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Book Review of Lord of the Flies

“Lord of the Flies” is classic novel written by William Golding. It has many valuable themes, for example,  idealism and realism. Idealism and realism have been considered as two different views, and this antithesis is well represented by William Golding in “Lord of the Flies.” In the first chapters of the novel, the boys reach the stage of the “good society” they all dream about, with Ralph and Piggy demonstrating their moral freedom to create a just and orderly civilization. However, the increasing level of their misery confronts the stark truth of human nature, which is a severe blow to the primary religious conviction of the children and the beginning of disaster.


Idealism and realism has been to opposing concepts for a long time, and it is shown in William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies.” At the start of the novel the boys form the idea of the utopian society they want to make and thus Ralph and Piggy completely act out the good plan of creating a respectful, fair, and free island by setting up rules, order, and a signal fire suitable for the rescue of those who would like to help them themselves or need help in the process. This idealism is based on their belief in civilization and the nature of human beings to be inherently good as a process of their personal growth. Nevertheless, the pressures, troubles and the concerns of their situation that develop as the story unfolds cause the idealism to slowly disappear. The story almost serves as a demonstration of the degradation into barbarism undertaken by Jack and his soldiers as an expression of the cruel realism of human nature, also under the case of civilization. The tragedy of Simon's death in addition to Jack embracing barbarism is what makes the theme of the difference between the imaginary and the real more evident as his spirituality and his recognition of this "beast" as the feeling inside each of the boys.


William Golding, who authored the mythical narrative "Lord of the Flies," has through the conflict between Jack and Ralph represented the basic contest between civilization and savagery. Ralph, as the group's chosen leader, stands for good order, democracy, and the chance of being found. Building the signal fire, constructing shelters, and enforcing regulations make up the bulk of the boy's time and the whole of Ralph's concentration. Ralph, however, gets most of the power in his persuasive and intelligent way which comes through showing the significance of the common good and the safety their previous civilized life affords. Put plainly, it is a social collapse brought by Jack, with his personal ambition, and the absence of morals among the boys as major reasons for it. The rivalry between Jack and Ralph grows to a point that both decide to express their anger by hitting each other; in doing so, they carve a parallel between their act and the failure of civilization and the dominance of savagery in their community. The ultimate rule of Jack and the full collapse of the boys stand as a glaring point of William Golding's hostility to human nature. Thus, the conflict of Jack and Ralph is a telling amplification of the truth of the hardly kept veneer of civilization and the natural distortion of human history.


The theme brutality as the innermost woe is the most important unconventional argument which is at the heart of the plot and the character analysis in William Golding's "Lord of the Flies." Besides learning the theme of civilization-dependent balance into the wild, Golding's text, however, also brings the reader to the premise of the existence of evil inside every human. This innate evil nature surfaces as the boys, isolated from society norms and rules, fall deeper and deeper into savagery. Their first action is to organize themselves and in simulating the society they have been parted from, but when the British reality of the island sets in, their primitive instincts come out to the surface. Jack's character, for instance, demonstrates this change as while he starts his role as the choir leader, he soon degrades into that of an oppressive hunter, led by the wild desire for power and domination. The fearful "beast" that the kids are frightened of is the one a very strong symbol of this latent evil inwardly, it represents the darkness that lurks in them rather than a living monster outside. Simon's insight that the beast is not real but an image of the horror reflected in the jungle has a pivotal place in the story. His death soon afterward from the excessive agitations of the boys, as a result, is a clear and impactful event that shows the severe harm done by this inner evilness. Golding's showing the boys' dive into the world of the savages is like a devil’s toll on the notion of civilization's stability, and it debates quite thinly the commonality of evil in human relationships when outside social constraints are completely unavailable.


William Golding's "Lord of the Flies" book sets a penetrating inquiry into the basic evil that the humankind carries inside the boys' degeneration into savagery. Ralph's and Jack's conflict is a symbolic representation of the fight between morality and brutality, directly as the sad death of Simon is the impact of the horrible evilness within. The final outcome is the ordeal that the novel presents, that is to say, the adamant edge between the civilized world and the prominent shade of the human soul.


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