggy each succulent chunk. They took the gift, dribbling. So they stood and ate beneath a sky of thunderous brass that rang with the storm coming(149).” The boys then killed simon, mistaking him for the beast. The boys chant, “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood! Do him in!(152)” This example shows that the boys go from innocent boys to savages animals, who kill without remorse. When Piggy goes to Castle Rock to get his glasses back from Jack’s tribe he gets killed and the conch gets smashed by a boulder rock. The narrator states, “The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exit(181).” This example proves that the symbolism of the conch’s meaning has vanished. It meant togetherness, power and leadership, but when the conch breaks the meaning of the conch is gone. The boys act like animals and forget the true meaning of the conch, and they begin acting like animals. The environment is influencing the once innocent boys to act in an immoral way. William Golding is not the only author that proves that everything evil started form virtuousness.
Sophocles uses irony in Oedipus the King to