Preview

The Lord Of The Flies: Beast Transformation

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
337 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Lord Of The Flies: Beast Transformation
Beast Transformation

In The Lord of the Flies, the beast goes through many transformations throughout the book, and has literal and symbolic meanings that further describe it. When the boy with the birth mark on his face first sees the beast, he claims that he, “[saw] a snake-thing […] in the dark” (31). The reality of the beast to the boy is that of a snake or vine, but it really just represents his fears, and how they take control of what he thinks is real and what isn’t. After jack comes back from a day’s hunting, he describes being alone as, “a feeling [that you’re] being hunted, as if something is behind you all the time in the jungle” (47). Jack claims that the thing watching him is a hunter or predator, but it actually just symbolizes

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    This book starts with Desmond Doss inside the barracks talking about all the older and tougher men. He said that if the older men were talking about how tough the day had been then the day for Doss had been really bad and rough. Men had been drafted into the Army at this point but Doss had joined willingly as a conscientious objector, a non combatant. President Roosevelt and the chief of staff of the Army had written Doss saying that he would not have to bear arms. Desmond Doss was to be a medic in the army. Desmond was not liked by the rest of the men in his company. The men in his barracks during basic made fun of him for his religious beliefs. Desmond is a 7th day adventist which will cause him some trouble later on. Desmond was supposed…

    • 670 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Of all the boys, only the mystic Simon has the courage to discover the true identity of the beast sighted on the mountain. After witnessing the death of the sow and the gift made of her head to the beast, Simon begins to hallucinate, and the staked sow's head becomes the Lord of the Flies, imparting to Simon what he has already suspected: The beast is not an animal on the loose but is hidden in each boy's psyche. Weakened by his horrific vision, Simon loses…

    • 892 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Boy's Savage DBQ

    • 156 Words
    • 1 Page

    The boys are fearful of the island and the boys take these fears to turn it into a creature of their imagination known to them as the “beast”. In document A it says,”they externalize those fears into a figure of a ‘beast’.” This evidence shows that the boys are scared and confused, the only way the boys can rid themselves of their fears and face them is to turn it into barbaric monster.” There is no snake thing.If there was we’ll hunt it and kill it.” This excerpt from document B shows that the boys are more believing in the animal the more they stay. Before long,…

    • 156 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ever hear someone saying, “There’s an elephant in the room.”? However everyone knows that the elephant symbolizes the nervous feeling in the atmosphere. This quote is well put in play in the book Lord of the Flies, by William Golding. In this book the little children stated that they saw a beastie in the woods at night. Jack and Ralph, the older kids, take this as a nightmare and tell the children to calm down. But, it’s pretty clear that the beastie is all the tense, scared, and nervous feeling building up within them. They all know its there, however none of the older kids want to admit it, because of their ego and want to be leader which shows a true case of man vs. beastie, or as in this case it could also be man vs. himself. Furthermore, the beastie is said to be an ever so big snake­thing(35) found in the woods by the boy with the mulberry­colored birthmark. Ralph seems to deny the spotting from the start as in: “You couldn’t have a beastie, a snake­thing, on an island this size,” Ralph explained kindly. “ You only get them in big countries, like Africa or India.” (36). Golding offers the reader some inklings about Ralph by this quotation. Ralph, well­built, attractive, strong boy(10&11), and the other children believe that among themselves they need a person to be in charge, so an election took place: “Let’s have a vote.” “Yes!”... “Him with the shell.” “Ralph! Ralph!” “Let him be the chief with the trumpet­thing.”(22); Ralph had won this selection and was chosen to be the head on this island, who will make the crucial decisions…

    • 357 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hasn’t everyone wondered if the monsters in your closet or under your bed were real? In the Lord of the Flies, set in the near future, six young boys are left alone on an unnamed island. They are left alone with their imaginations that have created a “Beast”. In Lord of the Flies, what is the “Beast”? Soon the reader will realize that the symbolization of the beast changes.…

    • 519 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As you read the lord of flies there are a lot of allegory and symbol to backup the allegory. In his lord of the flies, allegory William golding attempts to argue that kids on the island have a darkness by show it by the beast.The beast is the kid’s on the island.During the story, first kid to find out about the beast was a littlun who name was Phil.The person who was really affected by the beast was Simon.Lord of the file tries to prove him that the beast was their self.…

    • 513 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    LoTF Theme Essay

    • 412 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In chapter eight, “Gift For The Darkness ,” Simon, a character in the book, encounters the pig’s head on a stick, also known as the Lord Of The Flies. The Lord Of The Flies tells him, “fancy thinking the beast is something you can hunt and kill! ” (pg143 ) Here, the Lord Of The Flies was telling him that they had no idea that the beast they are supposedly “hunting down,” is inside of them. Living in their very own bodies and mind, the beast also tells him, “you knew didn't you? i'm a part of you.” (143) There, the beast is telling him that Simon knows that there is something deep down inside of the boys. The beast is always inside of them. they need to fight the fear inside of themselves to defeat the beast. If they fail, the beast will awaken and turn them all into savages.…

