LORD OF THE FLIES

Alexander Diefenbach ‘23

Imagine you’re on an island with a group of teenage boys. Stranded. What would you do? Would you be a leader like Ralph, a follower like Roger, Sam, and Eric, or would you be like Jack? The Lord of the Flies starts when a group of students who are on a plane crash onto a remote island. They eventually get together and thrive, but eventually, they encounter chaos. Although the Lord of the Flies portrays human nature as savage I believe otherwise. What makes a group of stranded people savage or civilized is the will to work together and the leadership the group has.

In chapter eight “A gift from darkness,” you see Simon speaking to the Lord of the Flies/ the Beast. Golding portrays human nature as savage because of the beast inside of us. The Lord of the Flies’ physical form is a pig head on a stick. Its real form however is a beast born from darkness. The beast is the imaginary creature the boys feared from the beginning of the book. During the book people can’t tell what the beast is, some people believe in it, others don’t. Simon at first didn’t believe in the beast but after a while, he started to believe. “Maybe there is a beast, ... Maybe it’s only us.” I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Simon was the only person that knew what the beast truly was and was the only person who could communicate with it in Chapter eight. “Fancy thinking the beast was something you could hunt and Kill!” said the head ... “You knew didn’t you? I’m a part of you? Close, close, close!” (Golding 143.) After reading this quote many times, I came to the conclusion that Golding thought that human nature was savage. This is proved by how Golding writes there is a devil inside of us “Close Close Close!”

Since The Lord of the Flies is a fictional novel, that means it’s not real. The Lord of the Flies is just Golding’s imagination. There is a story about a legendary explorer named Ernest Shackleton that was similar to Lord of the Flies yet completely different. The story of Shackleton and his crew are legendary. How can a group of explorers survive in a cold wasteland -- Antarctica -for over two years? Shackleton was exploring Antarctica with his crew when his ship -- The Endurance -- was entrapped in ice. For over nine months they survived on the ship, they had food, supplies, and everything they would need to survive. They hoped the ice would break off and the ship would be free but the worst thing happened; The ship was crushed and sunken by the ice. Shackleton and his crew made it off the ship safely but didn’t have many supplies left. They survived two months on a glacier where they hunted and shared the supplies they had. Shackleton even gave his mittens to his photographer so he wouldn’t get frostbite. This kind of gratitude by their leader boosted their morale and eventually, they made it to Elephant Island in Antarctica. Once they were on Elephant Island Shackleton went on a smaller expedition back to the mainland to get help. His crew survived five more months on Elephant Island and eventually after over two years of being stranded in Antarctica they were safe. Every time I read this story I am amazed how not a man died even though they were stranded in Antarctica for over two years. This is similar to the scenario in Lord of the Flies yet different. Shackleton and his men were stranded for longer and in much worse conditions. Shackleton’s leadership skills and the will to work together with his crew kept them alive. Although the boys were younger in Lord of the Flies they didn’t have good leadership or the will to work together as a whole group. Shackleton’s scenario is very civilized and completely different than the Lord of the Flies scenario. The boys descended into chaos, but Shackleton’s crew didn’t. Golding portrays human nature as savage with the beast and Lord of the Flies, but that is also fiction. Shackleton’s scenario actually happened and was very different.

Lovers

Charles Greenwald ‘23

Everyone has opinions, Golding wrote Lord of the Flies based on his opinion. Shackleton’s story was not opinion-based because it was nonfiction. I think you can’t necessarily say human nature is savage or civilized because that implies everyone. The one part that was similar between these two scenarios is that both groups were stranded. One group had a good leader and had morals and the will to work together, they were civilized. The other group didn’t have a good leader and didn’t want to work together, they were savage. The will to work together and the leadership is what makes a group of stranded people civilized or savage.