A strict and justified rules in a society is one of the exiguous key systems that keep the negative impulses of human beings such as rebellion, and the will to perform immoral acts, on a leash. William Golding thoroughly illustrates this concept in his enticing novel named “The Lord of the Flies”, in which the lack of order drives a small group of boys to embrace a savage-like lifestyle, and forces them to behave immorally. E. L. Epstein’s reflection is an extremely well written piece that goes into the very depths of this comprehensive read, and emerges with every imaginable aspect that focuses on society’s, and humanity’s defects. In this reflection, I will mainly be referencing Epstein’s notes to exemplify the theme of the novel and the
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Subsequently, this hypothetical environment is put to test in Golding’s novel and the product that it produces is a group of ill minded and discombobulated boys who have no reasoning for their actions except for natural instinct; something also mentioned by Epstein in his notes. This final result had me wandering if this test situation would actually produce such results, and in the end, I concluded that some areas of our natural instinct are far too primitive and undeveloped to be put to use in the modern world. Which proves how the rules of society keep some of these dormant ideas locked up (or at least under control) so they cannot be introduced to those among us who are still moral and sane. The mental defects of humanity can be defined as the ability to break out of moral reasoning and acting on selfish impulses or cluelessly trusting one’s own sense of false morality. If we take this reasoning to the novel, we can see that Jack displays this defect on several occasions where he acts immorally because he believes his actions are just or even for his own selfish purposes. An example of this is when he proclaims that Simon is actually the beast because of his unusual appearance; normally Jack would have no reason to kill Simon but because of his current knowledge he carries out the …show more content…
One of the largest indications of symbolism is the mere presence of the conch; its ability to assemble a meeting on the island symbolizes how it represents order and how it is the only tool that upheld such power among the children. Its power also displays how valuable order is in a society and once it is destroyed, chaos will surely follow. Epstein’s notes comment on how Golding uses symbolism that “works”, I interpreted it as a way of Epstein complimenting how Golding’s use of symbolism was superb because it created a sense of depth in the text in which the reader was compelled to look was alternate meanings in the text that weren’t literally visible. This part of his text is what I believe to be the main detail that has contrived Lord of the Flies to be a seller because if not for the symbolism, we would be left over with a simple yet interesting story about a group of boys losing their minds. What really ices the cake however, is how much attention William Golding pays to the character’s attitudes, morals, and what they represent in their primitive society. For example, Ralph undoubtedly represents order and civilization, Jack represents cruelty and savagery, and so on. However, one individual that really stuck out from the rest was Simon who represented natural goodness and what is
Subsequently, this hypothetical environment is put to test in Golding’s novel and the product that it produces is a group of ill minded and discombobulated boys who have no reasoning for their actions except for natural instinct; something also mentioned by Epstein in his notes. This final result had me wandering if this test situation would actually produce such results, and in the end, I concluded that some areas of our natural instinct are far too primitive and undeveloped to be put to use in the modern world. Which proves how the rules of society keep some of these dormant ideas locked up (or at least under control) so they cannot be introduced to those among us who are still moral and sane. The mental defects of humanity can be defined as the ability to break out of moral reasoning and acting on selfish impulses or cluelessly trusting one’s own sense of false morality. If we take this reasoning to the novel, we can see that Jack displays this defect on several occasions where he acts immorally because he believes his actions are just or even for his own selfish purposes. An example of this is when he proclaims that Simon is actually the beast because of his unusual appearance; normally Jack would have no reason to kill Simon but because of his current knowledge he carries out the …show more content…
One of the largest indications of symbolism is the mere presence of the conch; its ability to assemble a meeting on the island symbolizes how it represents order and how it is the only tool that upheld such power among the children. Its power also displays how valuable order is in a society and once it is destroyed, chaos will surely follow. Epstein’s notes comment on how Golding uses symbolism that “works”, I interpreted it as a way of Epstein complimenting how Golding’s use of symbolism was superb because it created a sense of depth in the text in which the reader was compelled to look was alternate meanings in the text that weren’t literally visible. This part of his text is what I believe to be the main detail that has contrived Lord of the Flies to be a seller because if not for the symbolism, we would be left over with a simple yet interesting story about a group of boys losing their minds. What really ices the cake however, is how much attention William Golding pays to the character’s attitudes, morals, and what they represent in their primitive society. For example, Ralph undoubtedly represents order and civilization, Jack represents cruelty and savagery, and so on. However, one individual that really stuck out from the rest was Simon who represented natural goodness and what is