How you Responded to the End of the Story ‘Lord of the Flies’ Essay

I am going to explain how I responded to the end of the story, ‘Lord of the Flies’. When Golding wrote, ‘Lord of the Flies’ his views on the world were not very good. When he came out of the Second World War he said that much of what he saw could not be accounted for â€Å"except on the basis of original evil†. What he means is the evil that is already within all human beings. During the ending, Ralph is being hunted down by Jack and the rest of the savages. In this part you seem to be in the mind of Ralph where you learn and understand what he is going through. You can see that Ralph is rushed for time and cannot think because he knows that at any moment on of the hunters could spot him, â€Å"If only one had time to think†. You can understand and feel how scared Ralph is because every time he hears a sound he is very anxious and wonders if it is a savage or just a pig or a bird. The style of the language seems to almost change its tempo as you read it. At one time everything is slow and still. Then it changes and Ralph is rushing about for a hiding place so he cannot be seen. For example, â€Å"he flung himself down by some ferns†. Another thing that changes is the sound of the forest on the Island. Some times it is really quiet and then everything becomes suddenly loud. For example, â€Å"curious trickling sounds†¦. the roar of the forest rose to thunder†. Before the Naval Officer turns up on the beach a lot of the scenery is very violent with flames all around â€Å"the fire flapped at his right shoulder†. Then, as soon as Ralph notices him, everything like man hunting and murders seem so trivial. The Officer thinks that they were just having â€Å"fun and games†. He does not realise what was going on whilst the boys were stranded on this Island. Also once the Officer arrives the language seems to come from his point of view. At first, when the children arrive on the Island they make laws and elect a leader. Everyone seems happy and they are all enjoying the environment of being on their own without any adults to tell them what they should be doing. For example, Ralph says in the first chapter â€Å"No grown-ups†, which he thinks is a good thing. As the novel goes on things start to break down. The rule of the conch begins to be ignored; acts of destruction are being seen and two sides form. Jack’s side whom just want to hunt for meat and play games â€Å"we want meat†. Then there’s Ralph’s side that are making shelters and are trying to find a way off the Island â€Å"If it rains like when we dropped in we’ll need shelters†. One of the ways they tried to get off the Island was by using a fire to create smoke on the top of the mountain. They started it by using Piggy’s glasses, † His specs-use them as burning glasses†. Later the Islands conditions deteriorated even more by the death’s of Simon and then Piggy. At this stage Ralph only has Samneric to turn to. Even they are taken onto the side of the savages, â€Å"they made us-we couldn’t help it†. All these things happen and then they end up hunting Ralph himself, â€Å"They’re going to do you†. Ralph, at the end of the novel was frightened and felt as though he was a hunted animal. All of the savages thought that he was the person in the wrong because he did not follow Jack. He was going to be treated like a 17th century criminal in the way they wanted to put his head on a post like the pigs, † Roger sharpened a stick at both ends†. Ralph had now lost his leadership to the evil of Jack. Jack was now in charge with his own savage society. â€Å"Roger spoke†¦. Chief†. Roger was still evil and was like Jack’s right-hand man. He was the second most important person in the savage tribe. He was really evil right from the start from when he knocked the small children’s sand castles over. Samneric in this play stand for the rest of the people in the world. The way they are easily persuaded to change sides so that they don’t get hurt and don’t stick up for what is right â€Å"they made us†. Simon seems to stand for all good. He seems to represent Jesus Christ in this microcosm. ‘The Lord of the Flies’ represents all evil like Jack and Roger. It is like the Devil. Also the Island that represents the world in the microcosm has two sides. The first is the Lagoon, which is all nice and calm or good, and then the other side of the Island, which is all rough, open sea representing evil. The ending of ‘Lord of the Flies’ is quite abrupt. At one point Ralph is running in a mad rush. Then he seen the Naval Officer and everything calmed down and didn’t seem as bad. The Officer seems to represent sanity and brings the children back to civilisation. After this they were taken off the Island. The Officer said, â€Å"We’ll take you off†. I think this ending is quite good therefore because it shows that among all of the violence in this microcosm, it is just the same in the real world, just on a smaller scale. When the Officer rescues them it shows hope for the World. So after reading the end ‘Lord of the Flies’; linking it to the atmosphere at the start of the story and how Ralph managed to get out of it. I have realised that the ending of the novel is good and true to real life. At the time it was written and now.