Lord of the Flies Essay

Lord of the Flies Essay

Envision a place without law. Envision a place without authority. Envision a place where savagery takes over. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies that is the case. After a plane crash landed. The survivors are stranded on an uninhabited island. The only survivors are a bunch of British boys. They manage to keep order for and create a small society. As time passes however there is an uproar that causes a civil disruption and splits the group. Ralph is one of the older boys and he is the leader of the group. He shows many qualities of a good leader while most others show qualities of uncivil and inhumane. In this manner Golding uses all of the characters symbolize something in society, and it has a great impact on others.

Golding presents Ralph as leader. Ralph always knows what the boys should do. The signal fire is certainly an important part of being rescued and Ralph realizes that when he says”A fire! Make a fire!” (31). The initiative Ralph takes is what a true leader does, but on the other hand Jack, who is another boy, does not. Jack is the foil of Ralph not because of how smart he is but because how uncivilized he acts. Jack is always the one that wants to go against Ralph for things like hunting and not building shelter. That is why Golding used the characters as symbols of society. Jack is symbolized as what a human savage looks like. When Jack says “We’ll raid them and take fire” (136). From a British boy to a straight savage.