The Lord Of the Flies is a novel by William Golding depicting the struggle of school boys living on an abandoned island. When they first crash onto the island, order is ensured; however, as the months wear on, their nature and psyches become more animalistic and regress drastically from their former purity. This darker, more “realistic... Coral Island “ (Cox) is twisted so the true natures of humans come out and stay for perusal. Golding uses the symbolic nature of atavism and evolution through clothing, Ralph’s mentality, and the island itself to introduce and emphasize the psychological nature of the book.
Throughout the novel, Golding continuously links the degradation of the clothes to the boy’s psyches. At the beginning of the novel, …show more content…
At first, Ralph is “the natural leader by virtue of his superior height, his superior strength, his superior beauty” (Rosenfield) but not his mind. However, as he takes control of the group, Ralph brings up logical points such as “need[ing] hunters to get [the boys] meat” (25) and how they “must make smoke at the top of the islandLater on, due to the nature of the island, Ralphe a his rules more and more, calling a meeting because “[they] decide[d] things. But they don 't get done.” (68). The problem is the absence of the boys obedience, so Ralph evolves to have more leadership skills. Along this same line of thought, the recognition of how “‘that was Simon... That was murder’” (141) reinforces this idea of evolution and the natural progression of Ralph’s thought. Ralph achieves full enlightenment at the end of the novel when he “we[eps] for the end of innocence, the darkness of man 's heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy” (182). Before, he had only smaller glimmers and insights to what has happened to the boys while on the island, but when confronted with the naval officer, quickly sees all the blights on their moral compasses. Just as Ralph is the representation for evolution of thought, the island itself is a more symbolic representation of what is going on with the boys’ psychological
Throughout the novel, Golding continuously links the degradation of the clothes to the boy’s psyches. At the beginning of the novel, …show more content…
At first, Ralph is “the natural leader by virtue of his superior height, his superior strength, his superior beauty” (Rosenfield) but not his mind. However, as he takes control of the group, Ralph brings up logical points such as “need[ing] hunters to get [the boys] meat” (25) and how they “must make smoke at the top of the islandLater on, due to the nature of the island, Ralphe a his rules more and more, calling a meeting because “[they] decide[d] things. But they don 't get done.” (68). The problem is the absence of the boys obedience, so Ralph evolves to have more leadership skills. Along this same line of thought, the recognition of how “‘that was Simon... That was murder’” (141) reinforces this idea of evolution and the natural progression of Ralph’s thought. Ralph achieves full enlightenment at the end of the novel when he “we[eps] for the end of innocence, the darkness of man 's heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy” (182). Before, he had only smaller glimmers and insights to what has happened to the boys while on the island, but when confronted with the naval officer, quickly sees all the blights on their moral compasses. Just as Ralph is the representation for evolution of thought, the island itself is a more symbolic representation of what is going on with the boys’ psychological