“I should have thought that a pack of British boys... would have put up a better show than that.” In the light of this statement, explore how William Golding and Dennis Kelly presents ideas about civilized and savage behaviour in “Lord of the Flies” and “DNA”.
Title
- “Pack” represents savage, animal like behaviour.
- “British” represents “pride” at the time - after the Second World War. Like in “DNA” we think we are good like the “bonobos” and we certainly don’t see ourselves as being evil and savage.
- “Boys” represents innocence, in contrast to the savagery, this makes the savagery stand out even more as it shows even the innocent boys can have potential to be savage.
Plan
Topic sentences Points to be made in that paragraph Quotations…show more content… In “Lord of the Flies”, Kelly introduces us to a group of British boys whose plane crash on an uninhabited island whiles evacuating from a war. The two main characters in the novel are called Ralph and Jack - two natural leaders; yet they chose to pick different paths. Ralph, the son of a naval officer, tries to follow his father’s footsteps. He is influenced by the good of human nature; he tries to keep peace between the boys and tries to take responsibility of the boy’s safety (making smoke for rescue). Jack however, seems to come from quite a wealthy family; he is “Chapter Chorister” and “Head boy”, he is evidently respected from the other boys. As a result of this he has obtained into an arrogant character who shows no consideration for the presence of others and assumes that everything is based around him (like a game). Golding shows him to be a flawless boy at the start, but a savage figure at the end; Golding might be trying to show how much humanity can change and their huge potential to be either good or evil. Kelly on the other hand suggests that most of us choose to follow the savage path and only the minority choose to be good – in the play Kelly uses the character Leah who is the only person to show sympathy for Adam. No one else cares for Adam’s safety or existence, furthermore when Leah tries to stand up for Adam her existence is also ignored. When Phil suggests that “[Adam] doesn’t want to come back”, Leah protests against him and explains that “[Adam]’s mad! [They] can’t leave him [there]”. However she is simply ignored, Kelly creates a contrast between Leah’s innocence and civilised behaviour with the other’s savagery. This creates a sense of sympathy for both Adam and Leah, likewise it helps the