an essay on lord of the flies

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William Golding

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Critical Essays Major Themes

Problem of Evil

Lord of the Flies was driven by " Golding 's consideration of human evil, a complex topic that involves an examination not only of human nature but also the causes, effects, and manifestations of evil. It demands also a close observation of the methods or ideologies humankind uses to combat evil and whether those methods are effective. Golding addresses these topics through the intricate allegory of his novel.

When Lord of the Flies was first released in 1954, Golding described the novel's theme in a publicity questionnaire as "an attempt to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature." In his 1982 essay A Moving Target , he stated simply "The theme of Lord of the Flies is grief, sheer grief, grief, grief." The novel ends of course with Ralph grieving the indelible mark of evil in each person's heart, an evil he scarcely suspected existed before witnessing its effects on his friends and supporters. The former schoolboys sought unthinkingly to dominate others who were not of their group. They discovered within themselves the urge to inflict pain and enjoyed the accompanying rush of power. When confronted with a choice between reason's civilizing influence and animality's self-indulgent savagery, they choose to abandon the values of the civilization that Ralph represents.

This same choice is made constantly all over the world, all throughout history — the source of the grief Golding sought to convey. He places supposedly innocent schoolboys in the protected environment of an uninhabited tropical island to illustrate the point that savagery is not confined to certain people in particular environments but exists in everyone as a stain on, if not a dominator of, the nobler side of human nature. Golding depicts the smallest boys acting out, in innocence, the same cruel desire for mastery shown by Jack and his tribe while hunting pigs and, later, Ralph. The adults waging the war that marooned the boys on the island are also enacting the desire to rule others.

Ironically, by giving rein to their urge to dominate, the boys find themselves in the grip of a force they can neither understand nor acknowledge. The Lord of the Flies tells Simon "Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!" and then laughs at the boys' efforts to externalize their savagery in the form of an animal or other fearsome creature. Simon has the revelation that evil isn't simply a component of human nature, but an active element that seeks expression.

Outlets for Violence

Most societies set up mechanisms to channel aggressive impulses into productive enterprises or projects. On the island, Jack's hunters are successful in providing meat for the group because they tap into their innate ability to commit violence. To the extent that this violence is a reasoned response to the group's needs (for example, to feed for the population), it produces positive effects and outcomes. However, when the violence becomes the motivator and the desired outcome lacks social or moral value beyond itself, as it does with the hunters, at that point the violence becomes evil, savage, and diabolical.

Violence continues to exist in modern society and is institutionalized in the military and politics. Golding develops this theme by having his characters establish a democratic assembly, which is greatly affected by the verbal violence of Jack's power-plays, and an army of hunters, which ultimately forms a small military dictatorship. The boys' assemblies are likened to both ends of the social or civil spectrum, from pre-verbal tribe gatherings to modern governmental institutions, indicating that while the forum for politics has changed over the millennia, the dynamic remains the same.

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an essay on lord of the flies

  • Ph.D., English Language and Literature, Northern Illinois University
  • M.A., English, California State University–Long Beach
  • B.A., English, Northern Illinois University
“The boy with the fair hair lowered himself down the last few feet of rock and began to pick his way toward the lagoon. Though he had taken off his school sweater and trailed it now from one hand, his grey shirt stuck to him and his hair was plastered to his forehead. All round him the long scar smashed into the jungle was a bath of head. He was clambering heavily among the creepers and broken trunks when a bird, a vision of red and yellow, flashed upwards with a witch-like cry; and this cry was echoed by another. ‘Hi!’ it said. ‘Wait a minute’” (1). 

William Golding published his most famous novel, Lord of the Flies , in 1954. This book was the first serious challenge to the popularity of J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye (1951) . Golding explores the lives of a group of schoolboys who are stranded after their airplane crashes on a deserted island. How have people perceived this literary work since its release sixty years ago?

The History of Lord of the Flies

Ten years after the release of Lord of the Flies, James Baker published an article discussing why the book is more true to human nature than any other story about stranded men, such as Robinson Crusoe (1719) or Swiss Family Robinson (1812) . He believes that Golding wrote his book as a parody of Ballantyne’s The Coral Island (1858) . Whereas Ballantyne expressed his belief in the goodness of man, the idea that man would overcome adversity in a civilized way, Golding believed that men were inherently savage. Baker believes that “life on the island has only imitated the larger tragedy in which the adults of the outside world attempted to govern themselves reasonably but ended in the same game of hunt and kill” (294). Ballantyne believes, then, that Golding’s intent was to shine a light on “the defects of society” through his Lord of the Flies (296).

While most critics were discussing Golding as a Christian moralist, Baker rejects the idea and focuses on the sanitization of Christianity and rationalism in Lord of the Flies. Baker concedes that the book does flow in “parallel with the prophecies of the Biblical Apocalypse” but he also suggests that “the making of history and the making of myth are [ . . . ] the same process” (304). In “Why Its No Go,” Baker concludes that the effects of World War II have given Golding the ability to write in a way he never had. Baker notes, “[Golding] observed first hand the expenditure of human ingenuity in the old ritual of war” (305). This suggests that the underlying theme in Lord of the Flies is war and that, in the decade or so following the release of the book, critics turned to religion to understand the story, just as people consistently turn to religion to recover from such devastation as war creates.

By 1970, Baker writes, “[most literate people [ . . . ] are familiar with the story” (446).  Thus, only fourteen years after its release, Lord of the Flies became one of the most popular books on the market. The novel had become a “modern classic” (446). However, Baker states that, in 1970, Lord of the Flies was on the decline. Whereas, in 1962, Golding was considered “Lord of the Campus” by Time magazine, eight years later no one seemed to be paying it much notice. Why is this? How did such an explosive book suddenly drop off after less than two decades? Baker argues that it is in human nature to tire of familiar things and to go on new discoveries; however, the decline of Lord of the Flies , he writes, is also due to something more (447). In simple terms, the decline in popularity of Lord of the Flies can be attributed to the desire for academia to “keep up, to be avant-garde” (448). This boredom, however, was not the main factor in the decline of Golding’s novel.

In 1970 America, the public was “distracted by the noise and color of [ . . . ] protests, marches, strikes, and riots, by the ready articulation and immediate politicization of nearly all [ . . . ] problems and anxieties” (447). 1970 was the year of the infamous Kent State shootings and all talk was on the Vietnam War, the destruction of the world. Baker believes that, with such destruction and terror ripping apart at people’s everyday lives, one hardly saw fit to entertain themselves with a book that parallels that same destruction. Lord of the Flies would force the public “to recognize the likelihood of apocalyptic war as well as the wanton abuse and destruction of environmental resources [ . . . ]” (447).     

Baker writes, “[t]he main reason for the decline of Lord of the Flies is that it no longer suits the temper of the times” (448). Baker believes that the academic and political worlds finally pushed out Golding by 1970 because of their unjust belief in themselves. The intellectuals felt that the world had surpassed the point in which any person would behave the way that the boys of the island did; therefore, the story held little relevance or significance at this time (448). 

