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Turning Paradise into hell By Stephanie Luong What could have been paradise quickly turned sour for a pack of British schoolboys stranded on an island. The disintegration of order also came when atavism rose and came to power. Ralph, Simon, Piggy, Jack and Roger all played key roles in the battle of good / evil . There were also many symbols that represented order and the effects of mans savagery. Ralph, the elected leader of the island, tried to prevent atavism from taking over but he failed. He represented society and all of its rules and limitations.
From the quick decisions he made as Chief near the beginning of the novel, it could be seen that Ralph was well organized. But even so, Ralph began repeatedly to long and daydream of his civilized and regular past. Gradually, Ralph became confused and began to lose clarity in his thoughts and speeches. Ralph was puzzled by the shutter that flickered in his brain. There was something he wanted to say; then the shutter had come down. (156) He started to feel lost in their new environment as the boys, with the exception of Piggy, began to change and adapt to their freedom. The advice from Piggy, a fat boy, helped renew the civilization and rational thinking in his mind.
At times atavism had deluded his thoughts but it did not have a very strong hold on him. Ralph too was fighting to get near, to get a handful of that brown, vulnerable flesh. The desire to squeeze and hurt was over-mastering. That was a good game, said Jack.
Yes just a game, said Ralph uneasily. Although atavism tried to get his claws on him, he resisted. Ralph ordered the others to keep the fire burning, which symbolized rescue. Without this fire there was no hope of rescue. Hasnt anyone got any sense? Weve got to re-light that fire.
You never thought of that, Jack, did you? Or dont any of you want to be rescued? (102) He also made rules but they others would not listen. Things are breaking up. I dont understand why.
We began well; we were happy. And then. then people started getting frightened. (82) When the others lost respect for him, he slipped off the pedestal of power. Atavism took over their bodies and would not let go. Order was a meaningless word. There isnt a tribe for you anymore!
The conch is gone-Im chief! -Jack Jack, the other leader of the group had power, skill and hatred. When the idea of having a Chief was mentioned, Jack spoke out immediately. I ought to be chief, said Jack with simple arrogance, because Im chapter chorister and head boy. However, despite his unpleasant personality, his lack of courage and his conscience prevented him from killing the first pig they encountered.
They knew very well why he hadnt: because of the enormity of the knife descending and cutting into living flesh; because of the unbearable blood. (34) The freedom of no adult supervision offered to him by the island allowed Jack to express the darker sides of his personality. This freedom coupled with his malicious and arrogant personality made it possible for him to quickly degenerate into a savage. Jack put on paint, first to camouflage himself from the pigs but he soon discovered that the paint allowed him to hide the forbidden thoughts in his mind that his facial expressions would otherwise betray. The mask was a thing on its own behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness. (69) Through hunting, Jack lost his fear of blood and of killing living animals. He reached a point where he actually enjoyed the sensation of hunting a prey afraid of his spear and knife. He sought, charitable in his happiness, to include them in the thing that happened.
His mind was crowded with memories; memories of the knowledge that they had outwitted a living thing, imposed their will on it, taken its life like a long satisfying drink. (70) His hunting of pigs brought out his natural desire for blood and violence. As Ralph became lost in his own confusion, Jack began to assert himself as chief. The boys, realizing that Jack was a stronger and more self-assured leader gave in easily to the freedom of Jacks savagery. Freed from the conditions of a society, Jack gradually became more violent and the rules and proper behavior by which he was brought up were forgotten. As the key player for atavism later, it seems ironic that, in the beginning he said that we should have rules and lots of em.
Bollocks to the rules! Were strong- we hunt! (91) Now there was a Jack, who was no longer proud to be British, and who was not shaped and unbound by the laws of a civilized society. Piggy was the thorn in Jacks side. He represented the clear and rational human mind. Physically, he was not a leader, and because of this he was quickly labeled an outsider.
We dont want you, Jack had said to Piggy. (26) His status in their society allowed him to look at the boys from an outsiders perspective. Piggy could learn of the hatred being brought out of the boys without having to experience the thirst for blood that Ralph was exposed to. Although the other boys easily intimidated him, he did not lack the self-confidence to protest or speak out against the indignities from the boys. Piggy was more aware of why the rules were imposed, thereby ensuring that he would abide by them even when they were not enforced. An example of this would be when the boys flocked to the mountaintop to build the fire, Piggy shouted after them, Acting like a crowd of kids! (42) In the other boys mind, Piggy was a prick and no doubt that he was. He shouted at the boys immature recklessness, The first thing we ought to have made was shelters down there by the beach Then when you get here you build a bonfire that isnt no use.
