Lord of the Flies
Lord of the Flies
EXPOSITORY ESSAY
FINAL COPY
Lord of the Flies” by William Golding is a dramatic novel filled with irony, fear and truth. It touches on many issues surrounding government, Christianity and democracy. The book focuses on society and through its effective use of conflict, gives us an idea what life would like without rules and civilization. The novel tells a story of a plane filled with British school boys that crashes on a deserted island during World War 2. The boys, struggling to survive, test their morals, values and beliefs. Conflict is developed throughout the novel in the form of man vs. nature, man vs. man, man vs. himself, and man vs. society. The first type of conflict that is developed in this novel in man vs. nature. The boys are stranded on an uninhabited, uncivilized island and have very limited resources available to them at their disposal. To survive, the boys start testing their morals and their survival instincts. At first, the boys are hesitant to do things that seem to be un-ethical, but eventually, even thought it conflicts with their prior beliefs, the boys give in and do what is necessary to survive. In the beginning of this novel, Jack and Ralph set out to explore the island. On their adventure they encounter a pig, which they realize would be good meat and make good food for the group. Jack is at first reluctant to kill the pig, because the idea of killing a living thing disturbs him and goes against his moral conduct. Throughout the novel, not only does Jack eventually accept and kill pigs, but, towards the end, Jack's warrior identity brutally murdered the sow and hung his head on a stick. One could say he developed a sort of sick obsession with killing. When he once killed out of necessity, he now kills just for sport. Another type of conflict that is present and dominant in this novel is man vs. man. In everyday life, people’s different personalities cause disagreements and arguments. As with any group of
EXPOSITORY ESSAY
FINAL COPY
Lord of the Flies” by William Golding is a dramatic novel filled with irony, fear and truth. It touches on many issues surrounding government, Christianity and democracy. The book focuses on society and through its effective use of conflict, gives us an idea what life would like without rules and civilization. The novel tells a story of a plane filled with British school boys that crashes on a deserted island during World War 2. The boys, struggling to survive, test their morals, values and beliefs. Conflict is developed throughout the novel in the form of man vs. nature, man vs. man, man vs. himself, and man vs. society. The first type of conflict that is developed in this novel in man vs. nature. The boys are stranded on an uninhabited, uncivilized island and have very limited resources available to them at their disposal. To survive, the boys start testing their morals and their survival instincts. At first, the boys are hesitant to do things that seem to be un-ethical, but eventually, even thought it conflicts with their prior beliefs, the boys give in and do what is necessary to survive. In the beginning of this novel, Jack and Ralph set out to explore the island. On their adventure they encounter a pig, which they realize would be good meat and make good food for the group. Jack is at first reluctant to kill the pig, because the idea of killing a living thing disturbs him and goes against his moral conduct. Throughout the novel, not only does Jack eventually accept and kill pigs, but, towards the end, Jack's warrior identity brutally murdered the sow and hung his head on a stick. One could say he developed a sort of sick obsession with killing. When he once killed out of necessity, he now kills just for sport. Another type of conflict that is present and dominant in this novel is man vs. man. In everyday life, people’s different personalities cause disagreements and arguments. As with any group of