These beliefs, that the youth of the time could master the challenges of those boys on the island, are expressed by the reactions of school boards and libraries from 1960 through 1970. “ Lord of the Flies was put under lock and key” (448). Politicians on both sides of the spectrum, liberal and conservative, viewed the book as “subversive and obscene” and believed that Golding was out-of-date (449). The idea of the time was that evil spurred from disorganized societies rather than being present in every human mind (449). Golding is criticized once again as being too heavily influenced by Christian ideals. The only possible explanation for the story is that Golding “undermines the confidence of the young in the American Way of Life” (449). 

All of this criticism was based on the idea of the time that all human “evils” could be corrected by proper social structure and social adjustments. Golding believed, as is demonstrated in Lord of the Flies , that “[s]ocial and economic adjustments [ . . . ] treat only the symptoms instead of the disease” (449). This clash of ideals is the main cause of the fall-off in popularity of Golding’s most famous novel. As Baker puts it, “we perceive in [the book] only a vehement negativism which we now wish to reject because it seems a crippling burden to carry through the daily task of living with crisis mounting upon crisis” (453). 

Between 1972 and the early-2000s, there was relatively little critical work done on Lord of the Flies . Perhaps this is due to the fact that readers simply moved on. The novel has been around for 60 years, now, so why read it? Or, this lack of study could be due to another factor that Baker raises: the fact that there is so much destruction present in everyday life, no one wanted to deal with it in their fantasy time. The mentality in 1972 was still that Golding wrote his book from a Christian point of view. Perhaps, the people of the Vietnam War generation were sick of the religious undertones of an out-of-date book. 

It is possible, also, that the academic world felt belittled by Lord of the Flies . The only truly intelligent character in Golding’s novel is Piggy. The intellectuals may have felt threatened by the abuse that Piggy has to endure throughout the book and by his eventual demise. A.C. Capey writes, “the falling Piggy, representative of intelligence and the rule of law, is an unsatisfactory symbol of fallen man ” (146).

In the late 1980s, Golding’s work is examined from a different angle. Ian McEwan analyzes Lord of the Flies from the perspective of a man who endured boarding school. He writes that “as far as [McEwan] was concerned, Golding’s island was a thinly disguised boarding school” (Swisher 103). His account of the parallels between the boys on the island and the boys of his boarding school is disturbing yet entirely believable. He writes: “I was uneasy when I came to the last chapters and read of the death of Piggy and the boys hunting Ralph down in a mindless pack. Only that year we had turned on two of our number in a vaguely similar way. A collective and unconscious decision was made, the victims were singled out and as their lives became more miserable by the day, so the exhilarating, righteous urge to punish grew in the rest of us.”

Whereas in the book, Piggy is killed and Ralph and the boys are eventually rescued, in McEwan’s biographical account, the two ostracized boys are taken out of school by their parents. McEwan mentions that he can never let go of the memory of his first reading of Lord of the Flies . He even fashioned a character after one of Golding’s in his own first story (106). Perhaps it is this mentality, the release of religion from the pages and the acceptance that all men were once boys, that re-birthed Lord of the Flies in the late 1980s.

In 1993, Lord of the Flies again comes under religious scrutiny . Lawrence Friedman writes, “Golding’s murderous boys, the products of centuries of Christianity and Western civilization, explode the hope of Christ’s sacrifice by repeating the pattern of crucifixion” (Swisher 71). Simon is viewed as a Christ-like character who represents truth and enlightenment but who is brought down by his ignorant peers, sacrificed as the very evil he is trying to protect them from. It is apparent that Friedman believes the human conscience is at stake again, as Baker argued in 1970. 

Friedman locates “the fall of reason” not in Piggy’s death but in his loss of sight (Swisher 72). It is clear that Friedman believes this time period, the early 1990s, to be one where religion and reason are once again lacking: “the failure of adult morality, and the final absence of God create the spiritual vacuum of Golding’s novel . . . God’s absence leads only to despair and human freedom is but license” (Swisher 74).

Finally, in 1997, E. M. Forster writes a forward for the re-release of Lord of the Flies . The characters, as he describes them, are representational to individuals in everyday life. Ralph, the inexperienced believer, and hopeful leader. Piggy, the loyal right-hand man; the man with the brains but not the confidence. And Jack, the outgoing brute. The charismatic, powerful one with little idea of how to take care of anyone but who thinks he should have the job anyway (Swisher 98). Society’s ideals have changed from generation-to-generation, each one responding to Lord of the Flies depending on the cultural, religious, and political realities of the respective periods.

Perhaps part of Golding’s intention was for the reader to learn, from his book, how to begin to understand people, human nature, to respect others and to think with one’s own mind rather than being sucked into a mob-mentality. It is Forster’s contention that the book “may help a few grown-ups to be less complacent, and more compassionate, to support Ralph, respect Piggy, control Jack, and lighten a little the darkness of man’s heart” (Swisher 102). He also believes that “it is respect for Piggy that seems needed most. I do not find it in our leaders” (Swisher 102).

Lord of the Flies is a book that, despite some critical lulls, has stood the test of time. Written after World War II , Lord of the Flies has fought its way through social upheavals, through wars and political changes. The book and its author have been scrutinized by religious standards as well as by social and political standards. Each generation has had its interpretations of what Golding was trying to say in his novel.

While some will read Simon as a fallen Christ who sacrificed himself to bring us truth, others might find the book asking us to appreciate one another, to recognize the positive and negative characteristics in each person and to judge carefully how best to incorporate our strengths into a sustainable society. Of course, didactic aside, Lord of the Flies is simply a good story worth reading, or re-reading, for its entertainment value alone. 

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Lord of the Flies

By william golding, lord of the flies essay questions.

In his introduction to William Golding's novel, novelist E.M. Forster suggests that Golding's writing "lays a solid foundation for the horrors to come." Using Forster's quote as a starting point, discuss how the novel foreshadows the murders of Simon and Piggy. Focus on two events or images from the novel's earlier chapters and describe how they anticipate the novel's tragic outcome.

Answer: The weather on the island grows increasingly more hostile and ominous as the novel's plot unfolds, Piggy's name suggests that he will be killed like an animal, and so on.

Many critics have read Lord of the Flies as a political allegory. In particular, they have considered the novel a commentary on the essential opposition between totalitarianism and liberal democracy. Using two or three concrete examples from the novel, show how the two political ideologies are figured in the novel, and then discuss which of the two you think Golding seems to favor.

Answer: The contrast between Ralph's group on the beach and Jack's tribe at Castle Rock represents the opposition between liberal democracy and totalitarianism. Golding presents the former as the superior system, demonstrated by the success of the assembly among Jack's group of boys and the ordered system that prioritizes the ongoing signal fire on the mountain, tactics that ensure the welfare of the entire group. Note, though, what happens in both groups over time.

Names and naming are important in Lord of the Flies. Many characters have names that allude to other works of literature, give insight into their character, or foreshadow key events. Discuss the significance of the names of, for instance, Sam and Eric, Piggy, and Simon. What does the character's name say about him and his significance? Use external sources as necessary.

Answer: Piggy's name, for example, indicates his inferior position within the social hierarchy of the island and foreshadows his eventual death at the hands of Jack's tribe. Simon was the name of Peter in the Bible. Jack might be named after John Marcher in Henry James's story The Beast in the Jungle , and so on.

Two major symbols in the novel are the conch shell and The Lord of the Flies (the pig's head on a stick). Analyze one or both of these symbols in terms of how they are perceived by the boys as well as what they symbolize for the reader.

