Change in Lord of the Flies Essay Sample

“Lord of the Flies” starts off as a light-hearted book. A few English schoolboys, who were in a plane crash, due to a current war. Are excited to be on this brand new mysterious, and potentially scary island, far away from their parents, and away from any sort of adult democracy. The feeling of freedom slowly shifts into feeling trapped. Having a sense of privilege, and being free on the island changes the boys, both physically and mentally. Golding conveys a sense of change and how the island specifically does that over time.

In the book, “Lord of the Flies” Golding periodically demonstrates how an environment can change one's behavior.

Simon, Simon started off as a rule lover. He felt as if rules were necessary and without them, everything would just collapse around him. But as we get deep into the story, he starts to contradict himself. “I agree with Ralph. We’ve got to have rules and obey them. After all, we’re not savages. We’re English, and the English are the best at everything. So we’ve got to do the right things” (Golding 42). During a meeting, the boys discuss how they’ll act on this island. Jack makes sure to bring up how they’ll have no problem following their new community rules. He also states how they’re English. Which is somehow saying that the English are perfect and civilized. Skipping a few more chapters ahead, the English boys are starting to get comfortable on the island, but not too comfortable. Every day they dreaded being there, and wondered if they’d ever be rescued. “See? See? That’s what you’ll get! I meant that! There isn’t a tribe for you anymore! The conch is gone-” (Golding 181). After Jack kills Piggy, Jack has zero remorse. He automatically brings up how the conch is destroyed, meaning he doesn’t need to follow any rules. The conch was the only sense of structure, representing the civilization that they had. With it being gone, it would officially bring chaos. Jack adored being civilized but the island and all the fear that came with it changed his personality. He went from loving rules, to thinking they were useless.

Jack is the main demonstrator of how an environment can change a person. He was the leader choirmaster and even made a few rules in the meetings. After being trapped in an incessantly ominous island, it got to him mentally. Which made him act out and turn into a different person.

Even though the rest of the boys are negatively affected by fear due to the environment. Golding shows how Ralph perseveres through the sense of being scared and becomes a strong leader. 

Ralph has always shown characteristic of a leader. Unlike Jack, who is a dictator. Ralph allows himself to learn from other people and accept his mistakes. Ralph continued to rock to and fro. “It was an accident,” said Piggy suddenly, “that’s what it was. An accident.” His voice shrill again. “Coming in the dark-he hadn’t no business crawling like that out of the dark. He was batty. He asked for it.” He gesticulated widely again. “It was an accident.” “You didn’t see what they did-” “Look, Ralph. We got to forget this. We can’t do no good thinking about it, see?” “I’m afraid, Of us. I want to go home. Oh God, I want to go home” (Golding 157). After a chant that went wrong, Simons was murder by the boys. Piggy and Ralph have a conversation regarding what happened. Ralph is scared and just wants to go home. He sees that the boys are turning into different people, and the island is the main factor to this. Piggy is trying to cheer Ralph up but saying that it wasn’t their fault, even though it was. Fear is brought up more through the book but eventually Ralph changes because of the environment. He learned that he could be strong enough to fight through that discomfort and be a leader. “Who’s boss here?” “I am, said Ralph loudly.  A little boy who wore the remains of an extraordinary black cap on his red hair and carried the remains of a pair of spectacles at his waist, started forward, then changed his mind and stood still” (Golding 201). Finally, after being trapped on his island for what seemed like forever, the boys were able to be rescued. While being rescued the officer asked who the leader was, and the only person that had the courage to stand up and say something was Ralph.

Ralph probably had the most change as a character because of the new environment. His confidence grew over time and he learned how to persevere through his fears.

The island changes, making the boys behave differently. Golding demonstrates the influence on the boy's behavior by showing us specifically how the island progressively changes. 

The new island starts off as peaceful and joyous but that changes and causes the boys to also change. “You’d better run off and play with the others. They think you’re batty. You don’t want Ralph to think you’re batty, do you?” (Golding 143). While Simon is in the forest he hallucinates the Lord of the Flies, which is technically a pig's head. The Lord of the Flies hasn’t only been a pig's head, it also has been a dead soldier and a sea creature. Spending so much time on this island has forced the boys to mentally go insane due to the environment. Another example of how Golding shows that the environment changes the boys is. “The spear moved forward inch by inch and the terrified squealing became a high pitched scream. Then Jack found the throat and the hot blood spouted over his hands.” (Golding 135). Jack and his hunter killed a pig. This is something he couldn’t accomplish when he first came on the island but now he’s changed. He’s become savage and has no remorse. 

In Lord of the Flies, Golding keeps showing how this new environment has changed the boys. They became indifferent, savage and uncivilized. The island caused these changes because the boys could act however they wanted, and there wouldn’t be any real consequences. 

Golding is trying to show us that depending on the surroundings that you're in, it can impact how you behave. Golding shows us this multiple times throughout the text by demonstrating through the actions of the boys.