Category: Literary Criticism

In America, media outlets have a huge responsibility to inform the people. This is extremely important in society and can influence how people think. Media outlets need to create an accurate portrayal of the world around us people. This only furthers the need to be transparent and actuarate. However, everyone has a bias and a narrative. The media and politicians alike often tell lies to further their narrative. They use emotional stories that could be plausible to create truth through the power of storytelling. For example, many news outlets used imagery of a child hurt in a bombing to generate support for war with titles such as “Boy in the ambulance: shocking image emerges of Syrian child pulled from Aleppo rubble”. In The Things They Carried, the author developsinventscreates a narrative about the Vietnam war and his experience. Highlighting the tragedy, physical and mental pain to make the readers understand. Tim O’Brien believes that a story’s role in creating reality is to alter the events by creating new details, to create a narrative, and to influence the perception and emotions of its readers.

Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried is about influence, imagination, perception of warwar, memory, imagination, and the power of storytelling. A story’s role in creating reality is shown through the stories “Field Trip” “Rainy River” and “Field Trip” “Rainy River” in “The Things They Carried”. O’Brien returns to Vietnam many years after his time on dutytour of duty and recollects events that happened to him. The book blurs the likes of reality to accommodate for the information available today regarding the war and to further the narrative Tim O’Brien wants you to see. The stories are revealed to not be “happening-truth,” known as “the accurate and verifiable account of historical events”, and actual “story truth”, in “which the details are invented for the readers experience” (https://sites.utexas.edu/ransomcentermagazine/2017/06/20/the-textual-truth-behind-tim-obriens-the-things-they-carried/). The events of “Rainy River” and “Field Trip” are “true” in an ordinarya ordinary conventional sense but are fiction. They are based on things that happened to Tim in real life but are embellished to create a meta fictional narrative.

In The Things They Carried are “On the Rainy River” and “Field Trip.”show how Tim adorns the truth. “Rainy River” shows a younger Tim O’Brien. Just after graduating college, where he leaves home to go on a fishing trip near the canadian border to contemplate being a draft dodger and fleeing to Canada. In “Field Trip,” O’Brien goes back to Vietnam years after his tour with his daughter to try to help find peace and better his mental state from the tragedy he lived through. When reading the storyThings, you turn ed the page to find that neither of these stories aren’tis “true.”

Tim says “I never ran away to the Rainy River. I wanted to—badly—but I didn’t.” While O’Brien did serve in a war he was against, however he never made a trip like the one told in “Rainy River;” and his thoughts were just in his own home. When O’Brien returns to Vietnam in 1994, we went with his girlfriend. His daughter didn’t go because he reveals he hasd no children.

The Things They Carried builds emotional investment in characters, and then makes you question everything that you have been told. All the supporting charactersof the people you have come to know don’t exist. All the details in each chapter are made up. O’Brien even said “Jimmy Cross never visited me at my house in Massachusetts, because of course Jimmy Cross does not exist in the world of objects, and never did. He’s purely invented, like Martha, and like Kiowa or Mitchell Sanders and all the others.”() He does this to manipulate objective realities. Even after you are told the truth you are still questioning it. Similarly to the allegory of Plato’s cave, you are manipulated into believing one thing. Someone finds the light and exposes the truth to the prisoners in the cave but they don’t believe him, they cling to what they know. There is a psychological reason as to why facts don’t change peoples’ minds; Part is “The misinformation effect”.

Tim’s use of storytelling makes you question what truth really is. He makes it difficult to read a historical text or an eyewitness report. After all, Winston Churchill once said, “History is written by the winners”. This is implying that whoever is most influential, or powerful “writes” or influences how historical events are remembered. It also argues that History isn’t grounded in facts and truth only interpretation.

William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet is a world-renowned piece of literature about a tale of two star-crossed lovers. The characters in Romeo and Juliet are frequent victims to their own impulsivity. Impulsivity leads to rash decisions and ultimately negative consequences, even one’s death. The play’s characters Romeo, Juliet, and Tybalt all make impulsive decisions based on emotions and suffer from several negative outcomes because of what they have done. Romeo, the son of Lord and Lady Montague is a foolhardy teenager that has a habit of making decisions on the spur of his emotions. Romeo is easily enamored by women.

At first, he is completely infatuated with a fair lady named Rosaline. But when he attends the Capulet’s party and takes one glance at Juliet, Romeo is now smitten with Juliet instead. With Rosaline completely forgotten, Romeo basks in Juliet’s beauty. He thinks out loud saying: O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright! It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night Like a jewel in an Ethiop’s ear; Beauty too rich for use, for Earth too dear! So show a snowy dove trooping with crows, As yonder lady o’er her fellows shows. The measure done, I’ll watch her place of stand, And, touching hers, make blessed my rude hand. Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night. (Romeo and Juliet, 1.5.44-53). Romeo’s impulsive love for Juliet clouds up his ability to think properly. He’s just met Juliet, and falling in love with her despite not knowing who she is, nor what he’s getting himself into.

If Romeo had taken a moment to reflect, he could have gotten to know Juliet first. He would figure out that she was a Capulet, which would save him a lot of trouble. It would also allow him to contemplate more upon his next few steps with her. Romeo again falls victim to his impulsiveness and emotions when he kills Tybalt out of anger. Romeo is furious and distraught as Mercutio; one of his best friends gets slain by Tybalt. Romeo let his “fire-eyed fury be [his] conduct” (Shakespeare, 3.1.123) take control of him as he mercilessly kills Tybalt. Romeo’s ill-willed action now causes him faces the consequences of being a murderer and being banished from Verona. Romeo should have thought before he acted impulsively, He would have saved Tybalt’s life and be on his merry way in Verona.

But because of his impulsive actions, he suffers and receives neither. Lastly, Romeo’s impulsivity also leads him to his untimely demise. When Romeo sees Juliet’s body, he becomes so overcome with sadness. He is depressed to the point where he becomes thoughtless and blind to the signs that prove that Juliet is not dead after all. If Romeo had only paid more attention to Juliet’s “crimson in [her] lips, and in [her] cheeks” (5.3.95), he would have noticed that Juliet was indeed alive. Alas, his impulsivity leads him to drink a poison that kills himself so he could be with Juliet. All in all, it is clear that Romeo falls short when he should be thinking rationally. It is because of his impulsivity, that he makes rash decisions, even one that ends his own life. All very alike to Romeo, Juliet Capulet stumbles through her life because of her impulsiveness and poor life choices. Just as quickly as Romeo falls in love with her, Juliet’s is completely enamored with him too. When they meet up later that night at the Capulet’s party, Juliet’s shows some hesitancy with falling in love so quickly. She suggests that they should slow down.

But once Romeo begins proclaiming his love for her and coaxes her with affection, she immediately changes her mind. Juliet declares that they should “purpose marriage, [and Romeo is to] send [her] word to-morrow” (2.2.144) about the details. Juliet’s should have followed along with her hesitancy. If she had, Juliet would have pondered upon the situation more, and perhaps come up with a better plan. She would also not be pulled into the complications and challenges of their love so quickly. Juliet’s hasty attitude makes her unable to have saved herself from the detrimental consequences and inevitably her own death later on. Juliet once again makes an irrational decision when she immediately agrees with Friar Laurence’s plan. She does not even think about the consequences. She blindly accepts with a “[g]ive me, give me! O, tell not me of fear!” (4.1.121). Juliet’s rash settlement on following through with the plan so quickly ends up causing the tragic death of her beloved, Romeo. Romeo is misinformed to think that Juliet herself was dead. If Juliet had taken the time to reflect about the plan instead of being so desperate and rushed with her emotions, the outcome would have been more positive.

