The Lord of the Flies

Barakat 1

Mona Barakat

In The Lord of Flies, William Golding addresses many important ideas which can be related to our world today. The story begins in World War II when a plane carrying a group of English boys was shot down and it lands on a deserted island. The pilot of the plane was lost. Therefore, the boys were left with no adult supervision. In the novel, Golding uses a lot of symbols which help the reader to see the struggle between civilization and savagery which can even be found today.

At the beginning of the novel, the boys are connected to civilization. They try to change the island to a place with civilization. One of the first signs of civilization is the conch. The boys use the conch as a symbol of democracy. The conch governs the meetings where the boys discuss their daily issues. The person who holds the conch has the right to speak due to the fact that without the conch everyone would speak at the same time which leads to chaos.

"Piggy's got the conch."

"That’s right – favor Piggy as you always do……"

"Jack!"

"The rules!" shouted Ralph, "youre breaking the rules!"

"Who cares?"

Ralph summoned his wits.

"Because the rules are the only thing we've got" (Golding104).

Another symbol of civilization is when they elected one of the boys, Ralph to be the leader. The sign of evilness was when Jack refused to admit that he failed to become the leader of the group. The evil in him controlled his actions by letting him ask for revenge no matter what the method was. This can be related to our world today. In Somalia, the people Barakat 2 elected Said Barre, but the warlords refused him as a leader causing a civil war to start between Islamic Court Union and the warlords. The increasingly violent and chaotic situation developed to a human crisis and a state of disorder.

The third important symbol is the fictional beast which frightens the boys. Simon was the only boy who was able to realize that the beast doesn't really exist but in fact it symbolizes the evil that is in every one of us. People control the evilness in them by using their brain. If people let the evilness dominate their actions then humans would have became savages.

“There isn’t anyone to help you. Only me. And I’m the Beast".

"Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill! Said the

head. . . . 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 the way they are?” (Golding 166)

These lines were told by the lord of flies to Simon. In our world today, the beast can be symbolized as terrorism. Anything that happens which is not ordinary, like if a plane lands for emergency reasons people always relate this to terrorism. Furthermore, we could see the image of the beast in the media when President Bush said "the triangle of evil includes Syria,

Iran and North Korea." The idea of the beast makes people blind to see the truth and just follow the leader. This is due to the fact that most of the information is hidden and people only get the information which is given to them. (Ong)

The conflict between civilization and savagery can resemble the struggle and conflict between the two main characters of the story. The protagonist of the story is Ralph. He represents civilization and the good in a person. He is an example of a good leader who tries his best to provide the boys with shelter, food and most of all their hope that they will survive. At the beginning of the story Ralph was able to control the group, because the boys wanted to hold on to the civilization they belong to. Also the good in the boys was wining Barakat 3 against the evil in them. But with time passing, their hope to be rescued was dying; therefore, their evil side began to win against their good side. Jack is the antagonist of the story. Unlike

Ralph, Jack becomes fond of hunting animals. He also painted his face like a barbarian. His desire for power made him kill animals in order to show the boys that he was more capable of being the leader of the group. In the end of the story, Jack and his group of hunters hunt down

Ralph to kill him. This shows how the boys lost all the sense of civilization and became a group of savages and barbarians.

The difference between animals and humans is that humans can think and have rules that govern the society. But this was lost on the island. This can be shown when Simon comes back to the group, but the boys fail to recognize him and brutally kill him. They couldn't recognize who he was, because they just killed a pig and this was the first time they kill a living thing. Golding shows through the story that people take civilization and savagery to different levels depending on who wins the struggle between the good and bad. For example, piggy had no savage feelings what so ever, unlike Jack who turned into a total savage (Gerenser).

In the end of the story, Golding uses deus ex machina by introducing a naval officer who appears at the island just before Jack kills Ralph. He brings the boys back to the world of reality. He is astonished of how the boys turned to savages and are killing each other. This is ironic, because World War II is what brought the boys to this island. In addition to this the navy officer himself is killing people outside the island thus acting as a savage himself.

"I should have thought that a pack of British boys- you're all British aren't

you? Would have been able to put up a better show than that I mean…"

"It was like that at first." said Ralph, "before things…"

"He stopped."

"We were together then …" Barakat 4

"I know. Jolly good show. Like the coral island" (Golding 238).

The lord of the flies is a symbol of the world today. There is always a struggle with in every human between the good and evil. Between the idea of being civilized and the idea of becoming a savage if the evil in them takes over. But if a person has ties to the morals and values of the society then in most cases the good side will succeed. Nevertheless as humans we make mistakes and many times we give in to the evil in us. Without the evil in humans the world would be a perfect place. Barakat 5

Works Cited

Golding, William . Lord of the Flies. Librairie du Liban Publishers Sal 2002.

Scott, Gerense . October 2, 1998. .

Ong, Andy. March 22, 1999. Lord of the Flies Project Site (Major).