Introduction
This dark and thought-provoking novel had an impact on my view of human nature when I read it as a kid, and it continues to have an effect on readers today. The ideas explored in Lord of the Flies, whether you agree or not, will stay with you. William Golding's bleak view of humanity provokes us, asks questions of us, and forces us to consider how we want to live. This video provides an insight into the themes, equipping you with the necessary ideas to take into the GCSE Literature exam.
Content
Hello and welcome back to tutoring with gavin in this video I'll be teaching the themes of lord of the flies by william golding.
The first theme I want to look at is civilization versus savagery, the lack of adult authority on the island creates a tension between those who empathize with others.
And those who do not golding is examining the central issue in lord of the flies that has plagued the human race throughout history.
Why do some people live by rules act peacefully develop a moral compass and value the good of the group while others gratify their own immediate desires act violently to obtain power and control over others.
This struggle manifests itself in a number of ways on the island.
Civilization is threatened by savagery order is turned into chaos.
Reason is crushed by impulse collective rules are ignored and goodness is overpowered by evil by creating this setting of an isolated island, golden provides an environment that cannot be disrupted by the normal, civilized behaviour.
Instead, it allows albeit hypothetically for a natural evolution from civilized moral and disciplined school boys to savages when removed from the influence of social conditioning.
Also by using young boys without adults to tell this story, it provides him with characters who have not yet been completely conditioned by society.
Although the same may have happened with adult characters, golden conveys, many of his main ideas and themes through symbolic characters and objects in particular through the two main characters.
Ralph the protagonist who represents order and leadership and jack the antagonist who represents savagery and the desire for power as the novel progresses, golden shows how different people feel the influences of the instincts of civilization and savagery to different degrees.
Iggy.
For instance, has no savage feelings while roger seems incapable of complying with the rules of civilization.
Generally, however, goldening implies that the instinct of savagery is far more primal and fundamental to the human psyche than the instinct of civilization.
Golding sees moral behavior as something that civilization forces upon the individual rather than a natural expression of human individuality.
When left to their own devices, golding implies people, naturally revert to cruelty, savagery and barbarism.
This idea of innate human evil is central to lord of the flies and finds expression in several important symbols.
Most notably the beast and the pig's head on a stake among all the characters only simon seems to possess anything like a natural innate goodness.
The second theme is that of innocence at the start of the novel, the boys appear to be innocent throughout their behaviour and willingness to get along, although there are hints early on that jack.
And roger are less inclined to act in the interest of the group as the boy's behaviour deteriorates on the island from well-behaved and calm longing for rescue by the adults to cruel bloodthirsty hunters who have no desire to return to the rules and restrictions of civilization, their innocence fades until most of them become unrecognizable from the start of the novel.
The most important thing here is that golding is not presenting the loss of innocence as something that is done to the children.
But as something that has happened, naturally from the boys, increasing openness to the innate evil and savagery that has always existed within them.
And therefore, the author is suggesting that despite the social conditioning from adults, you can never completely wipe out the evil that exists within all human beings.
When simon sits in the forest glade in chapter 3, it is a place of natural beauty and peace that represents his innocence.
But when he returns later in the novel, he finds the bloody pig's head impaled upon a stake in the middle of the clearing, this acts as an offering to the beast.
But destroys this serene place of beauty for simon golding is therefore symbolizing how the innate evil within human beings, inevitably destroys childhood innocence.
Another important idea in the novel is how difficult it is to create civilizations while ralph and piggy argue for solid rules and procedures to maintain harmony safety and progress for the group.
Jack undermines this with his obsession with hunting violence and pleasure seeking golding seems to be suggesting that all the while some people refuse to contribute to the greater good of society, civilizations will always struggle to function effectively, also for golding, trying to overcome the stark differences between humans in respect of good and evil means inevitable failure.
When the novel was published in 1954, the world had just experienced a world war that threatened democracy and almost resulted in a world ruled by fascism.
Golding is presenting young boys as having the potential for evil, which had been demonstrated in germany by enthusiasm for the hitler youth movement, jack's loss of influence early on in the novel results in his use of violence to regain power, rather than have to earn the respect from the boys.
He results to using fear and intimidation supported by his violent sidekick.
Roger it's, as if empathy intellect, compassion and cooperation are too much like hard work for jack.
And so he becomes a brutal dictator.
Ultimately, the demands of humanity and respect prove too much for ralph and piggy who join in with the murder of simon swept up momentarily by the herd instinct or mob rule because of the thrill of violence, although piggy tries to avoid responsibility.
