Emotions in Lord of the Flies Essay Example

The Theme of a book is often overlooked as an important part of every book. The book Lord of the Flies was originally written by William Golding in 1954 and is argued to be one of the best books ever written for young adults. In Lord of the Flies, William Golding expresses that emotions can sometimes get the best of people, this is shown by Characterization of Jack, Characterization of Ralph, and Symbolism in the book.

There were many ways in which William Golding expressed how emotions get the best of people, one of those ways was through the Characterization of Jack. When Jack got to the group for the first time and they made the decision on who is the leader, it was evident that Jack wanted to be chief. When the group voted for Ralph it was seen throughout the book that it did not sit well with him. An example of this is when Jack, Ralph, and Roger come back from seeing the beastie at Castle Rock. When they come back they immediately call a meeting, this is where Jack tells the group about their findings. When Jack talks to the group he starts to lie about what happened up on the mountain. This is where Jack’s jealousy and greed kick in, he decides that if he can convince everyone that Ralph was a bad chief then he will become chief. So he tells everyone that “Ralph thinks my hunters are no good”(126). Ralph then tries to defend himself but Jack has the conch and Ralph then decides to let him speak. Jack takes advantage of this and starts to say worse things to get into the tribe's head for example Jack says “He thinks you’re cowards”(126). Jack was using this whole meeting as a ploy to become chief of the tribe. When Jack became a hunter then he started to take that job seriously. This can eventually be traced back to the fact that he wasn’t chief, so he wanted to do anything to prove to the others that he should be chief. An example of this is when Jack returns from hunting in chapter three. When he appeared from the jungle and saw Ralph he was all alone and tired. Ralph approached him and talked about how he does not have food for them and Jack explains that he is struggling. He also decided to send his fellow hunters away and Ralph asks why. So “He tries to convey the compulsion to track down and kill”(51). So this example shows that this Island has completely changed Jack, he went from an arrogant cocky kid to a kid whose actions are dangerous and unexpected.  

The second way that William Golding expressed how emotions get the best of people is by the Characterization of Ralph. After the first “meeting” where they named Ralph Chief, Ralph started to not like Jack because he is very cocky and thinks that he owns everything. So If you had a first impression of someone that was like that then I understand why he would hate him the whole book. Ultimately this hatred can be seen throughout the book and ultimately be traced to the very first “meeting”. When Jack first meets Ralph he was commanding his choir an example of this is when Jack yelled “Choir! Standstill”(20). He also was being very arrogant about being chief “I ought to be chief,” said Jack with simple arrogance”(20). So after all of this Ralph was mildly irritated by him so when Ralph gave him a job to do along with others he expected them to do it. So when Jack was declared to be a hunter Ralph expected him to get meat for the tribe so when he didn't he got somewhat mad, this is shown by Ralph telling Jack after he appears from the forest “We want meat”(51). Another example of Ralph getting annoyed with the hunters not doing their job is when they left the fire unattended and went hunting thus letting the fire go out. When Ralph found out about this he was really mad at them he was so mad he yelled at them and said “I was chief, and you were going to do what I said. You talk. But you can’t even build huts-then you go off hunting and let out the fire”(70-71). So in this example, Ralph is so worried about getting off this island that he yells at people who are trying to get food because they are hungry. This shows that Ralph's feelings toward Jack and getting off the island are very strong and he would do anything to get off the island.

The last and final way that William Golding expressed how emotions affect people was using symbolism. One symbol was the conch shell, this symbolized a very important concept in the book. The conch shell was used to symbolize order and being civilized. This was shown when Ralph tried to organize a meeting by saying “I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak”(33). He got this idea from school he says “We’ll have to have ‘Hands Up’ like in school”(33). Through the book even though the rule of the conch hasn’t changed, the kids end up not caring about it. That shows that the civilization and order of the island have come to an end. Another symbol that was in Lord of the Flies was the Lord of The Flies. The Lord of the Flies was used to symbolized savagery and human nature creeping up about to take over them. This was shown when Simon found it and it started to talk to him and encourage him to do things, in fact, it even threatened him. The Lord of the flies said to Simon “I'm warning you. I’m going to get angry”(144) This showed us that the innocence of the boys is slowly fading and the mental state of the boys is decaying.

William Golding was trying to express to his audience to control their emotions and don’t let them get the best of you and he did this using Characterization of Jack and Ralph and also using symbolism. Lord of the Flies is a literary masterpiece but it can also be described as a great life lesson. Whatever happens in the real world you can't change in your favor and if you let your emotions get the best because of that then bad things will probably happen.