Answer: The conch shell represents liberal democracy and order, as endorsed by Ralph and Piggy. The Lord of the Flies tends to represent an autocratic or a primitive order. Note the "exchange" of these objects at the novel's conclusion when the conch is smashed in Jack's camp and Ralph uses part of the Lord of the Flies as a weapon.

The children stranded on the island are all boys, and female characters are rarely discussed. How does this matter for the novel?

Answer: Gender difference is not explicitly discussed or represented in the novel, although femininity is symbolically present in the novel's representations of nature. Some of the male characters are "feminized" by the other boys when they are considered un-masculine or vulnerable. In a boys' choir, many boys have high voices that can sing parts normally reserved for females. It is unclear whether Jack's tribe would have become so violent (and nearly naked) if girls of the same age were on the island.

At the end of Chapter Eleven, Roger pushes Jack aside to descend on the bound twins "as one who wielded a nameless authority." Focusing on this quotation, discuss Roger's actions in Chapter Eleven in relation to Jack's power and political system.

Answer: Roger's actions towards the twins are unauthorized by Jack, indicating that Jack's own authority is under threat. Golding hints at a shift in the power system among Jack's tribe, which highlights the inherent flaws in Jack's system of military dictatorship.

Jack gains power over many of the boys by exploiting their fear of the mythical beast. How does Jack manipulate the myth of the beast to legitimize his authority?

Answer: Jack exploits the boys' fear of the beast to usurp leadership from Ralph, who stresses a rational approach to the presumed evil presence on the island. Within Jack's tribe, the beast continues to have a powerful symbolic and political significance among the boys, uniting them and ensuring their loyalty to Jack's leadership. When Jack first attempts to break away from Ralph's tribe, his authority is not recognized, but as the boys' fear of the beast increases, an increasing number defect from Ralph's group to Jack's, where the existence of the beast is not only acknowledged but is a central fact of day-to-day life.

By Chapter Three, the boys are divided into two groups: the older boys and the younger boys or "littluns." What role do the littluns have to play?

Answer: Consider especially the distinction between savagery and civilization.

What happens with the "littluns" registers the increasing brutality on the island. The earliest examples of violence in the novel are directed against the littluns, acts that foreshadow the violent events of later chapters. Moreover, characters who are kind to the littluns tend to remain most closely associated with civilization throughout the novel.

The novel's narrative action draws an increasingly firm line between savagery and civilization, yet the value of each becomes an issue in the conclusion, when Jack's fire saves the boys. Using these terms, what is the novel suggesting about human nature, evil, and human civilization?

Answer: The naval officer is a military figure, which reminds the reader that "civilized" societies also engage in violence and murder. Evil seems to be a force that threatens human nature and human civilization--from within. Still, evil is associated primarily with savagery and the worse part of our natures.

How does the novel reflect the Cold War and the public's concerns about the conflict between democracy and communism? Does the novel take a side? (Remember to cite all of your research sources in your bibliography.)

Answer: The Cold War was primarily between the democratic U.S. and its allies on the one hand, and the communist U.S.S.R. and its allies on the other hand. The initial events of the novel, following a group of boys in the aftermath of a terrible nuclear war, reflect and capitalize on widespread anxiety about the arms race for destructive atomic weapons. Ralph comes to represent the West and its values, while Jack comes to represent the enemy.

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Lord of the Flies Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Lord of the Flies is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

What does Ralph recall hearing From Simon and seeing in the sky ?

The boys would see cargo planes in the sky and fishing boats in the sea.

Wooden huts on or near the beach are not called……

I'm not sure what you are looking for here, perhaps "shelters".

Why was Jack impressed with the site of the rocky ledge?

Jack was impressed with the site because he thought it the perfect site to build a fort.

Study Guide for Lord of the Flies

Lord of the Flies study guide contains a biography of William Golding, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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Essays for Lord of the Flies

Lord of the Flies essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Lord of the Flies by William Golding.

  • Two Faces of Man
  • The Relationship Between Symbolism and Theme in Lord of the Flies
  • A Tainted View of Society
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Lesson Plan for Lord of the Flies

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  • Introduction

an essay on lord of the flies

Lord of the Flies

Introduction lord of the flies.

The novel , Lord of the Flies was written by a British writer, William Golding , who made a name in fiction writing with unique thematic strands. It was first published in 1954. The novel sheds light on the behavior of the children left stranded on a long island, who start behaving entirely different from what they have been in their schools and under the guidance of a parent or a teacher. The groups are divided as they begin to think differently for survival. They fight for individuality, rationality while continuing their playfulness after they are left with none to guide them. The novel won huge applause around the world for his enticing storytelling techniques also bestowed the writer with the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1983.

Summary of Lord of the Flies

During a war, a British plane involved in evacuating British schoolboys crash lands on a deserted island. It is somewhere located in tropical regions. Two young boys, Ralph and Piggy, find a conch when they stroll on the seashore. Piggy, the fatter than most boys but an intellectual one, tells Ralph, the quiet one, how to blow a horn with it. He teaches him how to use it to establish his authority over the other boys. Ralph becomes the leader of the boys and appoints Jack as in charge of the food hunters with Piggy as his unassuming adviser.

Soon after the boys assemble, Ralph takes Jack and Simon with him to explore other parts of the island for the likely existence of life. When they come back, Ralph plans to light a fire to signal the authorities or rescue them about their presence. The rest of the boys continue to roam around the island to collect woods and use Piggy’s glasses to light a fire. However, instead of keeping it alive, they quickly engage themselves in their plays and soon forget about it except Piggy. It soon dawns upon them that the youngest boy is injured and dead.

As time passes, the boys start making fun of each other as well as enjoying without having any authority of the adults around them. Ralph, as the conscious leader, however, starts complaining about the direction of Piggy that the boys are not paying attention to the fire, nor or they interested in preparing huts for them. On the other hand, Jack, with his hunters, is engaged in catching a pig, though, they fail in their act. Meanwhile, Piggy points Ralph’s attention toward a passing ship that disappears on the horizon and they lament the negligence of the boys toward keeping the fire alive. The hunters, however, do not pay much attention to his complaints despite the fury of Ralph when he points their negligence at the troublemakers with Jack as their leader. In their wild frenzy of having their first catch, they ignore the leader, Ralph, and start dancing around. When Piggy rebukes Jack, he hits him, making his glasses flying away.

As hinted by Piggy earlier, Ralph immediately catches the conch and blows it to declare his authority, yet nobody pays attention, while the “littluns” are feeling neglected, expressing their fear of some ghost or beast lurking somewhere on the island. Despite the other boys’ argument that there is no such thing, the littluns do not feel safe. When the meeting is over, a parachutist from some fighting planes land on the island but is caught in the trees to rot there. When the twins, Sam and Eric, find the man hanging on the trees, they take him as a beast and spread the terror in the camp with the news. Soon the boys form a group to hunt that monster despite a difference between Jack and Ralph, the two leading boys. They, then, inform others about that parachute and the monster that they think it is, develops further differences about the leadership of Ralph. Jack alleges his fear for further removal from the authority, while the majority of the boys veto this move. Despite this defeat, Jack takes the hunters with him to part ways, while Ralph rallies others around him to light the fire, though. Ironically, most of them flee and join Jack in his hunting game.

