Lord of the Flies Themes, Symbols, and Literary Devices

Lord of the Flies, William Goldings tale of British schoolboys stranded on a deserted island, is nightmarish and brutal. Through its exploration of themes including good versus evil, illusion versus reality, and chaos versus order, Lord of the Flies raises powerful questions about the nature of humankind. Good vs. Evil The central theme of Lord of the Flies is human nature: are we naturally good, naturally evil, or something else entirely? This question runs through the entire novel from beginning to end. When the boys gather on the beach for the first time, summoned by the sound of the conch, they have not yet internalized the fact that they are now outside the normal bounds of civilization. Notably, one boy, Roger, remembers throwing stones at younger boys but deliberately missing his targets for fear of retribution by adults. The boys decide to set up a democratic society in order to maintain order. They elect Ralph as their leader and create a crude mechanism for discussion and debate, designating that anyone who holds the conch has the right to be heard. They build shelters and show concern for the youngest among them. They also play make believe and other games, exulting in their freedom from chores and rules. Golding seems to suggest that the democratic society they create is simply another game. The rules are only as effective as their enthusiasm for the game itself. It is notable that at the beginning of the novel, all the boys assume rescue is imminent, and thus that the rules theyre accustomed to following will soon be reimposed. As they come to believe that they will not be returned to civilization anytime soon, the boys abandon their game of democratic society, and their behavior becomes increasingly fearful, savage, superstitious, and violent. Golding’s question is perhaps not whether humans are inherently good or evil, but rather whether these concepts have any true meaning. While it is tempting to see Ralph and Piggy as ‛good’ and Jack and his hunters as ‛evil,’ the truth is more complex. Without Jack’s hunters, the boys would have suffered hunger and deprivation. Ralph, the believer in rules, lacks authority and the ability to enforce his rules, leading to disaster. Jack’s rage and violence leads to the destruction of the world. Piggy’s knowledge and book learning are proven as to be meaningless as his technology, represented by the fire-starting glasses, when they fall into the hands of boys who do not understand them. All of these issues are mirrored subtly by the war that frames the story. Although only vaguely described, it is clear that the adults outside the island are engaged in a conflict, inviting comparisons and forcing us to consider whether the difference is merely a matter of scale. Illusion vs. Reality The nature of reality is explored in several ways in the novel. On the one hand, appearances seem to doom the boys to certain roles—most notably Piggy. Piggy initially expresses the dim hope that he can escape the abuse and bullying of his past through his alliance with Ralph and his usefulness as a well-read child. However, he quickly falls back into the role of the bullied ‛nerd’ and becomes reliant on Ralph’s protection. On the other hand, many aspects of the island are not clearly perceived by the boys. Their belief in The Beast stems from their own imaginations and fears, but it quickly takes on what seems to the boys to be a physical form. In this way, The Beast becomes very real to the boys. As the belief in The Beast grows, Jack and his hunters descend into savagery. They paint their faces, changing their appearance in order to project a fearsome and frightening visage that belies their true childish nature. More subtly, what seemed real in the beginning of the book—Ralph’s authority, the power of the conch, the assumption of rescue—slowly erodes over the course of the story, revealed to be nothing more than the rules of an imaginary game. In the end, Ralph is alone, there is no tribe, the conch is destroyed (and Piggy murdered) in the ultimate refutation of its power, and the boys abandon the signal fires, making no effort to prepare for or attract rescue. At the terrifying climax, Ralph is hunted through the island as everything burns—and then, in a final twist of reality, this descent into horror is revealed to be unreal. Upon discovering they have in fact been rescued, the surviving boys immediately collapse and burst into tears. Order vs. Chaos The civilized and reasonable behavior of the boys at the beginning of the novel is predicated on the expected return of an ultimate authority: adult rescuers. When the boys lose faith in the possibility of rescue, their orderly society collapses. In a similar way, the morality of the adult world is governed by a criminal justice system, armed forces, and spiritual codes. If these controlling factors were to be removed, the novel implies, society would quickly collapse into chaos. Everything in the story is reduced to its power or lack thereof. Piggy’s glasses can start fires, and thus are coveted and fought over. The conch, which symbolizes order and rules, can challenge raw physical power, and so it is destroyed. Jack’s hunters can feed hungry mouths, and thus they have an outsize influence over the other boys, who quickly do as they are told despite their misgivings. Only the return of adults at the end of the novel changes this equation, bringing a more powerful force to the island and instantly reimposing the old rules. Symbols On a superficial level, the novel tells a story of survival in a realistic style. The process of building shelters, gathering food, and seeking rescue are recorded with a high level of detail. However, Golding develops several symbols throughout the story that slowly take on increasing weight and power in the story. The Conch The Conch comes to represent reason and order. In the beginning of the novel, it has the power to quiet the boys and force them to listen to wisdom. As more boys defect to Jack’s chaotic, fascist tribe, the Conchs color fades. In the end, Piggy—the only boy who still has faith in the Conch—is killed trying to protect it. The Pig’s Head The Lord of the Flies, as described by a hallucinating Simon, is a pig’s head on a spike being consumed by flies. The Lord of the Flies is a symbol of the increasing savagery of the boys, on display for all to see. Ralph, Jack, Piggy, and Simon Each of the boys represent fundamental natures. Ralph represents order. Piggy represents knowledge. Jack represents violence. Simon represents good, and is in fact the only truly selfless boy on the island, which makes his death at the hands of Ralph and the other supposedly civilized boys shocking. Piggy’s Glasses Piggy’s glasses are designed to provide clear vision, but they are transformed into a tool to make fire. The glasses serve as a symbol of control more powerful than the Conch. The Conch is purely symbolic, representing rules and order, while the glasses convey true physical power. The Beast The beast represents the unconscious, ignorant terror of the boys. As Simon thinks, The beast is the boys. It did not exist on the island before their arrival. Literary Device: Allegory Lord of the Flies is written in a straightforward style. Golding eschews complex literary devices and simply tells the story in chronological order. However, the entire novel serves as a complex allegory, in which every major character represents some larger aspect of society and the world. Thus, their behavior is in many ways predetermined. Ralph represents society and order, and so he consistently attempts to organize and hold the boys to standards of behavior. Jack represents savagery and primitive fear, and so he consistently devolves to a primitive state.

