...As fear plays a crucial role in the lives of the boys on the island, fear distorts reality and brings out their worst impulses. During the novel Lord of the Flies, written by William Golding, the author uses the concept of fear to play a role in the boys lives as they try to survive on a tropical island with no adult supervision. Trapped and forgotten the boys have nothing else to do but survive, but surviving by themselves proves to be a difficult task as the dark side of humanity is released throughout them. In the story, the author exposes the fact that fear can drastically change an individual into doing irrational things. Golding uses the dynamic characters Jack, Piggy, and “the beast” to illustrate the idea of fear and how it represents...
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...information and freedom. A corrupt authoritarian and totalitarian government creates or sustains the poor quality of life This government makes people believe that society is proper and just, even perfect. State propaganda makes citizens worship the state the leader of the state and the government. There is strict conformity among citizens and the general assumption that having opinions and individuality is bad The penal system often employs psychological or physical torture Violence, cruelty and aggressiveness are always present. Dystopias are frequently written as warnings, or as social satire, criticizing a current trend, norm or political system. In order for the dystopia to have an effect on the reader, the author uses characteristics of every day society so that the reader knows what he’s talking about. Therefore, the society portrayed has echoes of today, of the reader's own experience. Authors can use a dystopia effectively to highlight their own concerns about societal trends. Common traits of the dystopian protagonist: often feels trapped and is struggling to escape believes that something is...
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...This shows the depravity of the boys as they choose to believe almost anything about the beast no matter how absurd and how dangerous the thought might be. “Simon, walking in front of Ralph, felt a flicker of incredulity—a beast with claws that scratched, that sat on a mountain-top, that left no tracks and yet was not fast enough to catch Samneric” (103). Even the boys felt that they may not actually be a beast, but their fear of the beast outweighed their logic and their gut making them do stupid and inhumane things in the name of protection from the beast. Again, nothing could be proven about the beast making it hard for the boys to feel like they were safe and that the beast did not exist because most of their leaders in the camp generally believed there was a beast and many boys said they had seen it even though none of them actually had any evidence. “Jack cleared his throat, then reported casually. “He says the beast comes out of the sea.” The last laugh died away. Ralph turned involuntarily, a black, humped figure against the lagoon. The assembly looked with him, considered...
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...Reading the Novel in English 1950–2000 i RTNA01 1 13/6/05, 5:28 PM READING THE NOVEL General Editor: Daniel R. Schwarz The aim of this series is to provide practical introductions to reading the novel in both the British and Irish, and the American traditions. Published Reading the Modern British and Irish Novel 1890–1930 Reading the Novel in English 1950–2000 Daniel R. Schwarz Brian W. Shaffer Forthcoming Reading the Eighteenth-Century Novel Paula R. Backscheider Reading the Nineteenth-Century Novel Harry E. Shaw and Alison Case Reading the American Novel 1780–1865 Shirley Samuels Reading the American Novel 1865–1914 G. R. Thompson Reading the Twentieth-Century American Novel James Phelan ii RTNA01 2 13/6/05, 5:28 PM Reading the Novel in English 1950–2000 Brian W. Shaffer iii RTNA01 3 13/6/05, 5:28 PM © 2006 by Brian W. Shaffer BLACKWELL PUBLISHING 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148-5020, USA 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK 550 Swanston Street, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia The right of Brian W. Shaffer to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs, and...
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