Soon Jack takes lead and declares himself the leader of his hunters. They hunt a sow and leave its head on a stake. When Simon dreams about it, he thinks it the Lord of the Flies that is speaking to him. He soon becomes unconscious and when comes to senses he leaves for the mountains where he comes across that dead soldier hanging with his parachute. He takes it to the Lord of the Flies and runs away to tell others, creating a mess that all the boys including Ralph and Jack, who were busy enjoying the feast of the sow, consider him a monster and kill him. However, only Piggy and Ralph are conscious of what they have done, while Jack and his hunters soon realize the loss of fire and steal the glasses of Piggy to make their own. When Ralph tries to argue with Jack, he orders his hunters to chase him to kill him. Roger, his main hunter, kills Piggy with a boulder and Ralph flees for his life, seeing the conch also shattered to pieces under the boulder.

Jack, the hunters, and other boys including Ralph chasing the game soon come to an end when British officers appear on the seashore, admonishing the boys for their mess and filthy looks, while Ralph heaves a sigh of relief after seeing an adult who has saved him from the hunters.

Major Themes in Lord of the Flies

  • Loss of Innocence: The loss of innocence in the novel is shown from the way the children go astray without adults. The right path is to lead a normal life, take care of the “littluns”, pay homage to the authority, and wait for the elders to come to their rescue. Ralph’s attitude toward the littluns and Samneric is of a leader and an adult having responsibility. However, when Jack parts ways with him and Piggy, it seems that they have lost the innocence, for Jack becoming a hunter is identical to savagery.
  • Savageness and Society: Lord of the Flies shows savagery in the society that is part of its members as shown through Jack and hunters. The author believes that innocence is not just an integral part; savagery is also an integral part of human nature and finds ways to come out when the times are appropriate. That is why when Ralph finds an officer on the seashore, he heaves a sigh of relief, thinking that he has saved himself from the savage hunters.
  • Vice against Virtue : The novel also shows vice pitted against virtue as Ralph and Piggy represent order and virtue, while Jack and his hunters represent vice or disorder. When Ralph is made to flee from the hunters, it seems that virtue has given way to vice. However, soon the officer appears, which becomes a signal of some authority that does not let virtue face defeat.
  • End of Rationalism: Piggy, the supporter of Ralph and his authority, is a lone voice of rationalism who can think with a rational mind and devise ways. However, he is physically inferior to all others except “littluns.” Therefore, Jack is always wary of him that he does not let Jack stand a chance to assume leadership. When he finds Piggy, he orders his associates to roll a boulder on him, killing him on the spot. It shows the end of rationalism, a thematic strand that appears for a short time in the storyline.
  • Absence of Social Norms: The pack of children on an isolated island without the presence of an adult having authority presents a real dilemma about the social traditions, norms, and their evolutions. The author proves this thematic idea of how a person. with limited intelligence. copes with the situation of dealing with other persons in the absence of social norms. Piggy is killed on the want of laws and social regulations that emerge from norms; such as the norm of blowing a conch.
  • Dehumanization: The novel shows the dark side of human nature that is to live a life of the might is right and dehumanization of nature as shown by the hunting nature of Jack, while the rational side, such as Piggy, soon witnesses his end. The hunting spree of Jack and other boys without thinking an iota about their colleague is a dehumanization of nature.
  • The Nature of Evil or Vice: Evil resides in human nature side by side with virtue which comes out when authority is absent. Jack shows this side of nature when he forms his pack of hunters and attacks Piggy, killing him on the spot.
  • Community against Individual: community and individual are other minor themes of the novel. The would-be leader, Ralph, is left alone in the end against the whole community of the boys chasing him. It means that an individual is left alone if he does not stand on his guard.
  • Progress of Civilization: Lord of the Flies is also a critique on the progress of civilization in that a pack of English boys with rational and leading minds like Piggy and Ralph respectively go to dogs without thinking as Ralph later says what the other people will say to them that British, the crown of the civilized nation, has children as such.
  • Absence of Laws: The hunting expedition of Jack, killing of Piggy, and several other such incidents show that the law protects the weak. The absence of the law is similar to giving authority to a tyrant to rule a country or allowing the criminals to roam free without fear of consequences.

 Major Characters in Lord of the Flies

  • Ralph: The leader and good-looking but moderately intelligent, Ralph leads the boys with Piggy as his advisor, who advises him to use the conch to establish authority. As such he proves not only the hero but also the protagonist of the novel after assuming leadership. Eventually, he loses the hold on the group to Jack and his hunters who drive almost all the boys to useless hunting, which resultantly leads them to savagery. In the end, he is left alone when Jack murders Piggy and chases Ralph to gain from him his authority, but he saves himself by running to a British officer, who just appears on the scene.
  • Piggy: Piggy, though is quite weak, but a rational boy, who advises Ralph to assume the leadership, seeing in him a vision to lead. He takes care of the little boys and suggests lighting up the fire to save them from perishing on the island. However, he soon becomes the target of hunters, while Jack eyes him a likely opponent, not leaving any opportunity to either admonish, tease, or even to kill him, which he does by the end. His murder makes Ralph feel lonely when he wishes the presence of an adult and the British naval officer appears on the scene. His murder is the end of rationalism among the boys.
  • Jack Merridew: The antagonist , Jack Merridew, is a powerful leader but has a vicious touch in his nature. He does not exhibit rationality or true leadership. As soon as he sees Piggy, a symbol of rational thinking among them, he becomes his staunch opponent. He forms a choir of the boys and manipulates their thinking to turn them into barbarous killers who start chasing Ralph, their own leader, after having shown their exploits in hunting a sow and dancing around it to celebrate this achievement. By the end, he assumes leadership of the savagery and hunts down Ralph, who runs away in the forest for his life.
  • Simon: Simon is attached to nature and shows a spiritual aspect of life. That is why he stays alone and does not join any group, though, he stays with the group. A Christ-like figure, the author presents Simon to show how some people understand the arrival of evil but does not have the ability to confront or express it. Simon is also an example of staying neutral in times when you cannot choose.
  • Samneric: They are twins. These two brothers are identical not only in nature but also in their appearances. They follow Ralph loyally but when Piggy is killed, they also lose direction, and soon they seem lost in the maze of the chase of Ralph.
  • Maurice: A healthy boy, Maurice, proves a great hunter and starts training other hunters for Jack’s pack. He shows the mob mentality in blindly following the leader.
  • Percival: A little boy, Percival, represents innocence, as he always needs some adult to take care of him. He becomes hysterical at times for the loss of his parents and home comfort.
  • The Naval Officer: The British officer represents the authority and adulthood which stops chaos and brings order in the chaotic world. His appearance reminds the readers of the civilized western world.
  • The Beast: Despite its hazy presence, the beast represents something unknown that is not only causing fear to the boys but also showing them a way to create something out of nothing. Jack uses this invisible beast for his own purpose to make others follow him.

Writing Style of Lord of the Flies ‎

William Golding ’s writing style in Lord of the Flies is pretty simple and straightforward. It carries great alluring subtleties, bordering a multiplicity of meanings for all types of readers. Despite its allegorical nature, the characters and objects along with the description seem quite realistic and direct. Most of the ordinary thematic strands and ideational presentations have brought a type of enticement in his style that is unique in its language and mesmerizing in its narrative .