Following up, Juliet’s death was again caused by her hasty thinking and acting on emotions. What she sees Romeo dead, she is deeply distraught, so much so that she can not even think straight either. As Friar Laurence’s calls for her to leave with him go deaf to her ears, she sees Romeo’s dagger and unthinkingly stabs herself with it. She kills herself to rejoin with her love in the afterlife. Juliet’s death is distressing, but also very reckless and foolhardy. Her grief caused her to react impulsively and make the foolish decision in ending her life. Juliet’s could have lived a great life even with Romeo gone. But unfortunately, her life ended abruptly because of her impetuous and naive nature. It is visible that despite Juliet’s hesitation and rationalizations, her impulsivity guides her to make thoughtless choices, resulting in her own demise. Juliet’s cousin, the fiery Tybalt is also negatively affected by his own impulsive actions.

Easily provoked and temperamental, Tybalt frequently finds himself in fights that increases his rage which does not allow him to think logically. In the first scenes of the play, Tybalt unabashedly states his hate for the Montagues and in public area knowing that the Montagues are presents. He describes them as cowards and yelling that “[he] hate[s] hell, all Montague, and thee.” (1.1.69) This stirs up a huge fight in the streets, causing a lot of damage and disturbances. The Prince of Verona rides in and is furious and disappointed. Tybalt should have not provoked the Montague servants and start a fight in public. If he had not done so, it would have saved the Prince’s anger at the two families and the embarrassment of being told off by the Prince. Perhaps the Prince would have been more patient with them too. Moreover, Tybalt’s rage bleeds into his impulsive actions once again at the Capulet’s party. When he spots Romeo at the party, he is so brittle with anger that he brings this news to the attention of his uncle, Lord Capulet. Tybalt forgets that if their two families; Capulet and Montague start another fight, they will all be punished severely. Tybalt’s unthought out action ends up angering his uncle and calls Tybalt “saucy” (1.5.83) and a “goodman boy” (1.5.77) much to Tybalt’s displeasure. If Tybalt had calmed his rage and thought about his actions before impulsively going to his uncle, it would have saved him from the humiliation of being insulted and avoid causing Lord Capulet being angry with him. Tybalt could have enjoyed himself at the party, but instead, he held rage and vengeance towards Romeo. Sadly, Tybalt’s last rash decision from impulsively has cost him the lives of himself and Mercutio. Tybalt is hunting down Romeo when he gets into a fight with Mercutio. They both draw swords in resentment towards one another. Tybalt should have realized that Mercutio was not the one he really wanted to fight. This realization would have saved Mercutio life, and keep Tybalt’s hands clean from murder.

Conclusion

Furthermore, if Tybalt had just let his vengeance on Romeo go, or think before his violent actions, he would have avoided his own death. He could have the opportunity to build a stable relationship with Romeo once he found out that Romeo and Juliet are married. Unfortunately, Tybalt’s hot-headed personality causes him and his actions to burst out recklessly. This leads him to make to rash decisions that prevent him to pursue a much longer and happier life. Consequently, Romeo, Juliet, and Tybalt had let their emotions and impulsivity take over. It made them make countless, heedless decisions throughout their lifetime and even resulting in their demise. Thoughtless, rash choices made from impulsively leads to tragic end results. One must remember to think and remove strong emotions when making decisions in life. A clear mindset helps one identify the positives and negatives with every choice they make.

The understanding of a society’s cultural identity or one’s social difference is made possible by Post-Colonial criticism. Post-Colonial criticism, according to author Peter Barry, is “the representation of other cultures in literature as a way of achieving this end” as “they foreground questions of cultural difference and diversity and examine their treatment in relevant literary works” (Barry 199). This lens allows the reader to find a text’s cultural conflict by analyzing a character’s emotions and actions. Lois Lowry’s The Giver establishes the scenario of a utopian society, highlighting all of its advantages and drawbacks. When a reader applies a Post-Colonial lens to The Giver, they will realize the distinction between Jonas’s society and the societies of the outside world. These differences can be seen in the distinction between the East and the West. Jonas’s home community is the West being uniform and fearful, eliminating all emotions and pain. On the contrary, The Giver and the outside world represent the East being savage, allowing the possession of knowledge and freedom. When digging deeper into the author’s choices, the reader will also realize that Lowry’s past life influenced some of the book’s events.

Lowry’s The Giver starts with the main character Jonas, describing the children’s play and the curfew carried out by the Elders. At home, Jonas and his family describe their day using very vague descriptions to keep clarity and Sameness. Days after, there is a city ceremony where the children are given future jobs. Jonas is selected as the Receiver of Memory, the most prestigious job of them all. Jonas then starts his training receiving memories from the past and meeting The Giver. After many weeks of training, Jonas is obligated to watch a release where he sees his dad kill one twin while the other is sent for adoption. Jonas becomes furious, as he can not bear to live in his home community. The strange social norms of Joans’s town causes him to take his brother Gabriel and later run away from home. Gabriel and Jonas, while running, survey many mountains and weather as they find a house of singing people.

The West is a society that has a fear of the unknown, relying on the guidance of religion and equality to shelter society. In short, a western society is strict and homogeneous, fearful of change. Throughout Lowry’s novel The Giver, Jonas’s home community separates itself from the rest of the known world to eliminate pain. Just as Stoker’s Van Helsing fights Dracula to preserve Britain’s clarity, the community follows and acts on certain criteria to preserve Sameness. One of the rules set in place to preserve Sameness in Jonas’s community is the precision of language. When Jonas is taken by his parents for a private conversation, his parents say, “the reason for precision of language was to ensure that unintentional lies were never uttered” (Lowry 70). This instance proves that Jonas lives on the western side of a colonial world as they cut down the essence of free speech. Jonas’s society uses the precision of language to eliminate emotional pain and keep their society out of the “evil” East. I found this instance to be a mere reflection of our world today, as in certain places or times, we are prohibited from saying several words or phrases. Just as our society has bad words, Jonas’s district has the precision of language to promote further uniformity. This uniformity comes from the fear and horror caused by the community’s unknown future.

Another instance in which Post-Colonialism illustrates Jonas’s city as traditionally Western is when race is eliminated. When transferring memories of the past to Jonas, The Giver exclaims, “Our people made that choice, the choice to go to Sameness. Before my time, before the previous time, back and back. We relinquished color” (Lowry 95). The Elders’ decision to eliminate race represents the motives of the West as they want to promote equality instead of violence. Instead of accepting one’s differences, an interpretation from the Post-Colonial lens suggests that people are afraid of moral and ethical differences. In theory, the homogenous society results in less conflict. Later in Jonas’s training, The Giver discusses the essence of choices as he states, “We don’t dare to let people make choices of their own” (Lowry 98). This scene depicts Jonas’s district as the West as the Elders create a line between being free and being safe. I feel that this passage illuminates the fact that the Elders are fearful as freedom creates unwanted uncertainty. This unwanted uncertainty comes from the fact that the people make good and bad choices. The Elders, in all their power, create no choice to further tranquility. As a result, the communities represent the West as they are afraid of repeating mistakes from the past.

The East is a mysterious society as it seeks knowledge and freedom while forcing its beliefs towards others, being savage or evil. Jonas and The Giver stand out to me as savage or ruinous as they discuss very grievous memories. As Jonas walks into The Giver’s household one day, The Giver whimpers: “Please,’ he gasped, ‘take some of the pain”(Lowry 118). Moreover, The Giver becomes a symbol of the East as he suffers from agony and pain from his loneliness, making him mysterious and lonely. This due to the fact that he is bearing the weight of all the pain for his society. These qualities transform individuals into savages as they feel the need to share knowledge with others, which is deemed minacious by many Elders. As The Giver transfers dramatic and harrowing recollections, Jonas becomes mysterious and cruel from the incoming distress. Jonas, through this lens, turns from a proper man of the West to a mysterious man of the East as he asks questions and requests knowledge. The Giver, in this instance, becomes savage as he inflicts pain to other people, which the Elders deem as uncivilized and immoral. Since the Elders fear these qualities, my impression is that the outside world is the East, for the Elders mention nothing outside the world.