Ralph is devastated when he realizes that he is no different to jack or roger, because he also has an innate evil lurking inside of him, the only character that is truly individual and able to resist this violent inner nature is simon.
He is seen by others as odd and weird, but he stands up for piggy and the litlins helps ralph build the shelters and provides a wise mature and thoughtful take on their predicament.
He recognizes that the beast is not real, but perhaps the darkness and innate brutality is within the boys themselves.
He is trying to explain his meditations to the group when he is brutally killed.
Perhaps golding is trying to compare this with the bible story of jesus who met a similar fate as he tried to make humanity aware of his flawed nature.
The mob mentality in the novel grows into an uncontrolled frenzy at the end with ralph saved only by the arrival of adults in 1954, with the advent of cinema and television.
The world was witnessing evidence of terrible atrocities carried out in germany by mobs, attacking the jewish community and stories of torture.
And the holocaust through the nuremberg trials showed how easy it was to manipulate the mob early on in the novel, the boys sing kill the pig cut her throat spill her blood after a successful hunt, elevating their shared act of violence into an uncontrolled celebratory.
Chant, there's, a shared exhilaration and a lack of individual accountability in the brutal acts committed by the boys in the novel they hide behind painted faces and group chants, creating an unspoken bond that removes all sense of moral responsibility, their violence grows in intensity and their humanity shrinks until they are no longer recognizable their group fears and delusions serve to justify their increasing violence that ends with the murder of simon and piggy, the fear of nuclear war during the 1950s and the devastation it would bring allows golden to explore the idea of rebuilding a civilization.
However, instead of learning from the mistakes of the adults, these boys fail to comprehend the role of humans in the global disaster, the high ideals of order, fairness and thoughtfulness have little impact in an environment where basic survival dominates and the fear of the darkness, literal and metaphorical destroys any chances of a collective rationale.
And while the war rages elsewhere demonstrated by the dead paratrooper, the fate of the boys becomes a microcosm of the wider conflict raging throughout the world.
Well, I hope this has helped in your revision for the gcse literature exam.
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So I can continue to make these video tutorials for free until next time.
FAQs
Lord of the Flies deals with themes of innocence, violence, the rule of law, knowledge, leadership, evil, friendship and civilisation.
What are the major themes of the Lord of the Flies? ›
Lord of the Flies is an allegory, a cautionary tale, and has many important themes, including civilization, rules and order, innocence lost, mob mentality, knowledge, and nature.
What should I revise for Lord of the Flies? ›
Revise the key points
- 1 William Golding's life. Golding used his experience as a schoolteacher to inform 'Lord of the Flies'. ...
- 2 Historical context - war. ...
- 3 Social context - 1950s Britain. ...
- 4 Literary context - The Coral Island. ...
- 5 Location and setting - the island.
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.
What is the context of the Lord of the Flies GCSE? ›
The context of the novel's production, release, and reception was the immediate post-World War II era and the Cold War clash of ideologies between East and West. Author William Golding had been a junior officer in the Royal Navy during the war and witnessed firsthand its violence and cruelty.
What are two major themes in the fly? ›
The central theme of The Fly is death. Death is combined with other themes, including grief, forgetting, and survival.
What is the theme and moral of Lord of the Flies? ›
William Golding, 1983. "The theme is an attempt to trace the defects of society to the defects of human nature. The moral is that the shape of a society must depend on the ethical nature of the individual and not on any political system however apparently logical or respectable."
What are the major themes of Lord of the Flies and how are they developed? ›
Three themes in 'Lord of the Flies' are civilization vs. savagery, the impact of humankind on nature, and the nature of humanity.
What grade is appropriate for Lord of the Flies? ›
Book Review
This coming-of-age book by William Golding is published by Riverhead Books, a division of Penguin Group and is written for ages 13 and up. The age range reflects readability and not necessarily content appropriateness.
What is the most important chapter in Lord of the Flies? ›
Simon's confrontation with the Lord of the Flies—the sow's head impaled on a stake in the forest glade—is arguably the most important scene in the novel, and one that has attracted the most attention from critics.
The main theme of this novel is civilization and savagery. Civilization shows order and leadership while savagery represents the desire of power.
What do Piggy's glasses symbolize? ›
The spectacles represent the boys' only means of obtaining fire through reflecting the sun's rays, and fire itself is symbolic of survival and rescue. Jack snatches the glasses off Piggy's face to create the fire, despite Piggy's protestations, and his dependence upon them.
