'Lord Of The Flies' By William Golding: Chapter Analysis

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In many stories, the ending is often one of the most important parts. It is the precious moment in the novel where the author finally reveals to the reader the conclusion to the tale in it’s entirety. The takeaway message. This is especially true in the dark, cynical novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the story about a young group of schoolboys who, in a series of unfortunate events, get stranded on an uninhabited island. Throughout the novel the boys struggle to maintain order, and just when all of humanity is nearly lost among them, the chief, Ralph, stumbles onto the beach and encounteres a naval officer. It is at this point, with the rest of boys filtering out onto the beach after Ralph, where the passage begins. The officer…show more content…
He is not only the guardian figure the boys yearned for, but the adult perspective regarding the boy’s predicament as well. Golding uses the officer’s perspective to portray the boys as what they truly are, young and vulnerable, despite the savages they have become and the horrors they have experienced on the island, “Other boys were appearing now, tiny tots some of them, brown, with the distended bellies of small savages.” The distorted self-images the boys created as strong, clever savages often perceives the readers by the end of the novel. In this description, the “tiny tots” refer to the littluns. Because the biguns often disregard the littluns since they feel they can “fend for themselves” and the fact that their physical appearance is not often mentioned, the officer’s honest description of them reminds the reader how young the littluns are; merely “tiny tots.” The officer doesn’t see the boys as wild and strong savages, he sees them as little boys. The officer also describes Jack as, “A little boy who wore the remains of an extraordinary black cap on his red hair.” From the beginning of the story, Jack characterizes himself as a leader, hunter and savage. Like the littluns, it can often be forgotten how young the boys still are. So, when the officer describes Jack as a “little boy” and then disregards his prized representation of power as merely an “extraordinary black cap”, it reveals to the readers the…show more content…
All that he held inside himself throughout the island experience comes wailing out in this passage, “the tears began to flow and sobs shook him. He gave himself up to them now for the first time on the island; great, shuddering spasms of grief that seemed to wrench his whole body.” For the readers, this is the first time in the story this side of Ralph is exposed. Ralph often hid his soft feelings, showing only what was permissible among the boys. So to see Ralph in such a state of despair is an honest reminder how much the island mentally and physically affected them. “And in the middle of them, with filthy body, matted hair, and unwiped nose, Ralph wept. .
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