Lord of the Flies Literary Analysis Essay 

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The book Lord of the Flies by William Golding tells the perplexing story of a society created amongst a group of young British boys whose plane crashes on an island after attempting to flee the country during World War II. Additionally, there are no adults to keep these boys in check. For this reason, they make an effort to govern themselves by making Ralph “chief”. However, this backfires because another boy, Jack, longs for power. As a result, what had once been only one society later evolves into two disparate societies, allowing each person’s true inner nature to emerge as the struggle for power continues. Golding shows this during chapter four by using literary devices such as connotation, imagery, and antithesis to convey that having power suppresses Jack’s insecure nature, while simultaneously resulting in a loss of his identity. To begin with, Golding uses connotation as a way of foreshadowing conflict between Ralph and Jack. Connotation is an idea or feeling that a word invokes in addition to its literal meaning. During chapter four, while Roger is hanging around the sand watching Henry swim from a distance, Jack emerges from the forest and calls Roger over, telling him to follow. The two continue to have a conversation until Jack stares at his reflection displeasingly. This is what prompts him to change his appearance using paint. “He made one cheek and one eye­socket white, then he rubbed red over the other half of his face and slashed a black bar of charcoal across from right ear to left jaw” (Golding 63). To sum up, Jack is attempting to create a new identity by hiding behind a facade in the form of a painted on mask, shielding him from the hold of Ralph’s society. Thus, he is being stripped of his former civilized identity, enabling him to act as powerful and brazon leader. Additionally, the
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