Analysis of Literary Devices in Lord of the Flies

  • Action: The main action of the novel comprises the crash landing of a British airplane having school children, who live a messy life on the island, making two groups; one wants to rescue the boys and the other intends to enjoy merrymaking. The rising action is Ralph’s struggle for order, safety, and organized life. The falling action , on the other hand, is his escape to save his life when Jack and his hunters chase him.
  • Allegory : Lord of the Flies is an allegorical novel that shows it shows that when the civilization or leadership is absent and there is no fear of law and authority, human nature has more inclination to fall prey to vice. Savagery has the power to take over as the beast, despite its absence, takes over the entire group of the boys and terrifies the “littluns.” It could also be an allegory that when a war is taking place between the adults, another war is between innocence and savagery.
  • Antagonist : Jack Merridew is the antagonist of the novel, Lord of the Flies, because he stands against the order and civilization that Ralph and his rational friend want to bring. He rather indulges in savagery and killing whatever comes in the way of him and his hunters.
  • Allusion : There are various examples of the Biblical allusions given in the novel, Lord of the Flies. Simon alludes to Jesus Christ, while the head of the pig alludes to Satan that makes human being to go astray from the true path. On the other hand, Jack is the representative of Juda and the lone island is an example of paradise.
  • Conflict : There are two types of conflicts in the novel, Lord of the Flies. The first one is between man and nature as it goes on between the boys and the situation on the island where they are to live. The second is about man and man and man and self which goes on between Ralph and Jack and Ralph and his thinking.
  • Characters: Lord of the Flies presents both static as well as dynamic characters. Ralph is a dynamic character , as he goes through various changes and has several issues to deal with, while Jack Merridew is also a vibrant character on account of his ambitious and unpredictable nature. Piggy, however, is a static character in that he does not witness any change in his thinking from the first day to the last. Simon, too, is a static character.
  • Climax : The climax in the novel arrives when Simon sees Lord of the Flies and realizes that it is a beast but then realizes that every boy has a beast in his mind. That is why when he tries to come back and join the boys, they kill him, considering him as prey. However, when Jack engineers the killing of Piggy, this is the anticlimax of Lord of the Flies.
  • Foreshadowing : There are several examples of foreshadowing in Lord of the Flies. The first example of foreshadowing in the novel occurs when the boys gather together for voting and it is voiced that there may be a beast. The ensuing argument shows that it would be there soon, even if it does not exist. The second example is of Piggy who continuously refers to his aunt which shows that he always needs somebody to depend on him. The third good example is the discovery of conch and advice of Piggy, which points out that Piggy is the supplier of ideas to Ralph, who is nothing without him.
  • Hyperbole : Hyperbole or exaggeration occurs when Piggy and Ralph find the conch on the seashore and Piggy thinks that the conch will bring order and authority to Ralph that he will use with his ideas. However, it proves a pipedream for him, for how a simple conch can bring order and authority among the unruly children.
  • Imagery : Imagery means to use to present an image that shows the use of sense by the readers or audiences to identity it such as Ralph is shown having landed like a cat, Jake is shown behaving as an ape, while the littluns are shown as inspects. Also, the sea is shown as a creature, while the fire is shown as a jaguar. In fact, Lord of Flies is full of natural imagery as the location and the characters demonstrate it amply.
  • Metaphor : Lord of the Flies shows decent use of various metaphors . For example, i. Then the creature stepped from mirage on to clear sand, and they saw that the darkness was not all shadow but mostly clothing. (Chapter-1) ii. He was a shrimp of a boy, about six years old, and one side of his face was blotted bout by a mulberry-colored birthmark. (Chapter-1) iii. On one side the air was cool, but on the other, the fire thrust out a savage arm of heat that crinkled hair on the instant. (Chapter-2)The first metaphor shows the comparison of darkness with the clothing, the second boy with the shrimp, and the third fire with a savage creature.
  • Mood : The novel, Lord of the Flies, shows a serious mood of horror and grief. Even though the start is quite interesting and entertaining, it suddenly transforms into somber and then sorrowful when the boys start making groups, hunting and finally killing each other.
  • Motif : Most important motifs of the novel, Lord of the Flies, are the conch, glasses of Piggy, and the beast.
  • Narrator : The novel, Lord of the Flies, uses the third person as a narrator of the story , which is also called an omniscient narrator. Here the author, William Golding is the narrator of the story.
  • Personification : Personification means to attribute human acts and emotions to non-living objects. For example, i. Smoke was rising here and there among the creepers that festooned the dead or dying trees. As they watched, a flash of fire appeared at the root of one wisp, and then the smoke thickened. Small flames stirred at the trunk of a tree and crawled away through leaves and brushwood, dividing and increasing. (Chapter-2) ii. The flames, as though they were a kind of wildlife, crept as a jaguar creeps on its belly toward a line of birch-like saplings that fledged an outcrop of the pink rock. iii. Then the roof of leaves broke up and they halted, breathing quickly, looking at the few stars that pricked round the head of the mountain. (Chapter-7)These three examples show smoke, flame, and then roof as if they have human emotions.
  • Protagonist : Ralph is the protagonist of the novel. He starts the novel and captures the interest of the readers until the last page when he flees for his life. Besides, he is the primary motivator of the order and civilization on the island.
  • Paradox : Lord of the Flies shows the use of paradox in the behavior of the boys that fear is not outside but in their minds. Therefore, it is a paradox.
  • Theme : A theme is a central idea that the novelist or the writer wants to stress upon. The novel, Lord of the Flies , not only shows the theme of conflict between vice and virtue, but also various other themes such as loss of innocent, value of the order, and above all the nature of man.
  • Setting : The setting of the novel, Lord of the Flies, is the sea and the coastal area as well as the lonely island with thick forest.
  • Simile : The novel shows great use of various similes such as; i. A rock, almost detached, standing like a fort , facing them across the green with one bold, pink bastion. (Chapter-1) ii. The breezes that on the lagoon had chased their tails like kittens were finding their way across the platform and into the forest. (Chapter-2) iii. One patch touched a tree trunk and scrambled up like a bright squirrel . (Chapter-2)The first simile compares a rock to a fort, the second breezes to kittens, and the third the patch to a squirrel.
  • Symbol: Lord of the Flies shows that the symbols of the best, glasses, fire, adults, ocean, and the island.
  • Irony : The novel shows irony when the boys are engaged in talking about the beast but only Simon knows it, though, he is unable to express it.

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an essay on lord of the flies

Lord of the Flies

William golding, everything you need for every book you read..

