Lord Of The Flies Foreshadowing By Use Of Various Conflicts
Lord of the Flies: Foreshadowing by Use of
Various Conflicts
By Liz Fitzpatrick
lizfitz10@hotmail.com
In the beginning chapters of Lord of the Flies, William Golding foreshadows action that will come in the eleventh and twelfth chapters. He does this by introducing various conflicts. These conflicts are Ralph versus Jack, weak, represented by Piggy, versus strong and Ralph, representing order, reason, and humanity, versus chaos.
It is obvious from the first time that Ralph and Jack meet that there will be a struggle between them. In chapter one when the two meet Jack automatically proclaims himself the leader while Ralph has himself in mind for the position (22). Although both boys wish to be in charge, they think very differently. Ralph proves himself to be logical and responsible by suggesting the building of a signal fire. He desires order, and rescue is his priority. Jack, on the other hand, sees the situation as a game and becomes obsessed with hunting. He even allows the fire to burn out so that a passing ship cannot see the smoke (67).
As the novel progresses, the two distrust each other more and more, and Jack begins to adopt animal-like characteristics. For example, at the beginning of chapter three, Jack is crawling on the ground looking for pig tracks (48). These differences and confrontations, such as the one where the boys are on a hunt for the beast and Ralph asks Jack why he hates him, lead to the final conflict between the boys.
By chapter eleven, Jack's "tribe" has completely separated from Ralph's group. Ralph, Piggy and Samneric try to reason with Jack, but the tension that has been building since the beginning of the novel finally erupts into a physical altercation. Because of the clues that Golding has given the reader throughout the book, this event comes as no surprise.
Another conflict brewing during the plot is one of the weak versus the strong. Piggy is overweight, nearsighted, and...
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