Lord of the Flies Essay
Lord of the Flies was written in the year 1954 by William Golding and since then has managed to spark the minds of both young and old. Throughout the novel Golding uses brilliant key elements in writing, to give characters, along with many other symbolic objects in the story, a more realistic message. Golding, when writing Lord of the Flies, used a clever style of writing in order to resolve the ending of his plot. This technique is known as Deus Ex Machina. He also allowed readers to cleverly unravel the theme on their own without having the theme simply stand out. Together the shocking ending and the unknown theme allow readers to eagerly turn the pages of Lord of the Flies.
Deus Ex Machina, although at times will leave readers unsatisfied, proved to do just the opposite in the novel Lord of the Flies. The literary term known as Deus Ex Machina can be defined as a person or thing that appears or is introduced unexpectedly into a novel to solve a problem that otherwise would have no solution. The novel begins when a group of young boys are evacuated from their homes during the Cold War. As the boys are being evacuated, an enemy pilot shot at their plane sending them spiraling down into an unknown land (Golding, 8). Readers at this point will assume that these young kids, around the age of twelve, will be forced to fend for themselves, with no hope of rescue. Throughout the novel Golding only mentions one form of rescue ever coming. He does this through the maintanence of the fire. The fire is continually mentioned as a sign of hope. Above all other duties on the island Ralph emphasizes the fire page after page. One incident that proves Ralphs seriousness about maintaining the fire is when Jack along with his hunters left the fire to die out. Ralph was livid when they returned and was upset with the decision they had made in hunting rather then doing as they were told. “Which is better- to have rules and agree, or to hunt and kill?’ (Golding, 180). Ironically enough that one time the fire went out a ship was spotted near the island. As the fire goes out so does the chance of their survival (Golding, 70). Another incident in which hope worked alongside of the building of the fire was towards the end of the novel. While readers begin to lose all faith in the survival of Ralph, a solution appears out of nowhere. Jack, Roger, and the rest of the boys were hunting Ralph, and at the same time a large fire was moving closer to him. Right then the Navy comes to the remaining children’s rescue (Golding, 186). The officer explains to Ralph that the reason they stopped on the island was because they spotted the fire (Golding, 201). The way the children are saved was never obvious, but rather causally mentioned in the idea of a fire. Deus Ex Machina applies to the way in which the children are saved. Once readers lost all hope in a happy ending, a hero comes to the save the reaming lives. The Navy was the unexpected hero in an even more unexpected ending. Deus Ex Machina very much applies to the novel Lord of the Flies.
The theme of a story is a moral lesson that an author cleverly disguises in a novel. William Golding managed to disguise a very controversial question within the pages of his novel. What is humanity’s natural state? Is it good or evil? Golding used Lord of the Flies to test Rousseau’s hypothesis that man is good until corrupted by society. By placing a group of young boys on island with no adults, Golding is stating that the kids are in their natural state. Therefore, with no society to affect them, they should be good. What happens though when time begins to wear them out and society is no longer an excuse for the corruption? The first few days the boys were trapped on the island was great; no parents, no school, basically a Childs dream. In the beginning it is all fun and games for the boys. They have creative ideas such as building boats, radios, and sundials (Golding, 64). Early in the novel Jack is convinced that he has the courage and strength to hunt any animal that came in his direction. When Jack is put to the test though sanity creeps over him and he realizes that killing a pig was not something he could yet handle (Golding, 49). The boys had not yet become savage, but over time that changed. Later, Jack had a second hunting opportunity in which he plans to redeem himself for his weakness the first time. This time Jack would have no mercy to the pig but rather paint his face, and start a chant to excite his hunters. “Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Kill the pig! Bash him in!”(Golding, 114). The desire to brutally kill an animal had now become the main focus of Jack and his followers. No longer were their intentions good, but rather for their own self-pleasure. Another example in which one can see the changing behaviors in the boys is when Ralph first uses the conch. The conch throughout the novel symbolized order. When the boys first crashed Piggy had the bright idea of calling all the passengers that survived with the conch. Ralph took Piggy’s idea and did just that. All the boys met on the island to have what would be known as their first meeting (Golding, 16). As the group began to separate, the power of the conch did as well, and eventually all of its power was lost. Jack once again managed to prove to readers that he had become as savage as a human could be. With the help of Roger, both the shell and Piggy would be forever lost. The shell shattered, leaving no hope for both the Hunters and Ralph to have a meeting once more. Piggy’s death signified that even the most intelligent of the boys could not make it out alive when compared to the savage men that were against him. Jack and his hunters would never have thought of murdering anything or anyone when they were first placed on the island, but over time their true character was revealed (Golding 180). Over time readers are exposed to the natural state of a human being. Although it’s possible that society can have a negative effect on the population at times, people can also argue that naturally humans are selfish. Golding proved that humans although impacted by society are also corrupted by their own wants. Rousseau may have believed in the goodness of the human being, but Golding proved that humans are born with temptation. No matter what the situation may be humans will do all they can to get what they want. In the end, humans are born sinful. The theme in Lord of the Flies sends across a very powerful message to all its readers.
Golding uses Deus Ex Machina in order to conclude the theme of his novel in a way that would both sell and finalize his hypothesis. Religious readers would question whether Golding was trying to portray an even greater story then mentioned. Was Golding using symbols to represent much larger characters? One thing for certain was that Golding was a man who believed in a god. Although the theme of this novel was to prove that humanities natural state is sinful, Golding managed to redeem in a sense the sinful. By using Deus Ex Machina the lives of young boys was spared. Even though the story is not directly characterized with the story of Jesus in the bible, it does share a similar concept. God sent down Jesus to save His people even after they proved to be unworthy of His kingdom. The boys trapped on the island did not deserve to be saved after all the unjust actions they had committed; yet Golding wrote an ending that gave people hope. Although the Navy came to save them out of the blue, it gave the boys a chance to go home to a life much better then the one they had been living. Heaven is offered to the sinful even when it is not deserved. Golding may or may not have intentionally combined the theme with Deus Ex Machina in hopes of creating a biblical tale, but certain readers will imply this to have been the case.
Humanity will never be perfect but rather continue to sin. Golding understood that although humanity was not perfect, it didn’t mean that there wasn’t something greater waiting for them. Deus Ex Machina along with the theme allowed Golding to tell a tale with a powerful message to be revealed as readers continued to the turn the page. Readers will never be sure of what Golding’s beliefs were, but one thing that is certain is that Golding had a much deeper appreciation for the natural state of humans. Never did Golding intend on having his novel end with death but rather a new life.