Homelessness Essay - 559 Words

Homelessness in our society. The existence of homeless people in our society is still evident today. Everywhere you look around our cities, parks and streets it is likely that you will witness a homeless person struggling to survive. This is most certainly a social justice issue, every Australian deserves a secure and comfortable place to dwell, not left on the streets to perish. In society the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer. People today are far to driven by work and money to see the problem of homelessness surrounding them. Those very reasons explain why I chose this topic to create an advertising campaign. On the 23rd of June, 1987 the Hawke government promised us this. â€Å"For our next term, we are setting achievable†¦show more content†¦There are many aged Australians living in poverty. Homelessness is also a problem in Australias aged community. Statistics prove that over twenty thousand elderly Australians are at risk of becoming homeless, or already are homeless. War Veterans are also included in this number, and that equates to approximately two thousand, five hundred homeless War Veterans. Agencies such as the Supported Accommodation Assistance Program (SAAP) are set up to help get homeless people off the streets. Derived from the 1996 census, there was an estimated one hundred and five thousand homeless people across Australia. Twelve per cent or twelve thousand nine hundred homeless Australians use the SAAP. It is estimated that one hundred and sixteen thousand requests for SAAP could not be met by the organization alone. Indigenous people in the SAAP program made up fourteen per cent. This is a high rate, as Aboriginals make up two per cent of the Australian population. The target audience for my campaign is Australian adults living the high life. I am trying to appeal to these people, with the hope that they may begin to donate to organizations such as SAAP. 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Emergency Preparedness and Response free essay sample