The ideology of the East also revolves around the essence of colonization. According to Post-Colonial studies at Emory University, Post-Colonialism focuses on “the interactions between European nations and the societies they colonized in the modern period” (Bahri 1996). When examining the text, I feel that Jonas is a colonizer, for he tries to deliver memories to the rest of his town. His actions seem almost desperate as he tries to convey the phenomenon of color to his friend, “He put his hand on Asher’s shoulders, and concentrated on the red of the petals, trying to hold it as long as he could, and trying at the same time to transmit the awareness of red to his friend” (Lowry 99). Jonas does this as he is taken over by the power and temptation of the outside world, pursuing his freedom and emotions towards others. Jonas ultimately wants the people of his community to feel what he feels so that he may transform his community into one that is innovative and powerful. As I read this passage, I began to perceive the East as a powerhouse wanting to distribute its ideas, good or bad. Jonas and The Giver represent the East, as both characters, under this lens, are powerful enforcers.

When analyzing the text, I felt that the conflicts and themes of the novel came from Lowry’s past and not from her full imagination. Lowry was born in Hawaii. She then moved to Tokyo because of her father’s work. The society she lived in was very “Americanized,” as it separated her from the troubles and crimes of the Tokyo streets. I have a feeling that her childhood events, different from those of an American child, moved her to incorporate the essence of Sameness and security in Jonas’s home community. The mere representation of “fear” and the “unknown” reflects Lowry’s childhood in the form of The Giver and the outside world. These instances, as a result, are significant to Lowry’s childhood and her sense of self as she used them to form her novel. Lowry’s life experiences build the novel as if The Giver is an insight into her childhood reminiscences.

When using a Post-Colonial lens on The Giver, one of the many viewpoints regarding conflict becomes relevant. Post-Colonialism conveys the idea of the East and the West, revealing a disrupted society. Jonas, The Giver, and the outside world represent the East because of their interaction with knowledge and freedom; while the West is Jonas’s hometown despising differences and knowledge in fear that their society will have conflict. The Post-Colonial lens creates multiple viewpoints of one text while illuminating the conflicts and struggles of our world, in the form of literature. As more people use the social and political insight of Post-Colonialism, the more they will understand the novel’s message.

To begin, William Golding portrays Jack as being very evil in the novel in several ways. Jack is very rude and disrespectful to most of the boys on the island. Jack is described by Willam Golding as tall, thin, and bony, his hair is red, his face is crumpled and freckled, and is silly. He has light blue eyes, that are inclined to turn to rage. He is the preeminent advocate of chaos on the island. Jack becomes a weak and evil person and becomes savage, and unmerciful. William Golding conveys evil in Jack when he tells Piggy, “Shut up fatty” (Golding 21). Jack knows that Piggy hates it when you make fun of him, and it’s overall rude to make fun of someone’s weight. No matter how many times Piggy says he doesn’t like him when you call him that Jack doesn’t care. Even though Piggy weighs the most out of all the boys it doesn’t mean he should get made fun of. When Jack calls Piggy fatty, that shows that Jack has no respect for Piggy’s feelings. Next, another example of when Jack is evil is when he becomes bloodthirsty and slaughters the pig in a very cruel and harsh way. In these moments he has been on the island for so long that he is not thinking straight anymore. At the beginning of the novel he was just a calm regular boy, but being on the island for so long he starts to act inhumanely. When he kills the pig he laughs and shakes the blood off his hands from the pig. He becomes very cruel in the killing of the pig. He leads his powerful hunters into a hunting-dance frenzy. As they are dancing around the pig all the hunters start chanting “Kill the pig, cut her throat, spill her blood” (Golding 69). During the dance frenzy, Simon comes creeping out of the forests and Jack and his hunters ambush him and kill him with their bare hands and teeth. No doubt, Jack portrays the evilest quality a human can have, which is a total appetite for blood and the influence of the hunt. One last example of how Jack is portrayed as an evil character is when he takes advantage of Piggy’s glasses. Being stranded on an island you don’t have access to a lighter or any equipment that can be used to start a fire. The only item that they had access to is Piggy’s glasses, but obviously Piggy needs them to see. When Jack and Ralph split up into two teams, Piggy stayed with Ralph. This means Jack and his hunters had no access to fire equipment. When Jack catches the pig he needed a fire so he could cook the meat, but without Piggy’s glasses, there was no way he could start a fire. During the night, Jack and his hunters went to where Piggy and Ralph were sleeping so they could try and steal Piggy’s glasses. But at night, Ralph and Piggy didn’t really sleep because they were scared. That night, Ralph and Piggy heard noises and assumed it was Jack and his hunters so Piggy quickly put on his glasses. When Jack realizes Piggy’s glasses his aggressively took Piggy’s glasses off of his face and ran off with them saying, “His specks, use them as burning glasses” (Golding 159). This also represents Jacks’ dominance over Piggy, and how he takes advantage of him.

In addition, William Golding uses the character, Roger, to convey his message on how all humans are evil. Roger did many things that showed his dark side of evil in the novel. Roger is a sociopathic boy who after being trapped on the island for a long period of time enhances as Jack’s cruel sideman. As the novel progresses, Roger starts to progressively become eviler. When Jack and his hunters trap the pig, Roger turns into a totally different person and tortures the pig in a very disturbing way. Once the pig is laying on the ground trapped, Roger purposely puts a sphere up the pig’s butt and twists it as the pig is screaming in pain. The narrator begins to say, “Roger found a lodgement for his point and began to push till he was leaning with his whole weight. The sphere moved forward inch by inch and the terrified squealing became a high-pitched scream” (Golding 149). Roger shows no mercy for the pig. He and all the other boys were laughing at the hurt pig thinking that what Roger just did was funny. The boys were “losing” their minds and we’re finding very disturbing things to be funny. Next, Roger did something that the readers never thought would have happened. The young, and shy boy turned into a killer in a matter of days on the island. Roger recognizes that if he kills Piggy no one on the island will or can restrict his evil. With no doubt in his mind, he shows no regret for his evil actions. As the days go by he gets more and more vulnerable to doing evil actions. Piggy’s death was very saddening, and scary thinking about what else Roger could do to the other boys. The narrator describes Piggy’s death by saying, “The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist. Piggy, saying nothing, with no time for even a grunt, traveled through the air sideways from the rock, turning over as he went. The rock bounced twice and was lost in the forest. Piggy fell forty feet and landed on his back across that square, red rock in the sea” (Golding 200-201). The last evil action that Roger did that portrayed him as an evil character is when he was throwing rocks at Henry. There was no reason behind why Roger would be doing that to Henry. In his mind, there are no adults supervising them which means he can do whatever he wants without getting in trouble. Early in the book when this happened he hasn’t been in the no adult setting to have absolutely split apart from his home rules and practices. This is why he can not bring himself to really aim his throws at Henry. The narrator referred to this as a “taboo of the old life”(Golding 65). He has the strength to fake throw it at him by just missing his body. Roger without thinking “Stopped, picked up a stone, aimed, and threw it at Henry—threw it to miss. The stone, that token of preposterous time, bounced five yards to Henry’s right and fell in the water. Roger gathered a handful of stones and began to throw them. Yet there was a space round Henry, perhaps six yards in diameter, into which he dare not throw. (Golding 64-65).

