Literary Analysis Of The Lord Of The Flies And The Veldt

Some believe that violence in the media is to blame for violence in people, but that argument is undermined by the realization that violence existed long before video games and television. In Lord of the Flies, written by William Golding, the setting strongly relates to the World War II era and during that time a group of British boys, ages 6-12, crash on an island that becomes their “battleground”. During the short period that they live on the island, many measures are reached from loss of innocence and to fatality. In the novel, due to the absence of laws and authority, the young and yet innocent boys, resort to violence and gratuitous savagery as a way to survive on the island.

In the Lord of the Flies Williams Golding showed many internal conflicts within the boys. When the two main boys, Ralph and Jack, met for the first time, they immediately competed for the title of chief after their plane crashed on the island. QUOTE. Jack saw himself as the leader, but many of the choir boys voted for Ralph because Jack was way too aggressive, while Ralph was a more leader-like figure; calm and athletic. Jack failed to show his good qualities, if he even had any, and Ralph was named chief. Later on in the book many arguments arise between the two boys whether it’s about their hunting or making a fire. The conflicts between Jack and Ralph progresses from a competition for chief to a physical quarrel.

The beast is a very important figure in the novel. As it is first introduced in the beginning of the story and only reveals itself in the end. It symbolizes many things in the book and transformed into different forms. It created a fear for the boys that changed them drastically, for the worst. “‘...and then I saw something moving among the trees, something big and horrid’” (Golding 85). It’s funny that the beast doesn't really exist. Their fantasies exceed to a point where they fear only themselves and no one else on the island. Soame with the Stanford Prison Experiment where ordinary college students were given a chance to play prisoners and guards. “He told the other prisoners that ‘they won't let you leave’” stated the initiator of the experiments, psychologist Philip Zimbardo. In a documentary, he was describing the situation where one prisoner wanted to leave, and Zimbardo wasn’t farcing anyone and let him go, but he was too sacred and told the other prisoners that they are stuck in this “prison”.

Throughout the novel, the boys inherit the savage-like mentality, while Piggy, another very important character stayed civilized and dies with honor. Sadly, the whole time he is disrespected by Jack and his team. “Piggy bent his flashing glasses to them and could be heard between the blasts, repeating their names” (Golding 19). Piggy serves as the intellectual balance to the emotional leaders of the group of shipwrecked British boys. He is the only one logical thinker and morally awake since the first day on the island. Many of his actions portray his eventual death and as he dies, the ethics leave with him. In the Veldt, the British boys and the siblings are very similar because in both there are no parents to guide them. “They treat us as if we were children in the family” (Intermediate Level Story 7). The parents of these two spoiled kids, were too blind to understand how far they have gotten too and it was too late to do anything. Kids, at a certain age lose themselves and chose the wrong path and in both stories, the authors use death as an ending.

Nevertheless, the island has many positive attributes on the story and many affect the boys. Kids are ages from 6-12 cannot be judged because they aren't familiar with the real, insidious world, that they often make the wrong choices. Ans since there is no authority, they feel more free and have no responsibility nor consequences. Ironically, if Jack and his team would never of tried to hunt Ralph and leave the fire out, they would have never been rescued.

Coming to conclusion, the novel Lord of the Flies reflects the darkness that has the ability to awaken the evil from within the boys. As they are rescued, they are no longer those little choir boys; they finally realized how brutal their actions and thoughts were. The author used many events to tell the readers that when isolated, the weaknesses of human nature will emerge and not all the time are they positive.