Friday, April 3, 2015

In Lord of the Flies, how is civilization broken down throughout the beginning, middle, and end of the novel?

At the beginning of the book, the boys are at first delirious with freedom, especially Ralph but fairly quickly, the older boys realise the need for organisation.  The young'uns are scared and all the boys must be fed so there is the attempt to organise themselves. Piggy proposes the conch to maintain order.  Ralph proposes the fire for rescue and Jack wants to hunt for food.

In the middle of the novel, two camps develop, Ralph's and Jack's.  Jack's camp is concerned with hunting while Ralph is still trying to keep the fire going for rescue and building huts for protection.  As the boys become more and more 'wild' and caught up in the hunt, Ralph's attempts at civilisation begin to fail and more and more boys are lured by the promise of food and join Jack.

At the end, the boys have abandoned themselves to the hunt, first Simon is killed and then Piggy.  This leaves Ralph more or less alone and hunted by the other boys.  The boys have reverted to a wild state concerned only with hunting boar.  They haven't built any more huts, the fire is no longer being watched and they run around covered in mud and wearing leaves to cover themselves.   

No comments:

Post a Comment

Discuss at least two characteristics of Romanticism in John Keat's poem "Ode toa Nightingale".

The poet in Ode To A Nightingale  is an escapist .He escapes through imagination .On his way the bower of the bliss wher the nightingale is ...