Lord of the Flies Setting free essay sample

In the text Lord of the Flies; written by William Golding, the presentation of the setting effectively developed the main themes of civilization and the loss of innocence. The physical location (the remote island) which this novel was set in helped serve the theme of constructing civilisation. However, as the stranded boys progressed on this island savagery overwhelmed their instincts and this helped develop the theme of loss of innocence. Lord of the Flies was set on an isolated tropical island which has fresh water, fruit, wood for shelter and fire and no dangerous animal life.There were no other human inhabitants on the island and, it was suggested, there never had been. As Ralph, Jack and Simon climbed to the top of the hill for the first time, they asked who made the tracks that they followed. Animals was Ralphs conclusion. Essentially the setting was a virtual paradise and took away all societys restraints on behaviour and allows the actions to take place. We will write a custom essay sample on Lord of the Flies Setting or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Life for the boys should be easy. This way, the island became similar to a bare slate waiting for humans to create their society and make their mark.This contributed to Goldings idea of building up civilization. The lagoon was one of the major settings where events took place; this is where the protagonist Ralph discovered the conch shell. He summoned the other boys with this shell and used it also to govern them. To be used in this capacity, the conch shell became a powerful symbol of civilization and order in the novel. This shows us that Golding effectively integrated the theme civilization by providing the boys the essentials to survive in the setting.The time span in the novel was a very important element of setting that contributed to the development of the main theme of the loss of innocence. Lord of the Flies took place over several weeks. This was enough for Golding to successfully build up the theme, but not long enough to stretch the readers credibility that the events could have happened without illness, hunger and predictable outcomes as a result of stranding a group of young boys on an isolated tropical island.In this period of time Golding explored the idea of whether evil might be within us all. As the boys progressed on the island, they turned from well-behaved, orderly children to cruel, bloodthirsty savages that hunted and had no desire to return to civilization. This change could be seen in Chapter Twelve; Cry of the Hunters, the painted savages who hunted, tortured and killed the animals and human beings were a far cry in contrast to the guiltless children swimming in the lagoon in Chapter Three; Huts on the Beach.They naturally lost their sense of innocence that they possessed at the start of the text. Golding portrayed this loss of innocence as something that was not done to the children; rather, it resulted naturally from their increasing openness to the innate evil and savagery that had always existed within them. Through the events in Lord of the Flies, Golding explored the ideas of civilization (democratic, the right) and the shift of power as the children lost their innocence; turned savage, in context to the chronological time in which this novel is set.Golding showed us the strengths and weakness of the two sides as the boys tried to make decisions such as, who would keep the fire going, who would gather, and ultimately, who would lead. At first the influence of civilization is strong and the boys behaved in an orderly fashion however, slowly they grew savage and fond of blood and killing. In the text, after Jack hunted down their first pig for meat, this signified the beginning of this turning point, which their innate evil began to emerge. Later, the boys began hunting each other.This reform of power in the novel could be juxtaposed to the time when it was written. Golding published this novel in 1953, because the world had just been through the trauma of World War Two. The powers in the world revolutionised and Hitlers atrocities against the Jewish had come to light and the world asked itself how could this happen in our so-called civilisation'. Looking back at the text, Golding himself wrote of his novel: the boys tried to construct a civilisation on the island; but it broke down in blood and terror because the boys were suffering from the terrible disease of being human.From this we learn that civilisation could mitigate but never wipe out completely the evil that exists within all human beings. Throughout this text; Lord of the Flies, setting was important in the development of the main themes. The place in which all the events unravelled; the remote tropical island, was the key to build up the theme of civilisation. Over the time span of this novel, this civilisation was then over-ruled by the darkness that existed within the stranded boys and in turn served the theme of loss of innocence.