The Lord of the Flies as Social Commentary Essay -- Lord Flies Essays

The Lord of the Flies as Social Commentary    The Lord of the Flies is an ultimately pessimistic novel.   In the midst of the cold war and communism scares, this disquieting aura acts as a backdrop to the island.   The Lord of the Flies addresses questions like how do dictators come to power, do democracies always work, and what is the natural state and fate of humanity and society, getting at the heart of human nature in a very male-dominated, conflict-driven way.   The war, the plane shot down, and the boys' concern that the "Reds" will find them before the British, shows Golding's intention of treating the boys' isolated existence as a microcosm of the adult military world. I am plunged into Golding's imagined island world from the first sentence.   He uses lush description to build a setting that will contrast and reflect the boys' primitive descent.   The word "scar" describes the natural feature of the land, conjuring images of redness and blood from the first paragraph. The beautiful, yet often odd, descriptions help serve as a contrast between humans and nature.   The use of words like "scar" and "blood" foreshadows the future interaction between the boys and nature - the pigs, the hunt, the storm.   At the same time, the beauty and the order of the natural surroundings contrast with the decline of society developed throughout the book.   Integral to this setting is the fair-haired boy climbing the rocks, Ralph.   When Ralph meets Piggy, we notice the obvious differences between the two - the attractive and the fat, the daydreamer and the thinker. There is a moment when Piggy looks up at Ralph and sees the shadows on his face reversed.à ‚   This reverse of shadows seems to signify the missed initial connection between Piggy an... ...but ultimately signals a Navy cruiser. The fire, once signifying rescue and later used for destruction, becomes both. The novel ends in the adult perspective.   The officer is uncomfortable thinking about the savagery of the boys, and looks off to his cruiser in the distance while Ralph weeps for "the end of innocence, and the darkness of man's heart."   Golding is making a point about the hypocrisy of the civilization.   In reality, the world is just a larger version of the island.   The officer's comment on "the Coral Island" is also ironically significant in elevating The Lord of the Flies from a book about a group of lost boys on an island to a beautifully symbolic work of social commentary.   The view presented is dark and pessimistic, making its readers look deep inside their own human nature and at the structure of society in a frighteningly different light.