Lord of the Flies Chapter 5 Mythological Approach Keith McDonald NATURE SUNLIGHT WIND TRIANGLE BEAST GHOST
Where do we see nature archetypes throughout the book?
Chapter 5 Summary - Ralph pacing along beach, going over speech he planned - Meeting starts late, all the children gather around - Ralph criticizes lack of action on shelters, clean water, and fire that got out of hand - Ralph spends a long time ranting, eventually Jack grows impatient of his ramble - Jack gets the conch and immediately criticizes the children that he accuses of making up the rumours of a beast in the forest - Cites how often he hunts in the forest without seeing any beast - Piggy agrees that there is no beast, but suggests that they listen to witnesses testimonies regardless
- When one of the children mentions they saw a beast at night (and the others don t believe him), Simon admits it was him sneaking out, and Ralph gets angry with him - Percival comes forward, and quietly mentions that the beast can come from the sea - The children are suddenly very afraid - Simon gradually becomes convinced of said beast, and says it might be inside of them - Piggy misreads his message, and thinks he means the beast is a ghost - Jack becomes rowdy and question the positions of both Piggy and Ralph - Ralph tells Jack that the rules they ve set out are important, but Jack says they are useless and that they must act primal - Jack and the children scramble out of the assembly and start running wild, howling and chanting - Ralph, Piggy and Simon are left alone - They begin to wonder how much better their society would be if grown-ups were present
In Lord of the Flies, Golding uses archetypes and symbols of nature to warn the characters that their civilization is in danger, due to the beast concealed in their humanity
PASSAGE 1: RALPH PREPARING FOR SPEECH The time had come for the assembly and as he walked into the concealing splendors of the sunlight he went carefully over the points of his speech. (76) - Ralph is cohesively rehearsing his speech as the sun is shining down on him (enlightenment) - The concealing splendors of sunlight alludes to the vagueness and mystery of knowledge, and that Ralph is unaware of its intentions
This meeting must not be fun, but business. At that he walked faster, aware all at once of urgency and the declining sun and a little wind created by his speed that breathed about his face. (76) - As he becomes aware of the limited time he has to prepare, he notices the sun declining, which causes him to realize the importance of preparing for his speech (the sun is trying to warn him) - A gust of wind is a symbol for a sudden change of tone and feeling in a character, as Ralph changes from confident of his speech to anxious of his limited time. This is a significant overall representation of nature trying to help Ralph, the leader of the island s civilization, realize that collaboration is imperative to fix their flawed society
PASSAGE 2: PLACE OF ASSEMBLY - Flawed Civilization The place of assembly in which he stood was roughly a triangle, but irregular and sketchy, like everything they made. (77) - A triangle is a symbol for sturdiness, integrity and strength (since it is the strongest shape). However, the place of assembly (representing the collaboration of their society), which is shaped like a triangle, is rough and irregular. This means that their ideal society (a sturdy triangle) is skewed, and they are unable to balance the inadequacies of their current civilization due to the rashness of its execution and lack of collaboration.
Grass grew tall and untrodden in the center of the triangle. (77) - Grass and its overgrowth over the triangle represents the island (nature) beginning to rise over the dysfunctional civilization - The grass being untrodden can also be a message from nature, telling the society that their meetings are either rarely held, or are not held often enough (could also represent lack of collaboration in general)
PASSAGE 3: Simon the Messenger Maybe maybe there is a beast. (89) Simon became inarticulate in his effort to express mankind s essential illness. (89) Maybe he means it s some sort of ghost. (89) I don t believe in no ghosts- ever! (90)
- Simon is shown to be one with nature throughout the story. In chapter 3, when he is alone in the forest, he realizes the beauty of the life around him - He also reveals that he snuck out into the forest at night for an unexplained reason - In a sense he is a guardian of nature, and his intention is to spread its warning message of the beast - He is the only one that proposes the idea of the beast being inside of them - His failure to express mankind s essential illness means that he is finding it difficult to convey to the children that the beast is inside of themselves - This is shown when Piggy misinterprets his proposal as the existence of ghosts, causing him to ignore his message
What do Simon s intentions remind you of?
Simon Represents JESUS - Human embodiment of nature (representing the divine) - Is one with nature, meditates through it - His prophecy of evil is ignored/denied - Society sees him as evil and a martyr when he is really trying to warn them of the real evil (their humanity) - Does not hurt/kill anyone - The boys (in their savagery) later kill him because they mistake him for a beast (evil) - His corpse drifts back into the ocean (returns to nature), representing Jesus returning to God at death
Passage 4: Jack s Failure to Understand the Message Bollocks to the rules! We re strongwe hunt! If there s a beast, we ll hunt it down! We ll close in and beat and beat and beat-! (91) The sound of mock hunting, hysterical laughter, and real terror came from the beach. (92)
- Despite Simon s efforts, he fails to make the children understand the evil beast that lives inside of them - Jack ironically says that they can hunt the beast by acting primal, which embodies the beast inside of him - Simon (nature) failing to convey the evil present leads to an inevitable doom, since the children cannot see the evil of their humanity - Simon s prophecy is labelled as false - This is shown when they go crazy on the beach, with hysterical laughter and real terror (archetypes of a beast/evil being)
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