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Human Nature

William Golding once said that in writing Lord of the Flies he aimed to trace society's flaws back to their source in human nature. By leaving a group of English schoolboys to fend for themselves on a remote jungle island, Golding creates a kind of human nature laboratory in order to examine what happens when the constraints of civilization vanish and raw human nature takes over. In Lord of the Flies , Golding argues that…

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Civilization

Although Golding argues that people are fundamentally savage, drawn toward pleasure and violence, human beings have successfully managed to create thriving civilizations for thousands of years. So that disproves Golding's theory about human nature being savage, right? Wrong. The famous psychologist Sigmund Freud argued that without the innate human capacity to repress desire, civilization would not exist. In Lord of the Flies , Golding makes a similar argument. He depicts civilization as a veil that…

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Savagery and the "Beast"

The " beast " is a symbol Golding uses to represent the savage impulses lying deep within every human being. Civilization exists to suppress the beast. By keeping the natural human desire for power and violence to a minimum, civilization forces people to act responsibly and rationally, as boys like Piggy and Ralph do in Lord in the Flies . Savagery arises when civilization stops suppressing the beast: it's the beast unleashed. Savages not only…

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Spirituality and Religion

Most of the boys on the island either hide behind civilization, denying the beast's existence, or succumb to the beast 's power by embracing savagery. But in Lord of the Flies , Golding presents an alternative to civilized suppression and beastly savagery. This is a life of religion and spiritual truth-seeking, in which men look into their own hearts, accept that there is a beast within, and face it squarely.

Simon occupies this role in…

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The Weak and the Strong

Within the larger battle of civilization and savagery ravaging the boys's community on the island, Lord of the Flies also depicts in great detail the relationships and power dynamics between the boys. In particular, the novel shows how boys fight to belong and be respected by the other boys. The main way in which the boys seek this belonging and respect is to appear strong and powerful. And in order to appear strong and powerful…

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Essay on Lord of the Flies

Students are often asked to write an essay on Lord of the Flies in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Lord of the Flies

Introduction.

“Lord of the Flies” is a novel by William Golding. It’s a story about a group of boys stranded on an uninhabited island, showing how they descend into savagery.

The book explores the theme of human nature and society’s role. It questions whether we are naturally peaceful or if society’s rules keep us in check.

The main characters, Ralph and Jack, represent order and chaos. Ralph tries to maintain order, while Jack gives in to his primitive instincts.

The “Lord of the Flies” symbolizes the innate evil within us. It’s a powerful commentary on human nature.

250 Words Essay on Lord of the Flies

“Lord of the Flies,” a novel by Nobel Prize-winning author William Golding, is a profound exploration of the inherent evil in human nature. The novel, through its narrative of a group of young boys stranded on an uninhabited island, delves deep into the dark corners of human psyche and the fragility of civilization.

Symbolism and Themes

Golding’s novel is replete with symbolism, which provides a rich tapestry of meaning. The “Lord of the Flies” itself, a pig’s head on a stake, symbolizes the savagery that the veneer of social order conceals. The conch shell, representing law, order, and political legitimacy, loses its power as the boys descend into barbarism, reflecting Golding’s pessimistic view of human nature.

Character Analysis

The characters in the novel – Ralph, Piggy, Jack, and Simon – represent different aspects of humanity. Ralph, the elected leader, symbolizes order and civilization, while Jack, his antagonist, embodies the primal instinct and savagery. Piggy, the intellectual, stands for scientific and rational thought, and Simon, the spiritual figure, represents innate human goodness, tragically crushed by the overwhelming power of evil.

“Lord of the Flies” is a stark portrayal of the thin veneer of civilization that separates humanity from savagery. Golding’s novel, through its exploration of the dark underbelly of human nature, prompts us to reflect on our own capacity for good and evil, and the delicate balance that keeps society intact.

500 Words Essay on Lord of the Flies

“Lord of the Flies” is a timeless piece of literature penned by Nobel Laureate William Golding. The novel is a profound exploration of the inherent evil in human nature, seen through the lens of a group of boys stranded on an uninhabited island.

Thematic Overview

At the heart of “Lord of the Flies” lies the theme of civilization versus savagery. The boys’ attempts to establish order and governance are a reflection of their innate desire for civilization. However, as the narrative unfolds, the thin veneer of civilization begins to crumble, revealing the savagery that lurks beneath.

The Symbolism

Golding employs a multitude of symbols to enrich the narrative. The “conch” symbolizes law, order, and political legitimacy, while the “Lord of the Flies”, a pig’s head on a stick, represents the manifestation of the boys’ most primal fears and the inherent evil within them. These symbols serve as a mirror to society, reflecting our own struggles with order, chaos, and the darkness within.

The primary characters, Ralph and Jack, are stark contrasts. Ralph, the elected leader, symbolizes order, civilization, and moral integrity. Jack, on the other hand, embodies savagery, anarchy, and the lust for power. Their conflict drives the narrative, reflecting the eternal struggle between the forces of good and evil, civilization and savagery.

Psychological Insights

“Lord of the Flies” offers profound psychological insights. The regression of the boys into a state of savagery can be viewed through the lens of Sigmund Freud’s theory of the id, ego, and superego. The id, representing our primal desires, is embodied by Jack, while the superego, representing our moral conscience, is represented by Piggy. Ralph, who constantly struggles to maintain order, embodies the ego, which seeks to balance the demands of the id and the superego.

In conclusion, “Lord of the Flies” is a powerful exploration of the human condition. It forces us to confront the uncomfortable reality of the savagery that can emerge when the constructs of civilization are stripped away. Golding’s masterful use of symbolism and his profound psychological insights make the novel a rich and thought-provoking read. It serves as a stark reminder of the fragility of civilization and the constant need to safeguard it against the darker forces within us.

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Lord of the flies – sample essay..

Choose a novel in which an important theme is explored. Explain how the author develops this theme throughout the novel.

            The Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a novel in which the theme of savagery versus civilisation is explored. Some British boys are stranded on an isolated island at the time of an imaginary nuclear war. On the island we see conflict between two main characters, Jack and Ralph, who respectively represent civilisation and savagery. This has an effect on the rest of the boys throughout the novel as they delve further and further into savagery.

             The theme of savagery versus civilisation is first introduced to us through the symbol of the conch shell which we associate with Ralph as he is the person who first uses it and becomes the elected leader of the boys. This symbolises authority amongst the boys. At the first assembly Ralph says “I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak…he won’t be interrupted”. This suggests civilisation as Ralph is allowing each boy to have an equal say and opinion. If they have the conch, no matter who they are or what age they are they will be given the chance to speak and will be listened to by the rest of the boys. The boys have created the island to be a democratic place which shows a civilised side to them as they try to mimic the homes they have just left.

             Contrasting with the symbol of the conch is the symbol of the beast which comes to be associated with Jack as by the end of the novel he is almost devil worshipping it. The beast begins as a  “snake thing” but by the end of the novel it has become “the Lord of the Flies”. The first quote shows us that the beast is clearly evil. Western society considers snakes to be bad omens because it was a snake that led Eve to eat from the tree of knowledge. However at this stage of the novel the beast is quite insubstantial as it is only a “thing”. As the boys fear of the beast grows so to does the beast itself until it has manifested into the devil – the ultimate and most powerful evil. He has a strong status as a Lord although it is over something pretty disgusting – the flies. The boys belief in the beast leads them to behave more like savages as they act out from their fear and they begin to loose hold of the rules, led by Jack, thus demonstrating the theme of savagery.

             One of ways Golding shows conflict between savagery and civilisation is when Jack and some of the other boys are killing the first pig. Jack chants “kill the pig, cut her throat, spill the blood”. This suggests savagery as the boys are being violent and aggressive when killing the pig and they don’t care about it. This is particularly clear through Golding’s word choice. Jack talks about cutting the pig’s throat which makes it sound like a savage action and spilling her blood which reinforces the lack of care and feeling shown towards the pug’s carcass. This shows that the boys are no longer feeling guilty about what they have done thus showing them becoming savages. 