Furthermore, the last character William Golding uses to portray his message that everyone is evil is Samneric. Samneric is a twin boy who will always stick together. One way the author portrays them as being evil is when they give away Ralph’s hiding spot. Ralph’s plan was to hide in a thicket next to castle rock. Ralph is hoping that if he hides next to castle rock that no one will be able to find him. Ralph tells Samneric where he is going to hide, thinking that they won’t give his hiding spot away to the other boys. The next morning Ralph goes to his hiding spot and buries himself and soon hears the other boys looking for him. Not too long after, unfortunately, Samneric gave away his hiding spot to all the other boys, and they all started to hurt Ralph by sending a large boulder near him. Thankfully the boulder misses Ralph, and he started to smell smoke. The boys begin to set the thicket on fire and try and get Ralph out by the smell of large amounts of smoke. Ralph is then forced to leave his spot because the smell of smoke was getting bad, and starts to run while all the other boys are chasing after him. When the boys nearly lit the whole forest on fire so Ralph could run away, Ralph “Paused, sun-flecked, holing up a bough, prepared to duck under it. A spasm of terror set him shaking and he cried aloud” (Golding 204). Ralph was terrified in this situation since he was all alone, his actions and expressions were speaking louder than his words. Moreover, when Jack leaves the tribe to go and make his own tribe. With the hunters. Only some littluns, Ralph, Simon, Samneric, and Piggy were left. Jack wanted Samneric to join his tribe so Jack threatened them to go on his side. The twins get very scared of Jack by his rage, so the twins switched sides and went to Jack’s tribe. They betrayed Ralph and left him alone with barely anyone on his side. The twins change as soon as they go on Jack’s side. They become loyal to Jack as they were to Ralph and turned to savagery and violence. Ralph tried to stop them from going on Jack’s side, but the boys were too scared of Jack because they didn’t want to get hurt. While there was silence in a lot of moments Jack turned to Ralph and spook between his teeth saying “See? They do what I want. (Golding 199). When the twins went one Jacks’ side Jack wanted to prove a point to Ralph showing that no one like him and that he is being left alone. The last evil action that Samneric does to be portrayed as an evil person is when they took part in the killing of Simon and denied it. Never did any of the readers think that the young shy and innocent twins would take part in a murder. When Simon was mistakenly seen as the beast by Samneric they all went to attack the person who they thought was the beast but it was really Simon. Without hesitation, all the boys including samsaric joined in with everyone and killed Simon. This occurrence is a result of Jack and his tribes’ savagery. Samneric denied that they were a part of the killing, but we know they were there because they asked about the dance. If they hadn’t been there, they wouldn’t have known about the dance that happened right before they killed Simon. The narrator sadly says, ‘Surrounded by a fringe of inquisitive bright creatures, itself a silver shape beneath the steadfast constellations, Simon’s dead body moved out toward the open sea’ (Golding 170). It’s heartbreaking to see that another charter died from the other boys’ evil actions.

Romeo and Juliet is a play written by William Shakespeare in 1594. It became a very famous story and has influenced the world tremendously in many ways. Three examples of the play’s influence on the world are William Shakespeare has become a historically famous figure known by all, numerous movies have been produced with similar themes, and many real people who have lived out similar love stories have been compared to the story of Romeo and Juliet.

William Shakespeare was a very well known author. He was most likely born on April 23, 1564. Around the age of fifteen, Shakespeare went to Stanford to study Latin classics as well as memorization, writing, and acting. In 1582, William married Anne Hathaway. William was eighteen and his wife was twenty six when they expected their first child, Susanna. Later on in 1585 they had two twin boys, Judith and Hamel. Shakespeare’s work was not noticed until 1592(“Shakespeare’s Life”). Romeo and Juliet was written around 1594-1596. In 1597 was the first published quatro, the second in 1599, then a third quatro in 1623 that was finally used as a folio. In music and theatre, Romeo and Juliet has always been illustrated (“Romeo and Juliet”).

Movies have been influenced by the story of Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare’s plays were very popular with Elizabethan audiences. Hollywood Scriptwriters tagged on to Shakespeare’s theme and celebrities were craving over the acting parts(“Ten Ways”). Since Shakespeare was so amazing at poetry he impacted our language today. He changed around verbs and added noun forms of other words to make a new word. Plays, such as West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim, are a modern day version of Romeo and Juliet (“William Shakespeare”). West Side Story is about two lovers, Tony and Maria, who are on opposite gangs. Tony’s gang the Jets, is led by his friend Riff. Maria is on the Sharks and this gang is led by her older brother, Bernardo. The gangs compete to win over a territory. Tony sees Maria and falls in love. So that Maria will not get hurt, he tries to stop the fight. After hearing that Maria is dead, Tony is on a hunt to attack the Sharks. The Sharks then kills him after he finds out Maria is still alive (“West Side Story”). In Washington D.C. there is a library called Folger Shakespeare Library with Shakespeare’s Quartos and some exhibits about Shakespearean culture (“William Shakespeare”). The Folger Shakespeare Library contains Shakespeare’s first printed collection of plays (“William Shakespeare”). There are hundreds of Shakespeare’s Quatros at the library.

There are real life tragic love stories named after Romeo and Juliet since they are about people who died because of their love for each other. In Bosnia, in the mid 1980s, two people fell in love, Admira and Bosko. Admira’s father was not against the relationship but her grandmother was. Admira was a Muslim and Bosko was a Serb. After highschool, Bosko went off to a military school. War broke out in Sarajevo and the Serbs killed Muslims in order to win the capital of Sarajevo (“Reuters”). He couldn’t handle killing his girlfriend’s people. Because of this, Admira and Bosko left Sarajevo. In order to leave they had to travel over the Miljacka River where the Muslim and Serb lines where. With snipers all around, they were both shot. Bosko was killed first. When Admira saw him dead she dragged herself over to him before her last breaths (“Romeo and Juliet in Bosnia”). It seems as though Admira and Bosko died because of their love for each other just like Romeo and Juliet.

Romeo and Juliet has had a huge impact on the world because William Shakespeare was a very good writer, many things have been made because of Romeo and Juliet, and most love stories ending in a death are named after Romeo and Juliet. It is quite a love story. This is why we still learn about Romeo and Juliet today.

Work Cited

1. Bevington, David. “Romeo and Juliet.” Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 30 November 2019, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Romeo-and-Juliet. Accessed 17 January 2019.
2. Herbert, Bob. “In America; Romeo and Juliet in Bosnia.” The New York Times, The New York Times Company, 8 May 1994, https://www.nytimes.com/1994/05/08/opinion/in-america-romeo-and-juliet-in-bosnia.html, Accessed 31 January 2019.
3. Kelly, Charles, and Lawrence Kelly. “William Shakespeare, 1564-1616: How Culture Affected Him and How He Affected Culture.” ManyThings.org, Interesting Things for ESL Students, 1997, http://www.manythings.org/voa/people/William_Shakespeare-2.html. Accessed 15 January 2019.
4. McCrum, Robert. “Ten Ways in Which Shakespeare Changed the World,” The Guardian. Guardian News and Media Limited, 17 April 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2016/apr/17/ten-ways-shakespeare-changed-the-world. Accessed 30 January 2019.
5. Royal Shakespeare Company. “When Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet and the stories which inspired the play.” Dates and Sources, Arts Council England, 16 January 2019, https://www.rsc.org.uk/romeo-and-juliet/about-the-play/dates-and-sources. Accessed 16 January 2019.
6. “Shakespeare’s Life.” Folger Shakespeare Library, https://www.folger.edu/shakespeares-life. Accessed 14 January 2019.
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Due to the unconventional way that Tim O’Brien writes his novel, The Things They Carried, many cannot decide which genre it belongs to. The debate lies in the argument of whether the collection of short stories that are part of the book are of fiction, or true to word memoir. While reading the book, the reader has no way of knowing what is real and what is made up as they are exposed to a way of writing that is unfamiliar to that of typical novels; a combination of memoir and fiction of which purpose is to send a more personal and intimate meaning of the events, according to O’Brien’s distinction of modifying details of real events.