What does Piggy symbolize in Lord of the Flies? ›
Piggy represents the scientific and rational side of humanity, supporting Ralph's signal fires and helping to problem solve on the island. However, Piggy's asthma, weight, and poor eyesight make him physically inferior to the others, making him vulnerable to scorn and ostracism.
What message does Lord of the Flies symbolize? ›
The main message in Lord of the Flies speaks to the battle in human nature between peace and savagery, and it uses many themes to support this message. The themes, in turn, are supported by the symbols. The conch is a symbol of civilization, and the boys use it to guide democratic practices.
What is the symbolism in Lord of the Flies summary? ›
The characters in Lord of the Flies possess recognizable symbolic significance, which make them as the sort of people around us. Ralph stands for civilization and democracy; Piggy represents intellect and rationalism; Jack signifies savagery and dictatorship; Simon is the incarnation of goodness and saintliness.
What is the Lord of the Flies What does it symbolize? ›
In this way, the Lord of the Flies becomes both a physical manifestation of the beast, a symbol of the power of evil, and a kind of Satan figure who evokes the beast within each human being. Looking at the novel in the context of biblical parallels, the Lord of the Flies recalls the devil, just as Simon recalls Jesus.
What is the theme of the story two stories about flying his first flight? ›
The theme of “His first flight” is about self-confidence and courage. It teaches about the importance of facing one's fears bravely and boldly and one should always inculcate the spirit of never give up attitude to attain success.
What do you think the theme of the people could fly is? ›
This story, in which an old man, tired of the abuse he and others are suffering under the violence of slavery, reclaims his people's magic and power and helps them to liberate themselves. This is a story about the triumph of the human spirit and the fight for freedom.
What is the theme of the story his flight? ›
The theme of the story of “His first flight” is self-confidence and courage, and it emphasizes the message that one must face their fears bravely.
What are the themes in Lord of the Flies and Animal Farm? ›
Lord of the Flies deals with civilization vs savagery, but also with the idea that absolute power corrupts, the nature of evil, and how an individual fits into a society. Animal Farm is centered around the corruption of even the noblest of intentions, but also deals with a struggle for power, and social classification.
Lord of the Flies
Fire represents rescue and hope to the survivors. At first, the boys struggle to make a fire until Jack suggests that they could use Piggy's 'specs' and the sun's rays. The fire quickly burns out of control and a 'littlun' goes missing.
What are the key themes in Lord of the Flies Chapter 1? ›
Summary and Analysis Chapter 1
In Chapter 1, Golding introduces the novel's major characters as well as its theme: that evil, as a destructive force in man, society, and civilization, is present in us all.
What are the themes in the first chapter of Lord of the Flies? ›
The main theme that the reader begins to see in chapter one of Lord of the Flies is savagery versus civilization; two battling forces that can be seen within the characters of Ralph and Jack. While Ralph likes the idea of no adults, there is an obvious need for some sort of order.
What is the theme of Lord of the Flies quizlet? ›
The overarching theme of Lord of the Flies is the conflict between the human impulse towards savagery and the rules of civilization which are designed to contain and minimize it. Throughout the novel, the conflict is dramatized by the clash between Ralph and Jack, who respectively represent civilization and savagery.
Why is Lord of the Flies banned in schools? ›
Lord of the Flies by William Golding was challenged in the Waterloo Iowa schools in 1992 because of profanity, lurid passages about sex, and statements defamatory to minorities, God, women, and the disabled.
Why is Lord of the Flies so hard to read? ›
There's some tricky vocab here—like "gibbering" and "incantation." And there's also the way that the passage moves from a specific description (the wail of an animal) to the much more abstract point that Golding is making: out in the wild, things like addresses, names, and families just don't matter.
Is Lord of the Flies banned in schools? ›
"Lord of the Flies," a 1954 novel by William Golding, has been banned from schools over the years and has often been challenged. According to the American Library Association, it is the eighth-most frequently banned and challenged book in the nation.
What does the conch symbolize in Lord of the Flies? ›
Piggy and Ralph find the conch shell just after the crash on the island and Ralph blows into it to alert other survivors. It quickly becomes a symbol for order on the island; during meetings, the boys are only allowed to speak if they are holding the conch.
What are the most important points of Lord of the Flies? ›
The central concern of Lord of the Flies is the conflict between two competing impulses that exist within all human beings: the instinct to live by rules, act peacefully, follow moral commands, and value the good of the group against the instinct to gratify one's immediate desires, act violently to obtain supremacy ...
What are some important lines in the Lord of the Flies? ›
“Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart, and the fall through the air of a true, wise friend called Piggy.” “They looked at each other, baffled, in love and hate.” “There aren't any grownups. We shall have to look after ourselves.”
