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Submitted by oppapers on March 13, 2000
Category: English
Words: 1169 | Pages: 5
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In Lord of the Flies, William Golding presents pessimistic view of society. He uses
the story of a group of boys stranded on a deserted island to examine a multitude of
specific social issues, such as leadership, sadism, and the role of intellectuals in society.
Taken together, this presentation of opinions on social issues brings the reader to the
question of the nature of society. As to this question, Golding asserts that society is an
inherently corruptive influence and illustrates this through the breakdown of social order
on the island.
Golding begins his indictment of society with an illustration of innocence. One of
first things that Ralph, the central character of the novel, does upon his arrival on the
island is to strip himself of his clothing and go swimming. During this opening sequence,
Piggy rambles about eating candies in his aunt’s store. Even Jack first appears as a choir
boy. Golding is careful in the novel to introduce each of the boys as the picture of
innocence, emphasizing that they are children and nothing more. This is shown in the
following quote, “ He (Ralph) patted the palm trunk softly, and, forced at last to believe in
the reality of the island, laughed delightedly again and stood on his head. He turned neatly
on to his feet, jumped down to the beach, knelt and swept a double armful of sand into a
pile against his chest. Then he sat back and looked at the water with bright excited eyes.”
(Golding, William Lord of the Flies Wideview/Perigee page 10).
By doing this, Golding strips his characters of any motives that they may have for
their actions down to bare human nature, as the author has shown them to be carrying no
emotional baggage. Because of this, these innocent children become the perfect subjects
for Golding’s test of human nature. Also,...
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