Ultimately, to condense the differences between a memoir and a fictional text can be summed up with the idea of reality versus creative liberties. The complexities that lie between the line that separates the two genres, also seemingly contrasting, land in a grey area once further investigated. Holistically, there isn’t a concrete definition to a completely fictional nor a completely realistic text, as both can utilise elements of creative exaggeration along with reality in order to achieve the goal of better writing.

The purpose of O’Brien’s deviation from the conventions of traditional fiction is to, ironically, create a more realistic visual and emotional image of what it was like to be in the war and to show the true essence of a real war story. The goals of memoirs and fiction are different. A memoir’s goal is to help the author explore his memories and arrive at the truth of how the experience changed and affected his life. As a result, the tone is often selfish, with more emphasis placed on the author’s reflections than developing a cohesive plot.While fiction still reveals truths through themes and morals, its primary purpose is to entertain.

O’Brien allows for the mix of these 2 styles of writing by narrating the story through the eyes of a self titled soldier, Tim O’Brien. This distinction creates a sense of personal pathos within the story towards the audience, appealing in multiple stages throughout the book as O’Brien switches between diary like entries and narrating war time situations through the eyes of other characters. An example of situations like these is in the chapter “Speaking of Courage” where O’Brien narrates a day in Norman Bowker’s life after the war. The chapter is fundamentally a look through Norman’s head, where he is thinking about what he would’ve said while speaking with anyone, particularly his father, that asked him about the war. Scenes written with this level of detail are evidently fiction as the author cannot have known all the intricacies about Norman and the way he thought about the war the shame he holds because of the traumatic events that occurred. Yet in the chapter that follows, titled “Notes”, the author writes it from his own personal perspective and sheds light on some things that contradict what was said in the differing perspective of Norman. This observation can be seen in the last paragraph of the chapter where he reveals how he edited the story Norman told him and that the guilt Norman felt about not saving Kiowa was actually his own. “I want to make it clear that Norman Bowker was in no way responsible for what happened to Kiowa. Norman did not experience a failure of nerve that night. He did not freeze up or lose the Silver Star for valor. That part of the story is my own”. These shifts in perspective create a sense of confusion for the reader as they don’t know whether what is being spoken is actually what happened or whether it’s just a product of O’Brien’s imagination with the purpose of communicating a speculated image of what happened. The author deviates from typical representations of similar novels by personally stepping into the story and communicating directly with the reader which proves that this part of the story comes from his memories and not a made-up action.

In the chapter “How to Tell a True War Story”, O’Brien speaks as an author about what it is truly like to be in a war and what it is like to attempt to communicate it to other people that have never experienced it. He says “A true war story is never moral. It does not instruct, nor encourage virtue, nor suggest models for proper human behavior, nor restrain men from doing the things men have always done. If a story seems moral, do not believe it. If at the end of a war story you feel uplifted, or if you feel that some small bit of rectitude has been salvaged from the larger waste, then you have been made the victim of a very old and terrible lie.” The audience is enlightened and is able to infer that Tim’s narrative shows that a writer has the power to shape his experiences and opinions in the same way that the war distorts the soldier’s perceptions of right and wrong and what actually occurred.

Tim O’Brien communicated his intended message by constructing fictional events to convey a deeper meaning, Choosing to show the audience the “story-truth” instead of the “happening-truth”, he introduced fictional characters such as Kiowa, Mitchell Sanders and Rat Kiley who carried true messages through unreal events. This surrealism provided us with several truths, such as the juxtaposition shown through the ‘real, not real events’ revealing insight of the struggles of American soldiers and the hardships they had to endure through their eyes. This initiates extreme authenticity to the book and made it very personal whilst still allowing the audience to decide for themselves what should be seen as real and what isn’t. He gave the audience multiple stories from varied perspectives of fictional and nonfictional characters who struggled through surreal and true events, many of which he created in order to provide a more insightful image through both his memory and his imagination.

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

The psychoanalytic criticism is one of the points of view in literature which applies a few methods of therapy. According to Fakhruddin (2015:11), this theory can watch an abstract fills in as a mental exercise. He implies that the literary works have a similar capacity with brain research, which is can depict a human identity structure throughout everyday life. This theory was found by an Austrian Psychologist named Sigmund Freud. As indicated by Barry (1995: 96), ‘psychoanalysis itself is a type of treatment which expects to fix mental confusion by ‘exploring the collaboration of cognizant and oblivious components as a primary concern”.

Freud, in his theory, expresses that there are three sections in the personality structure. They are id, ego, and superego. Those three depend on the theory of instinct, the origin of conscience, and the sense of guilty. However, there is one greater identity which is called anxiety. Hall, in his book (1956: 61), said that anxiety dependent on Freud is a standout amongst the most imperative ideas in psychoanalysis theory. This theory assumes an essential role of the personality advancement in the elements of personal role. In a similar source, Hall said that ‘anxiety is a difficult enthusiastic experience which is delivered by excitations in the inner organs of body’.

There are some authors who discuss about psychological problem in society through literary works, such as Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818), The Great Gatsby by F. Scottz Fitzgerald (1925), Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn (2006), The Cuckoo’s Calling by Roberth Galbraith (2013), and The Sleep Room by Frank Tallis (2013). Those are some novels which presented the psychological problem in society, and usually it will be faced by the main character(s).

Sharp Objects is a novel written by Gillian Flynn published in 2006. The novel tells about Camille Preaker’s life with her mother, Adora, and her old-half-sister, Amma. Camille is a young journalist that lived in Chicago and asked by her boss to solve a mysterious murder case in Wind Gap with Detective Richard, who comes from Kansas City. About the short explanation of this novel, the story is started from when there were a mysterious death that happened to two little girls. After that, the main character, Camille, found the solution when she visits the local detective named Detective Richard to help her for solving the case. While they investigate the case, the secret one by one be revealed. For example, Detective Richard with the police force search Adora’s room and find several vials of poison in her hatbox along with a page from a diary from several decades previously. Mostly in mystery story, the ending of the story is a murderer will be brought to the justice. In Sharp Objects, the police arrest Adora for the murder of her daughter, Marian, and the attempted murder of Amma and Camille. The second one, Amma is under arrest too, because she involved in the little girls’ murder case, but Amma didn’t be brought to the jail, because she is still in under age. In this novel, Camille focuses as the protagonist, and following by Adora and Amma as the antagonist.

This novel becomes interesting to study, because this novel presents the psychological problem in society. Mostly, in the novel or short story, a psychological problem only happened in one character, especially the main character. But in Sharp Objects, there are three main characters; Camille, Adora, and Amma, who should be faced their psychological problem in their different sides. They had their own experience that made them had a problem on their psychological side. Moreover, this novel has never been studied yet. Therefore, the researcher is interested in examining this novel especially its issues about psychological problem in society of a one family. From those explanation, this study focuses in analysing psychological problem happened in the Camille’s family society with Freud’s psychoanalysis approach.

Significance of the Study

The researcher hopes that this study will improve the readers’ knowledge and awareness more about the social phenomenon through literature. While for academic readers, especially English Literature students, the researcher hopes this study will be used as reference, comparison, and evaluation for the next research that analyse about psychological problem using psychoanalysis theory.

Definition of Psychoanalytic Criticism

Psychoanalytic Criticism is a theory which found by Sigmund Freud, an Austrian psychologist. This theory is one of the points of view in the literature which applies a few methods of therapy. The theory itself is a treatment which utilizes for relieving the psychological issue by exploring the connection of cognizant and oblivious in the human personality (Barry, 2002).

Personality Structure

According to Smith, stated in Freud’s complete works, there are three fundamental parts of identity structure in human dependent on the Freud’s theory; id, ego, and superego. Those three depend on the theory of instinct, origin of conscience, and the sense of guilty. This idea is utilized to discover how the main character in the literary works confronting his/her internal conflicts.

Id

Id is a human sense which subdues to satisfy the fundamental needs of the human itself, for example, eating, sexuality, and emotional, or the other word imply that a human is a pleasure seeker and avoid pains. It tends to be portrayed from make its analogies contrast it and the sense of self. Engler stated (2014:43), a human cannot see the genuine type of id, since this originates from their obviousness. It looks to fulfill its needs incompletely through reflex activity and the essential procedures. The relation among id and ego, the personality can be accepted as the piece of id which has been altered by the immediate impact of the outside world. It is demonstrated by the personality procedure to bring or control the pleasure principle which originates from id to the reality principle. From the explanation above, we can presume that the ego speaks to reasons and presence of mind, while the id speaks to the interests.

Ego

Ego is a part that keeps up among id and superego. It shows up to satisfy human needs to manufacture a contact with the reality. The capacity of the ego is to give a thought, make critical thinking, and make a reason for something. The conscience fills in as the reasonable association and controls the constituents of human mental procedures, in other word implies that ego is the agent of what human considers. Engler (2014:44) states that the person works by serving the id’s capacity to intervene it with some practical choices. While the id makes the dreams and wishes through the essential procedure, the conscience applies the sensible idea from the optional procedures, as intellectual and perception aptitudes. These procedures assist human with distinguishing between their certainties and dreams. From those clarifications, Engler infers that the ego needs the human’s higher knowledge capacities in critical thinking to help the ego in settle on appropriate choices of activity and test them for their viability.

Superego

In the human identity, superego controls the human’s conviction of good and bad things or the human’s practices, and it has a role in the emergence of depression, obsessional disorders and sexual issues. According to Engler, superego comprises two subsystems; the conscience and the ego-ideal. The conscience involves self-evaluation, criticism, and reproach. It creates the base idea of what is correct or wrong to do. It drives the human personality to think about what they ought to do and pick the most ideal approach to tackle their issues. It works dependent on the ethical esteem which likes to consider the moralistic as opposed to reasonable arrangements.

Anxiety

In Freud’s perspective, anxiety is one of the important parts. As indicated by Hall (1956:61), anxiety is one of the most imperative ideas in psychoanalysis which has a role in the identity improvement and also in the identity elements’ capacities. Anxiety is a piece of somebody’s identity which could make somebody having the psychological unsettling influence or mental issue that occasionally shows up from the internal identity. It is a conspicuous thing that everybody is having anxiety, for instance when we have a test or when we tell about our feeling. Anxiety itself have the capacity to give an awful impact to the human since anxiety is a negative energy within somebody. Hall, in his book (1956: 61), anxiety is a painful emotional experience which is delivered by excitations in the internal organs of the body.

Previous Studies

There are some previous studies which is related with the psychoanalytic criticism. The first comes from Luthifyyah and Darsih, they observe John Bristow’s psychological problem in The Cuckoo’s Calling. In their research, John as a main character has a problem in his id and superego cause of his anxiety and his internal conflict. John, in the story known as an ordinary man, suddenly doing something abnormal because his parents loved his siblings more than him. The second is from Sartika, she observes a main character who is a ballerina in the Black Swan movie script, Nina Sayers. Same with the previous one, firstly she known as a calm and kind-hearted person in life, but she feels irritated after knew that someone else has a big choice to get the role being the black swan. In here, Nina has her anxiety and her external conflict around her. The last one is from Fakhruddin, he observes the Victor Frankerstein’s internal conflict in Frankerstein by Mary Shelley. In his research, he investigates the influence of Victor’s personality toward his self-conflicts based on Freud’s personality theory. He found in his every internal conflict has various terms, and its term based on the Victor’s personality structure. Every Victor’s personality related to each other and have an important influence in developing a conflict in the story. In each internal conflict makes different decision in facing a problem

Bibliography

1. Barry, Peter. Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory (2nded.). United Kingdom: Manchester University Press. 2002
2. Engler, Barbara. Personality Theories: An Introduction (9thed.). Wadsworth: Cencage Learning. 2014
3. Flynn, G. Sharp Objects (1sted.). United States: Shaye Areheart Books. 2006
4. Hall, Calvin S. A Primer of Freudian Psychology. United States: The New American Library. 1956
5. Fakhruddin, R.A. The Internal Conflict Faced by Victor Frankerstein in Mary Shelley’s Frankerstein. Retrieved from http://etheses.uin-malang.ac.id/2745/1/11320019.pdf. 2015
6. Luthfiyyah, A., & Darsih, E. John Bristow’s Psychological Problems in Robert Galbraith’s The Cuckoo’s Calling. NOBEL: Journal of Literature and Language Teaching, 6(1), 9-19. Retrieved from http://jurnalfahum.uinsby.ac.id/index.php/nobel/article/view/6. 2015
7. Sartika, D.W. Study of the Main Character of Black Swan Movie Script by Andres Heinz. Retrieved from http://journals.ums.ac.id/index.php/humaniora/article/download/758/489. 2013
8. Smith, Ivan. Freud complete works. Retrieved from http://www.holybooks.com/sigmund-freud-the-complete-works/. 2010

Introduction:

Lord of the flies was first published in 1954. It has never gone out of print, it has been among the best-selling novels in both Britain and USA, it has been studied in schools and universities all over the world.

Lord of the Flies is in part an allegory of the Cold War, as in 1940, it was William Golding’s turning point in his life. He joined the royal navy and his World War II experiences, Golding has said, “I began to see what people were capable of doing. Anyone who moved through those years without understanding that man produces evil as a bee produces honey, must have been blind or wrong in the head.” His experience in the war showed the evil of man.

A theme is a comprehensive idea that goes through a literary text in one or some parts, it makes up the main points, that the author aims to be reached to his readers, which may be stated directly or indirectly. Here in this research, I’m going to discuss these themes in details:

• Human nature
• Civilization Vs. Savagery
• Loss of Innocence
• Absence of Social norms
• Absence of Law
• End of Rationalism
• Struggle to build Civilization

https://www.gradesaver.com/lord-of-the-flies/study-guide/themes

The second part of the research that I’m going to write down, are the main characters. It is known that the characters are integral to the narrative, they play an important role in the development of social norms and themes, they also create the suspense of the story. The characters in Lord of the Flies by William Golding are mostly children, isolated on an island.

Main themes

Human nature:

William Golding in his novel wants to highlight a statement that he believes in, that man is evil by nature. By living a group of small boys isolated on a tropic island, without any societal guidance, without anyone to tell them what to do and what not to do. Golding argues that human nature, free from the restriction of society, draws people gradually to become savages. And that was very clear in chapter eight when Simon imagined that lord of the flies, which the name given to the saw’s head was talking to him. It was a confrontation between the absolute good which represent in Simon who is naturally good, he hates nobody, and the absolute bad which represent in the lord of the flies, when the lord of the flies told Simon that he is a part from him. Golden here wants to underline that evil is something essential, nature, something we are born with, it is inside each other. When there is no societal rule, evil is free, released. Once there is no punishment, we will behave naturally and naturally we are evil.

Civilization Vs. savagery:

The major concern of the novel is the competing desires that exists will all human beings: the instinct to act peacefully, live by rules follow moral commands, and value the good of the group against each one desires to act violently, to obtain supremacy over others. Golding represents the struggle between the civilization and savagery through the novel’s two main characters: Ralph, the protagonist, the leader of the group, who represents human beings’ civilization instinct; and Jack, the antagonist, the leader of the hinters, who represents savagery and the desire of power.

Loss of Innocence:

The boys on the island progress from civilized, orderly children and well-behaved, they naturally loss the sense of innocence that they possessed ah the beginning of the novel. Here Golding doesn’t want to portray or highlight this loss of innocence as something that is done because the children’s behavior; rather, he wants to call attention that it is a naturally results, because of the increasing openness to the innate evil and savagery that has always existed within them.

Moreover, that was clear when they were using the conch-shell which represents order and civilization, that when anyone holds it have the right to speak but gradually it loses its power and influence in chapter 2.

Absence of Social Norms:

The central concern of the novel, that Golding wants to underline on, that there is a social norms and traditions that force people to obey the laws and rules. When there is an absence social of norms and tradition, people show their own nature, and naturally they are evil. We can link this to chapter 4, when Roger, the sadistic, cruel older boy, who likes very much to brutalize other kids. As in this chapter (page 68) he picked up a stone and threw it at Henry (one of the little boys) and here Golding used some words to let us reach what he believes as well, that man produces evil as a bee produces honey and he is only afraid from the punishment, societal guidance and the law. As he described that Roger “throw the stone to mess” which means that he aware not to hurt Henry, he only wanted to scare him. Other words which meant a lot, “he dares not to threw”, which means that he still tied with civilization. As well as “the taboo of the old life” which highlights that he still tied of the taboo of the old life (civilization), and we can make it clearer, that he is tied to civilization, not loving it. As it is not out of humanity, it is out of fear. Roger was afraid from the punishment of Henry’s parents, and if it is not Henry’s parents, the school, if it is not the school, the police.

Absence of Law:

When the children were isolated on the island, they are left on their own. They do not have any social setup with traditions and rules. However, Ralph and Piggy try to set up a civilized society through the help of the conch. But unfortunately, due to the absence of responsible adult supervision and guidance, they soon turned towards violence and become savages. The strong group of hunters that is leader by Jack, see that there are no laws and punishing authority. so, they form a separate strong group and try to break their rules. Once the rules are broken, they are free to do whatever they want, even if this could let them hurt others. Unfortunately, Piggy is killed in this chaos. Lack of a leader makes them savages, and they try to kill Ralph too. This shows that absence of laws creates chaos and disorder that leads to killing the innocents and the weak.

End of Rationalism:

Lord of the flies shows that thinking rationally is a good virtue but it is difficult to practice. Piggy who represents the scientific, rational side of civilization. But unfortunately, Jack succeed in killing Piggy and we can say with piggy’s death, the rational thinking among the children comes to the end. Also, the imaginary beast that frightens all the boys, which is irrational thinking. Only Simon reaches the realization that there is no physical beast, it is only inside each human being. He is behaving beyond his age and the only naturally good character in the island.

Struggle to build civilization:

The struggle to build civilization is the main conflict of Lord of the Flies, and that was clear in Ralph who represents human beings’ civilizing instinct, Piggy who represents the rational side of civilization and Jack (the novel’s antagonist). Ralph and Piggy believe that structure and rules are the greatest priorities, while Jack believes hunting, violence, and fun should be preferred over safety, planning for the future, and protection. And there was a conversation between Jack and Ralph in chapter 3 (page 55) that shows the beginning of the struggle between civilization which represents Ralph and savagery which represents Jack. Both of them started to have their own difference, that happened when Ralph was complaining and talking about their meeting in an ironic way as he starting to criticize them because they hate meeting. They talk very well and they don’t do their task. While his talking to Jack, he told him “we haven’t got any yet”, he meant that jack was doing nothing, as they need shelters beside food as well. Golding here wants to highlight the antagonism that had begun between Ralph and Jack, it was clear by telling “some hidden passion in Ralph’s voice” which means that Ralph got nervous, he refused their carelessness and how irresponsible they are. The two boys (Ralph and Jack) started to be enemies rather than friends or colleagues, started to have antagonism. https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/flies/themes/

Main Characters

Ralph:

Ralph is the novel’s protagonist, the 12-years old English boy who is elected leader of the group because of his calmness and rational thinking. Ralph is the one who represents human being civilizing instinct. While most of the other boys in the island, are concerned with playing, having fun as well as not doing their task. Most of them are carelessness and irresponsible. While Ralph all the time thinking of ways to maximize their chances of being rescued. Therefore, Ralph’s power and influence over the boys are secure at the beginning of the novel. But unfortunately, the boys gradually turn to be savages instincts over the course of the novel. For this reason, Ralph’s position decreases while Jack’s rises. In the end, most of the boys except Piggy leave Ralph’s group for Jack’s. Ralph’s main wish is to be rescued and returned to the society of the adults. In the beginning of the novel, Ralph is unable to understand why the boys turn to be savages. As the novel progresses, Ralph like Simon; the one who is behaving beyond his age, comes to understand that savagery and evil exist within all the boys. And unfortunately, Ralph tries to fight the bad influence of Jack but faces defeat. Although at the end, he is rescued and turned to civilization. https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/flies/character/jack/

Piggy:

Piggy represents the scientific rational side of civilization. He is the first boy that Ralph met him in the island and became the most loyal and true friend to him. We can describe him as talkative and intellectual boy. Piggy use to think with Ralph to reach to the successful ideas and innovation. For example, using the conch-shell that symbolize civilization and order in the novel. It governs the boys’ meeting, as who hold it have the right to speak. But at the end, the conch-shell gradually losses its power and influence. He supports Ralph and help him in solving the problems on the island. Piggy is the boy who worries about the rules of English civilization. As in chapter one, he told “no grown-ups” which means that there are no one to guidance. His poor eye sight and weight making him physically inferior to the others. He believes in rules, timeliness and order. He is the one who suggests using fire for rescue to save the boys by using his glasses, which represent the power of science. Piggy’s independence and his rational thinking prevent him from being part of the savagery group, so he is not as susceptible to the mob mentality that over takes many of the other boys. However, like Ralph, Piggy cannot avoid the desire of savagery on the island. Piggy tries to convince himself that Simon’s murder was an accident. However, it seems that his willingness to be accepted by the group lead him to mislead his own morals. We can say that Piggy’s death led to the end of rationality on the island. Following his death, Ralph is left alone and he has to protect himself from Jack and the hunters.

Jack:

Jack is the novel’s primary representative of the instinct of savagery, violence and the desire of power above all other things. Jack is the novel’s antagonist. He becomes obsessed with hinting and allocates himself to the task and painting his face like a barbican. The more savage Jack becomes, the more he able to control and be the leader to the rest of the group. He took the charge and leads them against Ralph, and he becomes the leader of the hunters but it longs for total power. Jack’s love of violence and authority enable him to feel powerful. He is a cruel and aggressive boy as well as, carelessness and irresponsible. Seeing piggy as an obstacle, he plans to kill him.

Simon

Simon is the only naturally good character on the island. He represents a kind of natural goodness. unlike all others boys on the island, Simon acts morally because he believes in the inherent value of morality. Simon is behaving beyond his age; he is very mature for his age. As when the little boys were arguing about the existence of the beast, he told them that there is no physical beast, but rather a savagery that lurks within each human being. The sow’s head on the stake symbolizes this idea, as we know in chapter eight, Simon imagined that Lord of the Flies, which is the name given to the sow’s head was talking to him. Many critics considered this scene as the climax of the novel. Simon likes to be alone and doesn’t merge with the other boys.

Roger:

Roger is a sadistic, cruel older boy, who likes very much to brutalize others. Roger’s cruelty begins in chapter four when he terrorizes the little Hennery, as he picked up a stone and threw it at Hennery. Golding’s view here that when there is no punishment or societal guidance, people are free to do whatever they want. However, Roger leaves a safe distance between the rocks and the child, as he only wanted to scare him or in other words, he still tied with civilization and the taboo of the old life, but it is not out of humanity, it is out of fear. Roger quickly understands that the more violent Jack will be, the more chance to be powerful and effective leader.