There is an ongoing debate however, as to what level of contribution local, state, and federal agency’s feel is an appropriate level of ongoing public health investments. A bioterrorism event will emphasize existing doubts in the delivery of the public health system. The critical choice for public health authorities at the local, state, and federal is not to decide where the power to protect the public health lies but rather where the leadership to respond to a bioterrorism event will originate. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is assigned the duty of monitoring, assessing, and following up on people’s health during a bioterrorist attack they are responsible for ensuring the safety of workers responding to an incident, that the food supply is safe, and providing medical, public health, and mental/behavioral health advice. HHS has primary responsibility for federal public health and medical response in a bioterrorist incident because response and recovery efforts will rely on public health and medical emergency response. We will write a custom essay sample on Emergency Preparedness and Response or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The Assistant Secretary for Public Health Emergency Preparedness will coordinate responses with DHS and other federal and state agencies from the Secretary’s Operations Center. HHS will coordinate the federal public health and medical response to a bioterror attack. The basic functions of the federal, state, and local level during an Anthrax bioterrorism event are first and foremost is to protect the health, safety, and general welfare of the public and their response should be delivered in a comprehensive and all-encompassing manner. This includes virtually any governmental action needed to control the threat to the population. Therefore, in order to fulfill that responsibility to ensure the publics health state public health authorities could (as they have in the past) temporarily constrain certain civil liberties. They can require private sector participation in public health objectives, shut down potentially harmful industries, destroy contaminated property, deport or prevent the entry of individuals who may infect others, ration supplies, and control the flow of information (Hodge, 2002). During emergencies, the importance of our country’s communications systems becomes clear. These communications systems include the wire line and wireless telephone networks, broadcast and cable television, radio, Public Safety Land Mobile Radio, satellite systems and increasingly the Internet. For example, in an emergency, we may dial 911, call our family members to make sure they are safe, and turn on our televisions and radios to get breaking news and important updates (FCC, 2012). For communication to be effectual there has to be specific strategies in place that will insure that everyone has an opportunity to voice their concerns and soliciting community-based input from individuals and organizations. Some of the specific strategies or activities according to Turnock will vary from community to community but will generally include hearings, dialogues, discussion forums, meetings, and collaborative planning sessions. The specific roles and authority of community participants should be clarified so that the process is not perceived as one driven largely by the health agency and so-called experts (p. 114). 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There is still room for improvement in my opinion; there are no clear defined responsibilities or roles for the employees. What is the chain of command, who will contact the Center for Disease Control, or verify contamination and treat those infected? While Illinois is prepared on basic level to treat a small-contained outbreak from an anthrax attack, they still have a long way to go to make sure that all the citizens of Illinois understand their responsibilities and obligations to ensure containment, and its survival. Anthrax is an acute infectious disease caused by the spore-forming bacterium Bacillus anthracis the spores can be used as a bioterrorist weapon, as was the case in 2001, when Bacillus anthracis spores had been intentionally distributed through the postal system, causing 22 cases of anthrax, including 5 deaths. One death caused by a terrorist attack is unacceptable and can be prevented as long as the proper strategies, protocols and procedures are followed to protect the American citizens on a local, state, and federal level. Reference: Federal Communication Commission (2012).

Computer Usage in Elementary Schools free essay sample

A discussion of the effect on education by the use of computers in elementary schools This paper is a study of how students in elementary schools with widespread computer usage in the classroom exhibit improved motor skills, enhanced mathematical thinking, increased creativity and earn higher scores on tests that involve critical thinking skills and problem solving ability. Over the last few years, technology has advanced rapidly and there have been hundreds of published studies investigating its effect on education and indicating the benefit of a variety of technology-rich educational environments for learners. Some of the current literature supports the idea that a variety of technologies can be powerful components in accomplishing educational goals, particularly for elementary school students. Students are able to develop a broad, deep, and creative understanding of community, culture, economics and international politics, past and present, and acquire the social skills to work across differences and distances (Riel, 1993) by providing an array of tools for acquiring information and for thinking and expression [allowing] more children more ways to enter the learning enterprise successfully. We will write a custom essay sample on Computer Usage in Elementary Schools or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page