Lord_of_the_Flies_Essay

Bradley Ries Ms. Herring LA II –H Pd. 2 2 November 2010 Hidden Powers A happy face is a perfect disguise, anyone can hide behind a smile. People hide their emotions behind the everlasting love of a smile. One killer in particular can also hide behind the love of a smiling face. Everyone masks their true savagery by living a normal life. In the novel Lord of the Flies (prepositional phrase), William Golding explores the topic of man’s inner savage. Through his use of characterization, plot, and symbolism, Golding develops a theme that man is inherently a savage and brutal creature. Alongside Golding’s examples of human’s savage nature, real-life experiences also make this point clear. Equally (adverb), an ardent observer may find real-life examples that counter Golding’s view of humanity. Some people may say that humans are only situationally savage. William Golding perceives humans as brutal and savage creatures all the time. He glorifies this human nature through his characters. Jack, the leader of the hunters, always wants to kill. Jack’s savage traits are most obvious amongst all of the children on the island. Throughout their time on the island (prepositional phrase), Jack insists on hunting wild boars. Not only does he hunt the boars, but he treats the kill extremely violently, saying things like “Kill the pig! Cut her throat! Spill her blood!” (Golding 69). Contrarily (adverb), the character who lets out his inner beast throughout the story is Ralph, the content, humble leader of the group. No one would suspect that there was any violence hidden inside Ralph. He does what is best for the group at all times, he is always looking after the littluns, and is always working. Golding chooses to show that everyone, even Ralph has some inner savage in them. While the hunters were attacking Robert, the narrator explains “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” (115). Golding expertly explains his view on people through his characters and symbols throughout his novel. People may also say that humans are only savage in Lord of the Flies. Golding’s view on human nature is also presently exemplified in real life situations. These situations are most prevalent on the news in the form of Serial Killers. Serial killers murder random, innocent people without any regret. Most killers have some savage motive behind their kills. On the other hand (prepositional phrase), serial killers kill just because they can. For example, one of the most famous killers, “The happy face killer” was said to have captured and tortured animals as a child. His motive for killing humans was because he was curious as to what would happen if he did these things to humans. Blatantly, this shows how evil can consume us, and that everyone has some sort of beast inside of us. This beast wants to hurt, or to kill someone or something. It is obvious that serial killers have a beast inside of them, but average people also have savageness inside them. For example, when people fight, they can often lose control and violently attack their opposition. There is a beast hiding inside of everyone, and it comes out sooner or later, no matter what. In the novel Lord of the Flies, William Golding explores man’s inner savage. He glorifies this trait through his characters and symbols throughout the story. Golding develops the theme that man is inherently a savage and brutal creature extremely well during the course of his novel. The theme of man’s inner savage is not only prevalent in Lord of the Flies, but is also noticeable in real life situations. People kill others everyday for no reason at all. Everyone has some sort of evil inside of them, those who are mean have it in them, and even those who are nice have it in them.