Lord of the Flies and the Undermining of the Adventure Story Genre
- Submitted by: 10chungf
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- Category: English: Novels
- Date Submitted: 05/28/2011 11:09 PM
- Pages: 8
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Some background information on this book. Published in 1954, written by William Golding, winner of the 1983 Nobel Prize for literature, Lord of the Flies is a moral allegory about children stranded on a tropical island after their plane had been shot during World War II; trying to survive on the island they create a mini society with their own rules and laws. Golding presents the reader with a more realistic though pessimistic view of mankind through the boy’s encounters and experiences on the island, from playing to arguing to extreme violence in the book. The book’s central emblem is the dead parachutist, mistaken by the boys for the Beast, Lord of the Flies. Though portrayed through the eyes of children, they characterize themselves as a classical adventurer, with exciting exploits, escapades, journeys, explorations and voyages that occur throughout the book. However throughout the story they try to restore order, which they fail miserably, and two factions are made, which then completely destroys what they had in the beginning.
By undermining the view that children are innocent, and proposing that evil is an intrinsic characteristic in humanity, the traditional idealistic adventure genre is subverted. This is significant since the isolation forms a sort of civilization and community, a sort of microcosm to the real world. At the same time, the island lacks a society and the societal laws and rules allowing for the boys to run wild and show their true, ugly, inner selves. In the Beginning crash-landed into “the jungle” and Ralph is heading toward “the lagoon.” The shore of the lagoon is lined with palm trees, which sounds all pool cabana and pink-umbrella drinks. Don’t be fooled by this false sense of security – there’s a lot more to the island than relaxing waterside views. Ralph looks out over the lagoon towards a “coral reef” and beyond that, the “dark blue” of the “open sea.” Behind him is the “darkness of the forest proper.” So far, then, we have a dark...
By undermining the view that children are innocent, and proposing that evil is an intrinsic characteristic in humanity, the traditional idealistic adventure genre is subverted. This is significant since the isolation forms a sort of civilization and community, a sort of microcosm to the real world. At the same time, the island lacks a society and the societal laws and rules allowing for the boys to run wild and show their true, ugly, inner selves. In the Beginning crash-landed into “the jungle” and Ralph is heading toward “the lagoon.” The shore of the lagoon is lined with palm trees, which sounds all pool cabana and pink-umbrella drinks. Don’t be fooled by this false sense of security – there’s a lot more to the island than relaxing waterside views. Ralph looks out over the lagoon towards a “coral reef” and beyond that, the “dark blue” of the “open sea.” Behind him is the “darkness of the forest proper.” So far, then, we have a dark...