To realize his purpose Golding patterned his book after a nineteenth century work on a related theme, R. M. Ballantyne's The Coral Island, whose three characters have the same names as some of the protagonists in Lord of the Flies. In this way, he thought, he could show that little had changed though much had changed in that century. (Spitz 22) He removed them from civil society and isolated them on a remote island. It was a beautiful paradise with an abundance of food, water, and the materials for shelter. He kept them below the age of overt sex. The island can be seen as a kind of Eden, uncorrupted and Eveless. The actions of the children

Ralph is chosen to be chief by an election and is a symbol of democracy. He was set apart by the fact that he possessed the conch. Ralph tries to maintain parliamentary procedures, respect freedom of speech, and to rule through persuasion. He was not an intellectual, but he could recognize thought in another. He could gain understanding from Piggy and had the directness of genuine leadership, as he demonstrated when he consoled and (temporarily) won over the opposition candidate by naming him second-in-command, by putting him in charge of the hunters. (Spitz 25-27)

Simon is the Christ-figure, the voice of revelation. He was one of the original choirboys. He goes into the jungle to pray, to build a church. He alone speaks to the beast, the Lord of the flies, and learns that the beast is not something outside of man but is an actual part of man, always close to man and hence not something to be killed or run away from. (Spitz 24-25). He had been the first to anticipate this: Maybe there is a beast.... Maybe it's only us. Like Moses, he comes down from the mountain bearing the truth which in Simon's case is that the beast is Man himself, the boys' (and man's) own natures. But when he comes out of the darkness, bringing the truth, he is not heard for what ordinary man can live with so terrible an understanding? Like Jesus, he is killed. (Spitz. 24-5)

Jack is the authoritarian man. When it was suggested that there ought to be a chief he immediately and arrogantly demanded that position for himself. Defeated in an election, he took command of the hunters. He rejected the rules and claimed the right to decide for himself. Jack is distinguished by his ugliness and his red hair, a traditional demonic attribute. (Rosenfield 93) He first appears as the leader of a church choir. All members of the choir wear black; their bodies, from th

Some topics in this essay:
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