Lord of the Flies: Critical Essays
“Choose a novel in which there is a disturbing or violent incident. Explain briefly what happens during the incident and discuss to what extent the disturbing or violent incident is important to your understanding of the text as a whole.” - 20 marks
In William Golding's 'Lord of the Flies', the underlying savagery which exists within all humans is explored, through a group of young boys who end up on a deserted island after a plane crash and must look after themselves. The death of Simon, one of the older members of the group, is one of the first examples of this internalised savagery being taken out on another member of the group, and is also a violent incident in the novel.
Simon goes up the mountain …show more content…
He claims that neither Simon nor the beast were killed, he claims it was the beast ‘disguised’, but that they didn’t kill it: “No! How could we - kill - it?” Jack hesistates, just like Piggy does when he was talking about the incident. Jack’s denial is an attempt to convince both his tribe (a group more willing to accept their internalised savage nature) and himself that they aren’t in the wrong. Jack still has a moral compass, put in place by society. He has been conditioned to believe that Simon’s death is wrong, and he still thinks this is true to a certain extent, despite embracing the savage nature within him. This is important as Jack is arguably one of the most willing to accept and embrace savagery. He also denies the beast’s death, so that in his tribe’s eyes, their main threat remains. Jack’s leadership is based on fear, he makes his tribe believe he is the only guarantee of safety from the beast, when the true beast is the evil within the entire …show more content…
The violent nature of this incident demonstrates the violent nature of this internalised evil and is the first example of it directly causing a death. The direct involvement of Ralph and Piggy highlights how this evil cannot be internalised forever. Simon's death also shows that the sole threat to humanity is humanity
“Choose a novel in which there is a disturbing or violent incident. Explain briefly what happens during the incident and discuss to what extent the disturbing or violent incident is important to your understanding of the text as a whole.” - 20 marks
In William Golding's 'Lord of the Flies', the underlying savagery which exists within all humans is explored, through a group of young boys who end up on a deserted island after a plane crash and must look after themselves. The death of Simon, one of the older members of the group, is one of the first examples of this internalised savagery being taken out on another member of the group, and is also a violent incident in the novel.
Simon goes up the mountain …show more content…
He claims that neither Simon nor the beast were killed, he claims it was the beast ‘disguised’, but that they didn’t kill it: “No! How could we - kill - it?” Jack hesistates, just like Piggy does when he was talking about the incident. Jack’s denial is an attempt to convince both his tribe (a group more willing to accept their internalised savage nature) and himself that they aren’t in the wrong. Jack still has a moral compass, put in place by society. He has been conditioned to believe that Simon’s death is wrong, and he still thinks this is true to a certain extent, despite embracing the savage nature within him. This is important as Jack is arguably one of the most willing to accept and embrace savagery. He also denies the beast’s death, so that in his tribe’s eyes, their main threat remains. Jack’s leadership is based on fear, he makes his tribe believe he is the only guarantee of safety from the beast, when the true beast is the evil within the entire …show more content…
The violent nature of this incident demonstrates the violent nature of this internalised evil and is the first example of it directly causing a death. The direct involvement of Ralph and Piggy highlights how this evil cannot be internalised forever. Simon's death also shows that the sole threat to humanity is humanity