Hunting is considered to be the origin of alienation in Lord of the Flies. The act of hunting, along with the oppression, violence and tyranny that it produces, alienates the characters to their sense of identity, the other individuals and nature.
What book has the same theme as Lord of the Flies? ›
Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids by Kenzaburo Oe
Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids is a powerful story similar to Lord of the Flies if you like to read similar books.
What does Castle Rock symbolize in Lord of the Flies? ›
Castle Rock is a rocky cave far away from Ralph's base at the beach, and represents Jack's power and authority. Its discovery foreshadows, or suggests what's going to happen: Jack's later choice of base. Its seclusion allows him to control what happens there; who goes in and who goes out.
What does the parachute man symbolize in Lord of the Flies? ›
The Parachute Man: The dead body flying in the parachute symbolizes the end of adult supervision of the boys on the island.
Who actually pushes the rock that kills Piggy? ›
Roger, the character least able to understand the civilizing impulse, crushes the conch shell as he looses the boulder and kills Piggy, the character least able to understand the savage impulse.
What does the killing of the first pig symbolize in Lord of the Flies? ›
However, the savagery with which the boys killed the mother pig shows that the beast, or evil, is inside each of them. The pig's head becomes a symbol of the evil inside humans.
What does Simon symbolize in The Lord of the Flies? ›
What does Simon represent in Lord of the Flies? Simon represents human goodness and saintliness in Lord of the Flies. His character is an allegory of Jesus Christ. He is kind; he sacrifices his time, food, and life; and he is wise, realizing that the beast is in the boys and is not a literal monster.
What does Sam and Eric symbolize in Lord of the Flies? ›
What do the twins represent in Lord of the Flies? The twins Sam and Eric, or Samneric, represent the conflict between morals and evil, individuality and conformity. The pair goes back and forth in their moral journeys, committing atrocities then repenting and doing good.
What is the most important symbol in Lord of the Flies essay? ›
The first symbol, which is used all throughout the book, is the symbol of the Conch. The conch was a large shell which piggy had first unearthed on the island. The conch shows powers all throughout the book and always commands respect form the boys due to its importance.
What are 4 symbols in Lord of the Flies? ›
Lord of the Flies Symbols
- The Island. The tropical island, with its bountiful food and untouched beauty, symbolizes paradise. ...
- The Lord of the Flies (the Beast) ...
- The Conch Shell. ...
- Piggy's Glasses. ...
- Fire. ...
- Adults. ...
- The Scar. ...
- The Ocean.
The Ocean Symbol Analysis
The ocean symbolizes the unconscious, the thoughts and desires buried deep within all humans.
What does the beast symbolize in Lord of the Flies quotes? ›
At first, the beast seems like it is something outside of the boys, something that they could do something about. However, in time, the beast symbolizes the dark side of human nature, something that no physical wall or weapon can defeat.
What are the three symbols in Lord of the Flies essay? ›
Three of the main symbols seen in Lord of the Flies are the beast, the Conch Shell, and Piggy's glasses. The first example of symbolism is that of the “Beast”.
What are the symbols in Lord of the Flies essay? ›
In Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses a conch for a symbol of civility and power, a signal fire as a symbol for hope of rescue, and the character Jack as a symbol of immaturity and the cruelty of man. The conch symbolizes power and civilization.
What are the 3 main themes in Lord of the Flies? ›
Three themes in 'Lord of the Flies' are civilization vs. savagery, the impact of humankind on nature, and the nature of humanity.
What are the 4 key themes in Animal Farm? ›
Animal Farm - Themes overview
- class.
- equality and inequality.
- power, control and corruption.
In Lord of the Flies, civilization is arbitrary but necessary; it's the only thing keeping us all from killing each other. Golding suggests that civilization is ultimately doomed to fail, because the beast in all of us will eventually break free.
What themes are explored in Chapter 2 of Lord of the Flies? ›
In chapter 2 the theme that is most prominent is order vs chaos. The boys want to have order in their lives and to behave in a civilized manner.
What are the key themes in Chapter 6 Lord of the Flies? ›
Themes of fear, savagery, and anarchy are also incorporated into Chapter 6, which supports Golding's overall message of the dichotomy of civility and savagery in human nature.
What are the key themes of Chapter 7 Lord of the Flies? ›
The main theme of Chapter 7 of Lord of the Flies is brutality. Simon understands that the beast in this story cannot be found in the jungle; it is found within humans and is a struggle to control.
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