Analyse Commentée de "Lord of the Flies"

INTRODUCTION

Through the character of Atticus, Harper Lee delivers to us a vision of the world at first sight simple in its formulation but revealing itself infinitely complex once placed in our societies. Thus, when the former states "The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience", he illustrates his will to be fair in his actions, despite the external pressure applied by society. And that’s how among other means that we can assert that To Kill A Mockingbird demonstrates its willingness to question human nature and the concepts that govern it. And this will, this desire to question the foundation of our species is a major theme of The Lord of the Flies written by William Golding and especially in the incipit of the latter; where we meet two children named Ralph and Piggy finding themselves isolated on an island presumably deserted following the crash of the plane carrying them after fleeing England having been hit by the atomic bomb. Therefore, in front of this extract with is reminiscent of Robinson Crusoe, it is legitimate to wonder about the way William Golding manages to get us from the first pages of his story. And in order to answer this question we will start by evoking the nature of the characters and what makes them unique creations, then in a second time, we will wonder about the island and its mysterious nature and finally, we will finish by looking at the end of civilization and what it represents for these children on this new land.

DETAILED PLAN

1. The nature of the characters

1. Grief and disillusionment

L.109: “He's a commander in the Navy. When he gets leave he'll come and
rescue us.” --- use of the present tense

L46:. "My auntie told me not to run" --- use of the past tense

Here we have two children with diametrically opposed views of the world: while Piggy seems to have accepted the fact that he is now alone, As for Ralph, he is lulled into disillusionment, wrongly thinking that the adults, in this case his father, who was once there to protect him, will come and get him out of this mess.

1. The inherent evil

L78: "I don't care what they call me," he said confidentially, "so long as they don't call me what they used to call me at school." And l83 to l85: “Ralph shrieked with laughter. He jumped up."Piggy! Piggy!""Ralph--please!" Piggy clasped his hands in apprehension. "I said I didn't want—”

By using this metaphor with several degrees of understanding, William Golding plunges us into the meanders of human nature as he conceives it. Indeed, Ralph performs a dehumanizing act not by not pronouncing Piggy's name but by insulting him by calling him the only name he refuses to bear, thus reducing his quality of human being to that of a pig because of his physical appearance.

1. The challenge they are preparing to face

L128; “He trotted through the sand, enduring the sun's enmity”

Through the personification of the sun, the author draws a portrait of the violent and cruel star of the day. The sun's presence will weaken and diminish the already vulnerable children. this element of foreshadowing prefigures the challenges that the children will face: they will have to fight against powers that are beyond them to ensure their survival

1. A mysterious island

1. Nature reigns supreme

L4 and 5: “He was clambering heavily among the creepers and broken trunks when a bird, a vision of red and yellow, flashed upwards with a witch-like cry”

The presence of plants growing without the direction of the human hand as well as the undaunted presence of exotic birds presents us with an island that man has not yet soiled with his hand. And yet the term creepers comes here to show us that these children do not know it yet: this familiar term illustrating well the control exercised by the man on his environment

1. The promise of adventure

L65: “(…) forced at last to believe in the reality of the island laughed delightedly again and stood on
his head.”

L67: “ (…) he sat back and looked at the water with bright, excited eyes.”

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