             We can see the conflict between savagery and civilisation developing further when Piggy’s glasses are broken. We are told “Piggy cried out in terror ‘my specs!” This shows us that the boys savage natures are beginning to overule their more civilised sides. At the start of the book Jack would never have dared touch Piggy, but here he actually snaps and goes for Piggy who he despises. We can tell that Piggy is really scared as Golding chooses the words “cried” and “terror” to describe the scene. Piggy sounds like he is hurting and is genuinely terrified about what Jack might do to him and the loss of his sight. Piggy’s glasses have also come to represent intelligence on the island, with them breaking we see that the pathway to savagery is now completely open for the boys. This is the first true piece of violence between the two factions on the island and it will result in nearly all the boys becoming savages.

             A final way in which we see the theme of savagery versus civilisation being demonstrated is when Ralph sticks up for Piggy after he is attacked by Jack. Ralph says “that was a dirty trick”. This shows that Ralph is really angry at Jack for what he said and did to Piggy. He is still attempting to impose himself as leader here as he says this in an aggressive and assertive tone. This suggests there is still some glimmers of civilisation on the island at this point as there is still someone with a sense of moral goodness ready to fight for justice.

             In conclusion The Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a novel in which the theme of savagery versus civilisation is shown. Ralph represents civilisation as he wants to enforce rules and let everyone have an equal say. Whereas Jack who represents savagery as he rules over the boys and he is not interested in what they have to say. Through the boys actions Golding shows us that we need rules and to consciously impose them to make sure society functions properly.

27 thoughts on “Lord of the Flies – sample essay.”

AWESOME thanks guys!!

This essay was really helpful and thought provoking. I noticed a comment about how this essay could improve and I understand that this essay follows Scottish Qualifications, but I just have two suggestions to improve it.

At the beginning of Paragraph 4 it states “One of ways”. I think that perhaps the author meant “One of the ways”.

Also, in Paragraph 5 the author uses “We”, it may be different in Scotland, but I learnt that in essays one does not use personal pronouns.

Other than that it was really well written <3 Thank you!

I’m sorry you didn’t find the essay any help. There are mistakes in this as it was written by a National 5 class and is an exact sample essay as written by the pupils (equivalent to GCSE) and as a result of that there are some errors. It does talk about the same thing over and over again – civilisation versus savagery – but it is supposed to as this was the focus of the essay question. When writing a critical essay you need to pick out things from the text that answer the question. You will notice that different things are picked out from the text that relate to the fight between civilisation and savagery – whether this is the symbols used in the book or the actions of some of the characters. Once this has been selected to speak about you need to lift evidence from the text to support what you are saying and then explain it to your readers. I hope this has helped you understand the point of the essay a bit better.

Ms Davidson

Is this essay meant to be for a GSCE course? I am doing an essay about it now and I’m in year 8.

This text is being used by students in a Scottish Secondary School for their National 5 English qualification. They sit their exam at the equivalent age to those studying GCSEs. It doesn’t really matter what age you are when you study the text, it’s more to do with the levels of analysis you go through whilst studying the text. This essay would be a minimum pass at National 5 in Scotland. It is written by students and is simply an example of what students could write in their exam.

Hope that’s helped, Ms Davidson

I was desperate to know what to write in the conclusion but then this conclusion gave me some help, Thank you

Thank you so much!! The points in this essay are extremely helpful and I was able to interlink them in my GCSE exam today. Very helpful source!!

You are very welcome!

I’m glad you found it useful!

Thanks so much I have this 5 paragraph essay that’s due and you helped me so much for idea wise

WOOOOW amazing thank you so much

😍😍😍😍❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

this is gold as I have to write an essay on lotf and was having troubles finding main quotes the had good techniques paired to them and this helped a lot

Is this a full mark piece ?

This would probably get 15-16 out of 20 at National 5 in the Scottish system. Hope that helps.

Glad it was useful!

Thank you so much this was so extremely helpful. You are a lifesaver!

I’m glad I found this essay because i got an A on my school essay. THANK YOU SO MUCH 🙂

I wanted conflict between ralph and jack ONLY

You can change the points and the link backs (the first and last sentence in each paragraph) to focus on the conflict between Jack and Ralph if you need to. Each symbol talked about here is either associated with Jack or Ralph. Also Jack and Ralph link to the wider theme of the book with each boy respectively representing civilisation or savagery. This essay can be used to help you structure the one you need to write.

I am writing a paragraph and i need to write about the theme, charecters/groups… i cant start the paragraph with the answers, i need an intro, what can i do for an intro, i am a bit stuck

I’m not sure I understand your question Sarah. Your paragraph seems to include an awful lot of things. What is the overall point you are trying to talk about? If you were looking at the theme of civilisation then you could start with a simple sentence saying “The Lord of the Flies explores the theme of savagery versus civilisation”. If you are focusing on a particular character then begin with “The Lord of the Flies uses one of it’s main characters Jack/Ralph to explore certain ideas within the text.” I hope this helps. Ms Davidson

This helped me soon much!I’m so happy that I got an A+!My teacher was so happy.

That’s excellent!

THANK YOU SO MUCH 🙂

I need help with that essay lotf essay why should a leader read lotf base on ralph.

Take a look at the essay based on the character Ralph. Adapt it the first sentence in each paragraph (your POINT) so that it focuses on Ralph being a good example of being a leader, or how they can learn a lesson from him doing something that shows him being a bad leader. Then adapt the final sentence (your LINK BACK) so it responds to him setting an example (or not!) for leaders.

I was reading through the comments and you mentioned that the essay would be about 15-16 marks out of 20, and was wonder what improvements could be made to get the last few marks?

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An Essay on Golding's Lord of the Flies: A Post-colonial Reading.

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Lord of the Flies is Eurocentric and Anglophone and gives scope for deconstruction as proved by this paper in a surprising twist,

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The Oxford Handbook of Evolutionary Perspectives on Violence, Homicide, and War, edited by Todd K. Shackelford and Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford

Joseph Carroll

Literature depicts emotions arising from conflict and makes them available to readers, who experience them vicariously. Literary meaning lodges itself not in depicted events alone but also, and more importantly, in the interpretation of depicted events: in the author's treatment of the depicted events; the reader's response to both the depicted events and the author's treatment; and the author's anticipation of the reader's responses. This chapter outlines possible stances toward violence, makes an argument for the decisive structural significance of violence in both life and literature, and then presents a representative sampling of violent acts in literature. The examples from literature are organized into the main kinds of human relationships: one's relation to oneself (suicide); sexual rivals, lovers, and marital partners; family members (parents, children, siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins); communities (violence within social groups); and warfare (violence between social groups).

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  1. Lord of the Flies Essay: Evil is an inborn trait of mankind. In what

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  1. Essays on Lord of The Flies

    Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a novel that has been studied by students and scholars alike for its intricate portrayal of human nature. The novel is set on a deserted island where a group of boys are left to fend for themselves... Lord of The Flies William Golding 2 Man's Inherent Evil in The Lord of The Flies by William Golding

  2. Lord of the Flies: Mini Essays

    Lord of the Flies: Mini Essays | SparkNotes Lord of the Flies Motifs Protagonist Setting Genre Allusions Style Point of View Tone Metaphors & Similes Questions & Answers Who is the Lord of the Flies? What is the conch and what does it symbolize? How does Simon die? Why does Jack start his own tribe? Do the boys get rescued from the island?

