Lord of the Flies :: essays papers

Lord of the Flies Children all over the world hold many of the same characteristics. Most children are good at heart, but at times seem like little mischievous devils. Children enjoy having fun and causing trouble but under some supervision can be obedient little boys an d girls. Everybody, at one time in their lives, was a child and knows what it is like to have no worries at all. Children have their own interests and react to different things in peculiar and sometimes strange ways. For example, children are enchanted with Barney and his jolly, friendly appearance without realizing that he is actually a huge dinosaur. In the novel The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, one can see how children react to certain situations. Children, when given the opportunity, wo uld choose to play and have fun rather than to do boring, hard work. Also, when children have no other adults to look up to they turn to other children for leadership. Finally, children stray towards savagery when they are w! ithout adult authority. Therefore, Golding succeeds in effectively portraying the interests and attitudes of young children in this novel. When children are given the opportunity, they would rather envelop themselves in pleasure and play than in the stresses of work. The boys show enmity towards building the shelters, even though this work is important, to engage in trivial activities. Af ter one of the shelters collapses while only Simon and Ralph are building it, Ralph clamours, "All day I've been working with Simon. No one else. They're off bathing or eating, or playing." (55). Ralph and Simon, though only children, are more mature a nd adult like and stray to work on the shelters, while the other children aimlessly run off and play. The other boys avidly choose to play, eat, etc. than to continue to work with Ralph which is very boring and uninteresting. The boys act typically of m ost children their age by being more interested in having fun than working. Secondly, all the boys leave Ralph's hard-working group to join Jack's group who just want to have fun. The day after the death of Simon when Piggy ! and Ralph are bathing, Piggy points beyond the platform and says, "That's where they're gone. Jack's party. Just for some meat. And for hunting and for pretending to be a tribe and putting on war-paint."(163). Piggy realizes exactly why the boys have gone to Jack's, which would be for fun and