Now you been and set the whole island on fire. (50) Like Ralph, his sense of responsibility set him apart from the other boys. Piggy and the conch was the glue that held order together. When they both fell prey to Roger, atavism had fully taken over everyone except for Ralph. Roger, what can I say? A sadistic little boy that enjoys torturing humans and animals alike. He killed Piggy and demolished the conch into a pile of dust.
Ahh and how could I forget the incident with the pig? Right up her ass! (135) Roger represented pure evil. Whereas Jack acts in fury, Roger performs his treacheries with cool detachment. He appears to know full well the evil of his actions, but he doesnt really care. The storm of sound beat at them, an incantation of hatred. High overhead, roger, with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever. (which was the rock that killed Piggy) (180) He actually enjoys being called upon to play the role of torturer.
It is such perversity that makes him much more evil in the mind of the reader. (Back when there was order) there was a space around Henry, perhaps six yards in diameter, into which he dare not throw. Here, invisible yet strong, was the taboo of the old life. Round the squatting child was the protection of parents and school and policemen and the law. Rogers arm was conditioned by a civilization that knew nothing of him and was in ruins. (62) Plagued by order, Roger could not throw the stones at his target but once order was taken away, he could do as he pleases.
And he did, he wedged a rock down a hill and it hit, bulls eye. Roger was the one that ultimately killed order, in the form of a conch shell and the form of a boy. Oh and a little tidbit for you there was something about Rogers name in some Germanic language meaning spear. Simon is a small innocent boy, not a little but not quite a big yet. He has a heightened perception, even more so than Piggy. Simon is unique because he can actually hear the voice of the beast.
He realizes that the beast is not something one can kill because its inside the boys. Maybe, he said hesitantly, maybe there is a beast. What I mean is. maybe its only us. (89) Most importantly, Simon makes the connection between the dead parachutist and the Lord of the Flies. He understands that with the death of the man in the parachute, which symbolizes the death of reason, the chaos of the Lord of the Flies is free to reign supreme. Lastly, Simon is seen as a Christ figure.
He gives up his own life in an attempt to tell the rest of the boys about the beast. But when he crawls out of the forest to warn the others and expose the truth, Jack and his hunters see him as the beast, and murder him. Simon falls to the ground dead and is described as beautiful and pure. The line of his cheek silvered and the turn of his shoulder became sculptured marble. The strange and attendant creatures, with their fiery eyes and trailing vapors, busied themselves round his head. (154) He represented pure good. The description of his death, the manner in which he died, and the cause for which he died is remarkably similar to the circumstances of Christs life and ultimate demise.
Like Simon, Christ was also stabbed in the side with a spear before his crucifixion. When good was dead, chaos / evil was free to roam. The conch shell symbolizes the law and order of the old adult world, which Piggy tries so desperately to protect. It is with this Ralph calls all the meetings and all of the other boys seem to respect this. Anyone who holds it has the right to be heard.
Without this, nobody would probably ever have listened to any of Piggy's intelligent suggestions. There would have been no fire, no shelters and no assigned place for lavatory use. When Jack/Roger destroyed the conch, the island society collapses into chaos and a manhunt begins. The dead body flying in the parachute symbolizes the end of adult supervision of the boys on the island. While the parachute man is flapping back and forth on the island, it is conjuring up a powerful image of the so- called Beast.
The Lord of the Flies or atavism is prospering under its new control over Jack and most of the other boys on the island. So while the law and order of the adult world is disappearing slowly, chaos grows exponentially. The death of Piggy, Simon and the conch were all-important factors in the disintegration of order. Piggy, with his rational mind kept things in a realistic perspective.
Simon, being the symbol of pure good, helped sustain order but it ultimately cost him his life. The conch, the symbol of order, smashed into a million gazillion pieces at the hands of Roger, no longer had an effect on these boys. With Jacks rebelling against all things good and Rogers overall appearance of evilness, the disintegration of order seemed inevitable. You know, its funny; I ask myself if a bunch of American schoolboys were stranded on an island like they were, would we have acted differently? Would atavism take over? My answer would be No, because Americans have sense and we think (well at least some of us do).
Maybe I answered that way because of my ignorance or maybe its my narrow- mindedness but I know for a fact that Americans are way smarter than the British. 32 a
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Research essay sample on Law And Order Lord Of The Flies