  3. Lord of the Flies: A+ Student Essay: Would Piggy Have Made a Good

    Lord of the Flies Questions & Answers Do the boys get rescued from the island? Why is Ralph chosen to be the chief? Why does Jack think he should be the chief? Why are Piggy's glasses important? Who is the first boy to die on the island? Why does Jack hate Ralph? What is the beast? What does Simon want to tell the other boys? How does Piggy die?

  4. Lord of the Flies: Suggested Essay Topics

    Lord of the Flies Questions & Answers What is the conch and what does it symbolize? Why does Jack start his own tribe? Do the boys get rescued from the island? Why is Ralph chosen to be the chief? Why does Jack think he should be the chief? Who is the first boy to die on the island? What is the beast? Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4

  5. Lord of the Flies: Critical Essays

    The Lord of the Flies tells Simon "Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!" and then laughs at the boys' efforts to externalize their savagery in the form of an animal or other fearsome creature. Simon has the revelation that evil isn't simply a component of human nature, but an active element that seeks expression.

  6. Lord of the Flies

    Article History Table of Contents Lord of the Flies, British adventure-drama film, released in 1963, that was based on the acclaimed allegorical 1954 novel of the same name by Nobel Prize-winning author William Golding.

  7. Lord of the Flies Critical Essays

    Ralph A. His original view of the island as a paradise B. His leadership qualities and ideas C. Ineffective leadership D. Inability to remember his purpose E. His own minor digressions into...

  8. Lord of the Flies Essays

    The Symbolic Use of Color in Lord of the Flies Anonymous 10th Grade. In Sir William Golding's Lord of the Flies, the symbolic use of color conveys the innocence and the evil on the island, as well as each of the boys' personalities. The contrasting light and dark colors in the book symbolize the goodness and evil,...

  9. How to Write an Essay on Lord of the Flies

    This How to Write an Essay on Lord of the Flies document provides you with a step- by-step guide to drafting your essay, valuable contextual information on what to include in your essay, and...

  10. Lord of the Flies Suggested Essay Topics

    Chapter 1: "The Sound of the Shell" 1. Examine the characters of Ralph, Jack, or Piggy in terms of what they possess that link them with their past lives, and what their emerging roles on the...

  11. Lord of the Flies: A Critical History

    The History of Lord of the Flies. Ten years after the release of Lord of the Flies, James Baker published an article discussing why the book is more true to human nature than any other story about stranded men, such as Robinson Crusoe or Swiss Family Robinson (1812). He believes that Golding wrote his book as a parody of Ballantyne's The Coral Island (1858).

  12. Lord of the Flies Essay Questions

    Lord of the Flies Essay Questions. 1. In his introduction to William Golding's novel, novelist E.M. Forster suggests that Golding's writing "lays a solid foundation for the horrors to come." Using Forster's quote as a starting point, discuss how the novel foreshadows the murders of Simon and Piggy. Focus on two events or images from the novel's ...

  13. Lord of the Flies

    Two young boys, Ralph and Piggy, find a conch when they stroll on the seashore. Piggy, the fatter than most boys but an intellectual one, tells Ralph, the quiet one, how to blow a horn with it. He teaches him how to use it to establish his authority over the other boys.

  14. Lord of the Flies Themes

    Within the larger battle of civilization and savagery ravaging the boys's community on the island, Lord of the Flies also depicts in great detail the relationships and power dynamics between the boys. In particular, the novel shows how boys fight to belong and be respected by the other boys. The main way in which the boys seek this belonging ...

  15. Lord of the Flies

    Lord of the Flies is a 1954 novel by the Nobel laureate British author William Golding. The plot concerns a group of British boys who are stranded on an uninhabited island and their disastrous attempts to govern themselves.

  16. Essay on Lord of the Flies

    250 Words Essay on Lord of the Flies Introduction "Lord of the Flies," a novel by Nobel Prize-winning author William Golding, is a profound exploration of the inherent evil in human nature. The novel, through its narrative of a group of young boys stranded on an uninhabited island, delves deep into the dark corners of human psyche and the ...

  17. Lord of the Flies: Study Guide

    Lord of the Flies is a timeless allegory that continues to resonate, offering a stark portrayal of the human condition and the potential for moral decay in the absence of authority. Lord of the Flies was Golding's first novel and best-known work. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1983.

  18. Lord of the Flies

    The Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a novel in which the theme of savagery versus civilisation is explored. Some British boys are stranded on an isolated island at the time of an imaginary nuclear war. On the island we see conflict between two main characters, Jack and Ralph, who respectively represent civilisation and savagery.

  19. An Essay on Golding's Lord of the Flies: A Post-colonial Reading

    Abohoman focuses on the extra-marital relation of a film-director and his actress. Iti Mrinalini is a voyeuristic delving into the emotional and menopausal crisis in an aging actor's life. Chaplin is the struggle of a penniless street-entertainer seen through the eyes of a TV reality-show director.

  20. The Link Between The Society In "Lord of the Flies" And ...

    Even the part where Simon and the Lord of the Flies interact is a heavy indication that the young boy has religious inspirations. While Simon represents Christ, the Lord of the Flies represents Satan. This one is even slightly obvious, as one of the many names for Satan is 'Beelzebub', which directly is described as 'Lord of the Flies'.

  21. Lord of the Flies

    Paper 2 is worth 96 marks and accounts for 60% of your overall GCSE grade. The Lord of the Flies essay is worth 34 marks in total, because it also includes 4 marks for spelling, punctuation and grammar. Section A of Paper 2 contains the Lord of the Flies question and you are required to answer only one of the two printed questions on the novel.

  22. Lord Of The Flies: Loss Of Innocence Free Essay Example

    In his most popular novel, Lord of the Flies, William Golding explores human nature in its purest and darkest form. From standing a group of young boys alone on an island to creating a complex, inner "beast", William Goulding explores the notion of life outside of society's regulations and the unavoidable collapse of civility and order that ensues.

  23. Lord of the Flies: Important Quotes Explained

    Protagonist Antagonist Setting Genre Allusions Style Point of View Tone Foreshadowing Metaphors & Similes Questions & Answers Who is the Lord of the Flies? What is the conch and what does it symbolize? How does Simon die? Why does Jack start his own tribe? Do the boys get rescued from the island? Why is Ralph chosen to be the chief?

  24. What is a thesis for an analysis essay on Lord of the Flies that

    Cite this page as follows: "What is a thesis for an analysis essay on Lord of the Flies that incorporates leadership, good and evil, and order and chaos?"eNotes Editorial, 25 Sep. 2015, https ...

  25. Unveiling Human Nature in Lord of the Flies: Civilization vs

    The novel "Lord Of The Flies" explores the issue of civilization and savagery, and at the same time conveys a very important and powerful message that is represented and supported with symbols, including the conch shell and the beast.The purpose of the novel is to demonstrate that evil and inhumanity are not just traits that people have, but all individuals have a natural capacity for evil.