黎 云 英语3班 学号:1005021069
Lord of the Flies
William Golding, the writer of Lord of the Flies, was born in Cornwall in 1911. He declared that he was brought up to be a scientist, but after two years of education in Oxford University he changed his educational emphasis from science to English literature. His novels include Lord of the Flies, The Inheritors and Pincher Martin. Among these great works, Lord of the Flies is a fable; however, its theme attempts to unmark the defects of human nature.
The story happened in the distant future. An airplane carrying a colony of boys evacuated from British. Unfortunately, the plane was attacked by enemy and landed on a barren island. This group of boys stayed in the island and got away from the civilized world temporarily. Without airplane and adults, the boys began to get together and try various ways to survive. In the beginning, a twelve year-old boy, Ralph called the assembly together with a shinny white conch. Ralph was the son of a naval officer, who was elegant, optimistic and confident. So he was voted as the chief. In order to be rescued, Ralph led the boys to pluck fruits, built some hut and lighted fire to make signal for rescuing with another boy, Piggy’s specs. At first the boys got well along with each other in this barren island. Without the control of the adults, children enjoyed their free lives and played every day. Meanwhile, there were some beasts occurred around them and this scared children. The peace of the island broke because of the threat of the beast. Soon after, the group of boys was divided into two: One is led by Ralph, who insisted in civilization and social order. They forbade the littlun took short near the hut. Only if you hold the conch could you speak among the assembly. To the most important, they needed to keep fire for waiting for a rescue. Another part was led by Jack, who was a bloody and cruel person, and he always thirsted for the chief position. He led his follows to hunt for pigs and even forced them to pain their faces green or dark as savages. Finally, savage occupied their mind and the evil of human nature came out. In order to be the chief, Tack with his follows attacked the hut of Ralph’s and stole the Piggy’s glasses. Furthermore, Jack killed Piggy and another boy Simon. He even wanted to kill Ralph. The whole island was in panic and was burned by Jack. In extraordinary emergencies, a British cruiser saw the big fire in the island and rescued Ralph. Happy as he was, he also cried for the lost of his company’s humanity.
According the novel, we can analyze the personalities of the main characters. First of all, Ralph was the leading character of the book, he was rational and brave. He was good at calling the assembly and leadership. Ralph insisted in keeping fire as a signal, which showed that he was a person who knew his mind well. Besides, his conch is a symbol of democracy. In my opinion, Ralph was the symbol of the social rules and democracy. But his strength was weak so that he couldn’t maintain the orderly life in the island. His inner world also has something dark and dirty. In the beginning of the story, he laughed at Piggy and did not keep the promises. Even though he was guilty for the Simon’s death, he also joined in Jack to persecute Simon beyond his control. Sometimes, I thought that Ralph was too stubborn; he just focused on being rescued and ignored other things. He also was a dictator who didn’t allow others spoke when he was talking. Finally, he couldn’t control the whole situation and prevent the children from becoming savages. He also watched Piggy’s life fade away and he could not protect him who was his friend all the time. The flag of the civilization was conquered by savage easily. The democracy seemed so powerless when it faced the autocracy and violence. In spite of this, Ralph had sympathy for this bloody savage and strove for the freedom and democracy. His survival shows that civilization still has a brilliant future.
黎 云 英语3班 学号:1005021069 Piggy was a fat boy, who was raised from humble beginnings and suffered from a severe asthma, so he never took part in the labor works. Other children always laughed at him including Ralph. However, in my view, Piggy was so cute, his clumsy movements always made me laugh, on the other side, he was a clever boy who enjoyed thinking, even though he was laughed, he would insisted on his opinions. His specs were the symbol of the science. He often came up with something scientific and useful. But no one heard his voice. Ignoring the prejudice, Piggy was loyal to the democracy and civilization until he died. He had no power but he had a strong belief towards the existence of humanity than any one else. He was frail but he was brave enough to look down upon the autocracy. He was a man of low origin but he has great dignity. But some Piggy was usually oppressed by the autocratic forces and had no strength to protect them.
Simon, who acted as an intellectual in the novel, has an outstanding observation ability and just personality. He was eager to search for the truth. While other kids were playing, Simon always stayed alone and thought about some questions. When the beast occurred, Simon attempted to find out. However, the smart Simon soon found that the beast came from the children’s devil from their inner world. I remembered that most deeply symbolic incident in the book, the talk between Simon and the lord of the flies, which was a pig’s head surrounded by thousands of flies. The head seems to be saying, to Simon’s heightened perceptions, that “everything was a bad business.” Simon fought against the message of the head’s; he also recognized the human capacities for evil and the superficial nature of human moral systems. At the end of this fantastic scene Simon imagines he was looking into a vast mouth, and he felt that he was in the mouth. Simon tried to inform this idea to his company, because he thought the truth beast was the basic evil in their soul. However, Simon was beaten to death under these savage’s sticks. Simon was a prophet and he was the first person realized human’s dirty and evil. In the novel, the lord of flies ever predicted the death of Simon’s; his tragic fate was so common to those pioneers in the history.
The last main character was Jack. He was totally different from the former three people. He represented for the evil of humanity and savage. Even though he was just a little boy, he has great desire for power. He strove for the leadership all the time. First of all, he was not satisfied with Ralph. When he recognized that meat was a great temptation for children, he called some children to hunt with him. He painted his face green and played the savage’s game. His behaviors were rude and bloody. He even tried to steal Piggy’s glasses. Over a point, he was a thief, a savage, and a dictator. Jack, in whom the spark of wildness burns hotter and closer to the surface than in Ralph and who is the leader of forces of anarchy on the island, is also, of course, the struggle in modern society between those same forces translated onto a worldwide scale. After killing Simon and Piggy, Jack’s last humanity vanished. He was a symbol of evil of humanity and savage.
Actually, the lord of flies was just one of the beast occurred in children’s hearts. The “lord of the flies’’ is a translation of the Hebrew Ba’alzevuv (Beelzebub in Greek). In the novel, there were different pattern of beasts, such as snake, beast from water, beast from air and the lord of the flies. Actually, the real beast was their fear and basic evil of humanity. Golding’s work is the superb use of symbolism. The description of innocence kid’s fight was a reflection of adult’s world. Golding managed to unmark the nature of human personality and the reflection of personality on society. In my opinion, the lost of these children’s nature was a tragic of human society. There are plenty of people who thirst for the power and money in the world every day, and there are great deal of people fighting for their human rights and freedom. No matter in what age, our society needs order and civilization. Without it, the society will become a mess and human will become savage.