    • 412 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The central theme of the text, Lord of the Flies, is power. The different aspects of power shown, is the invariable corruption of power, the reality of betrayal and the influence of fear. In the text, Jack is the antagonist, his like a dictator; he uses fear to control the boys on the island and manipulates them and uses them to his own advantage such as to get food and shelter. Jack uses a story of a non-existent beast to manipulate the other boys to follow his orders/ commands. The reason why the boys follow him and sees him as a leader is because he promised ‘protection from the beast’. A quote in the text that talks about the beast: "Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill! You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they…

    • 1617 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Initially, the beast symbolizes fear. Minors need a mother to comfort them in their fears, but there are no mothers on the island they are on. “They externalize these fears into the beast.” (Doc A) With no safe or at home feeling, the kids have to express their thoughts somehow. The most practical way for them to do so is by visualizing imaginary creatures and ideas. A child discusses his encounter with the beast and the boys’ explanation was, “He was dreaming… he must’ve had a nightmare.” (Doc B) Again, the children express their fears through nightmares and they become imaginary figures that seem real to them.…

    • 452 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It came and went again an’ came back and wanted to eat him-’” (Golding 35). The little boys are afraid of this unknown beast and the rumors about it appear increasingly more true. Just as Richard Parker is a manifestation of Pi’s fear in Life of Pi, the children in Lord of the Flies cannot comprehend the fear they feel on the island so they put it into something they will understand and that is “the Beast”. Although “the Beast” is simply a product of imagination, the fear it exposes changes the boys and they forget all sense of order. When the chant“‘Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood.’” (72) is recited is as a prime example of how the beast altered the mindset and decision making of the young boys. While the boys chant they give into their fear of the beast and therefore they change the way they act and don’t realize what they are saying. Subsequently, the readers can see that the novels Life of Pi and Lord of the Flies are similar because both books contain the fear of the unknown. Pi does not understand why people could be so ferocious and the boys on the island can’t comprehend what surrounds them so the characters in both books put their fear into something that they can comprehend, Richard Parker and “the…

    • 707 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Ralph's Savagery

    • 1117 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In an imaginary conversation, the Lord of the Flies tells Simon that he is the beast and that he is the reason for the savagery in the boy’s, “Only me. And I’m the Beast. You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are?’ ‘You know...you’ll only meet me down there—so don’t try to escape!’ ‘Jack...Roger..Maurice...Robert...Bill...Piggy...Ralph” (143). The Lord of the Flies provides a clear indication that he is the savage beast within the boy’s and that he, meaning the other boy’s will kill Simon,”You know...you’ll only meet me down there—so don’t try to escape! ‘Jack and Roger and Maurice and Robert and Bill and Piggy and Ralph” (143). Simon will soon realize what the Lord of the Flies met when the boy’s actually kill him, “The beast (Simon) was on its knees...was crying out against the abominable noise something about a body on the hill. The beast...fell over the steep edge of the rock to the sand by the water. At once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt onto the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore“ (152). The boy’s have become blinded by their own savagery and fear to notice that they are killing Simon. Due to their own savagery and fear they killed Simon. No one a part of civilization would be so scared of something that they are paranoid enough to…

    • 1117 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The belief in the “Beast” caused the lost boys’ imaginations to take over, causing them to overreact out of fear, war, and their savage nature as humans and do gravely regrettable things. The monster or demon in the Lord of the Flies turns out to be the boys themselves. This brings a certain quote to mind, “A man’s worst enemy is…

    • 618 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The imaginary beast that the boys fear represents the savage in all human beings. The boys fear the beast but only Simon realizes that they fear the beast because it exists inside of them. As the boys become more and more like savages, the belief in the beast grows stronger. Near the end of the novel, the boys begin to leave sacrifices and treating it like a god. Their behaviour is what brings the beast into existence, therefore the savagely the boys act, the more real the beat…

    • 281 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    On pages 52-53 of Lord of the Flies by William Golding, one of the main characters, Jack, describes how he feels during a hunt. In Jack’s statement “If you’re hunting sometime you catch yourself feeling as if... you can feel as if you’re not hunting, but- being hunted, as if something's behind you all the time in the jungle” (53). This statement is significant because just as the littluns are afraid of the beast that is on the island, Jack feels as if he was being hunted in the jungle while he was trying to hunt. This is also a key quote in the novel because Jack is a very loud, strong-minded, and fearless character, but he can still connect his fear of being alone in the jungle to the littluns fear of the beast. This shows that Jack too believed…

    • 322 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the very beginning, the beast was something that only existed in the boys’ minds and practically only scared the littluns. As time passed by, it mutated into something much larger than any unknown creature could possibly be. They feared what they could not see in the dark and they were vulnerable as sunlight turned into darkness. When the sun set, their worries came lashing back at them. “Soon the darkness was full of claws, full of the awful unknown and menace” (99). It’s very ironic how multiple horrific events happen when the sun is no longer present like the killing of Simon; so daylight gave them assurance of safety. While Ralph and Jack’s hunters went hunting for the beast… “The sun was bright and danger had faded with the darkness” (108). They were concerned with the possibility of a monster lurking through the vast, unexplored island that could harm them. They’re even unsure of what the beast really is and where it comes from. “He says the beast comes out of the sea” (88). Even more horrifying, they feared each other even though they never really knew it themselves.…

    • 1290 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics