Irony In Lord Of The Flies

446 Words2 Pages
Laws established by the government provides order in society and civilization. In the novel Lord of the Flies, William Golding creates a society that seems ideal, and yet the “civilized” society becomes a dystopia. He uses the devices irony, symbolism, and allusion to explore the topics of society and civilization. Golding uses irony to make the point that society is filled with hypocrites. For example, at first the group of young British boys develop a system of order. Even without the guidance of adults, the boys know that laws and humane values are needed for survival. They act civilized, stating that they must all work together to obtain the common goal of being rescued. The boys display their agreement when Jack…show more content…
It is ironic when Jack states that they are not “savages” yet, in the end they become the one thing they claim they would not become. At this point, Golding uses irony to illustrate that the most innocent things, even children, can be hypocrites. People claim they want to accomplish betterment for civilization, yet they put their selfish desire to pursue the luxury of pleasure above the need of amelioration. The irony shifts from focusing on the boys to the biggest hypocrite of them all--the naval officer. The naval officer states “I should have thought a pack of British--you’re all British, aren’t you?--would have been able to put up a better show than that...” (Golding 202). This is especially ironic because the naval officer, who leads a barbaric war himself, is blind to his own hypocrisy. He dares criticize the boys when he is no better. Even though it seems as if he “saves” the children from their own brutality, in actuality, he is the role model of the children’s hypocritical behavior. Here, Golding asserts that adults are the most hypocritical in society. Although, it is adults who nurture children, teach them right from wrong, they fail to see their
Open Document