The Beast:

Although the beast is not a physical character in the novel, it has two descriptions at different places. If we take from Simon’s perspective, he sees that the beast is the deformed body of the pilot and his face is hidden in the swarm of flies. The second perspective is the unseen animal or thing that scares and frightens the boys on the island. They think that the beast visits them when they are sleeping to scare them. Even though, Simon has seen it but he couldn’t explain it to the other boys. He thinks and behave beyond his age, as he realizes that the invisible beast of evil exists in every boy as well as, there is no physical beast. The boys use this beast for different purposes. For instance, Jack uses it to create fear as well as gathering the hunters and Ralph uses it to prove and show his leadership qualities.

In our lives, the society has always been controlled by adults, and the children have been considered fragile, immature, and unable to take care of themselves. William Golding’s novel entitled Lord of the Flies is a fictional depiction of the events that unfold after a group of schoolboys are stranded on a deserted island; however, it would be erroneous to assume that the novel presents the reader with a purely fictional portrayal as an analysis of this literary work exposes the underlying allegorical context of the author’s intended message. Golding’s novel utilizes symbolic elements to illustrate the dynamics of human nature in the broader context of geo-political realities.

The symbolism that resonates throughout Lord of the Flies is particularly evident when observing the author’s exclusive utilization of male characters in his portrayal. In essence, this aspect of Golding’s novel supersedes mere happenstance as the exclusion of female characters is ultimately the product of numerous subjective and societal factors. In the first instance, it is logical to assume that the gender and personal background of the author inevitably influenced his work. Golding, for all intents and purposes, could closely relate to the intricacies of the emotional dynamics that affected the psychological processes of young males. Additionally, the prevalence of patriarchal social norms, which existed at the time of the novel’s creation, indisputably facilitated the author’s association of masculinity with the representation of society in general. Secondly, the author’s description of how Ralph “undid the snake-clasp of his belt” before he “lugged off his shorts and pants, and stood there naked” (Golding 13) and how Johnny’s trousers were “pulled back half-way” (Golding 17) before he proceeded to step out of his pants that had fallen to his ankles, are undoubtedly representations that would be considered ‘unbecoming female behavior’ in the context of a patriarchal paradigm. It would be illogical to assume that Golding would succeed in conveying his underlying message if he had utilized female characters as the intended audience would indisputably have condemned his portrayal of women without endeavoring to grasp the underlying symbolic representations of this literary work.

In addition to the author’s symbolic representation of society, it is imperative to note the symbolism pertaining to children and adults in the novel. The significance of adults and their symbolic relevance in the novel becomes apparent when analyzing the interaction between Ralph and Piggy in the first chapter. In the initial instance, while discussing the fate of the pilot, Ralph’s excitement is clearly illustrated when he exclaims “No Grownups!” (Golding 8) which is in stark contrast to Piggy’s realization that this situation effectively minimized the probability of them being rescued. The complex nature, of the children’s perceptions of adults, is additionally illustrated by Ralph’s belief that his “daddy” would rescue them “when he gets leave” (Golding 13) despite his portrayed aversion towards adults and authoritative figures. Piggy, however, effectively becomes the representation of a quasi-adult figure through his frequent invocation of the phrase ‘my auntie-‘ (Golding 13) which he associates with the representation of order and protection in his life. Essentially, Ralph’s role as the quasi-adult is further substantiated by the scene in which he admonishes the boys for starting a fire before they completed the construction of their shelters (Golding 38). The author’s inference, of adults representing fearful authoritarian figures, is evident from Simon’s encounter with the pig’s head during his seizure (Golding 143). During this encounter, Simon hallucinates and he perceives that the head is speaking to him “in the voice of a schoolmaster” (Golding 143). Ultimately, Piggy remarks that “We just got to go on, that’s all. That’s what grownups would do” (Golding 139) and these statements signify the young boy’s acknowledgment that adults are rational and intellectually superior to children. Golding was trying to describe how little boys who are more likely to have human nature traits pursue civilized society from barbarism in the adequacy of rules as well as knowledge.

To all intents and purposes, the narrative in Lord of the Flies is enhanced by the exclusive depiction of male characters. The primary omission of female characters, concerning the overall storyline, alludes to the author’s assertion that the societal role of women was erroneously dismissed in the broader social context. This aspect is substantiated by the fact that Piggy’s references to his “aunty” denote the only inferences to females in the entire novel (Golding 9). In addition to this element, it is imperative to note that Piggy is constantly interrupted and that these interruptions consequently result in the failure of his statements proceeding beyond the words “my auntie -” (Golding 11). Essentially, Piggy fails to elucidate what his aunty would say and this effectively prevents the expression of opinions pertaining to the only female reference in the novel. Notwithstanding this apparent dismissal of female opinions, the author proceeds to create an intrinsic link between the disregarded guidance of Piggy’s aunty and the portrayal of this character as the ‘voice of reason’ in a failing societal paradigm. However, the boy’s deterioration into a primitive state causes them to reject any logical guidance and this dynamic ultimately culminates in Piggy’s murder (Golding 181). Ultimately, it should be concluded that Golding deliberately excluded female characters from his story to elucidate the negative implications of gender discrimination and this intentional omission effectively propels the intended narrative of social disintegration.

Golding effectively supports his underlying symbolic representations, in Lord of the Flies, by including elements that were relevant to the geo-political climate which existed shortly after the Second World War. Although this period was characterized by the advent of the Cold War, the author included numerous elements that were reflective of the atrocities that occurred during the rise of Nazi Germany. During their second meeting, Piggy remarks that “the plane was shot down in flames” (Golding 34). This statement is indicative of the fact that the novel is set against the backdrop of a wartime situation. In addition to this facet of the storyline, the author introduces a dead fighter pilot that ultimately plays a pivotal role in the overall narrative (Golding 95). However, the most obvious association of this literary portrayal, with the events of World War Two, is the author’s inclusion of the gradual breakdown of civilization which emanates from the human desire to create armies. As in the case of Adolf Hitler, Jack initially proposes the formation of an army for ‘protection’ during the boy’s first meeting, however, this seemingly beneficial proposition becomes the platform for the creation of a dictatorship and the eventual destruction of the boys attempts to create a civilized society (Golding 33).

In summation, William Golding’s novel is an allegorical representation of the inherently evil nature of human beings which presents itself in the absence of rational thought. Essentially, Lord of the Flies supersedes a mere fictional presentation as this novel is effectively an indirect exposition of numerous socio-political issues and the potential dangers which are associated with perceptions of fear.

Tone is a very important piece when writing any type of work because it determines how the audience should feel when reading it. The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien is a novel based in the Vietnam War. It is a compilation of war stories told by the narrator, who is also the author. The novel has many tones, but two prevalent tones are guilt and sympathy. Guilt and sympathy are shown in many instances throughout the book, the author does this to show the emotions soldiers experience during war.

During the war, Tim only mentions killing one person. It is a vietenemese male that he throws a grenade at. In the chapter “The Man I Killed”, he goes into very specific detail about how the man had a star-shaped hole in his head and what his life could’ve been hadn’t he been killed. He repeats the injuries of the man multiple times and I think he does that to signify the tone of sympathy. He even goes as far as giving him a future life and this also shows how terrible experiences can cause the mind to become so imaginative. Even though he killed the man to save himself he sympathizes with him saying, “He was not a fighter, his health was poor, his body small and frail. He liked books. He wanted someday to be a teacher of mathematics”(119). After he has killed the man, his friend tries to convince him that there was nothing else for him to do, but he remains speechless, this is just one of the many ways the characters in the book deal with death.

Another tone that is prevalent in the book is guilt. After Lavender dies, Cross feels guilty and that he was responsible for his death. Cross thinks, “ He has loved Martha more than his men, and as a consequence Lavender was now dead, and this was something he would have to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of the war”(16). Cross thinks getting rid of his distractions will stop something like that from happening again, so he burns his letters and pictures from Martha. Like Cross many of the other soldiers also carried guilt. Most of the soldiers feel guilty about Kiowa’s death. Bowker carries his guilt of not being able to save Kiowa even after the war was over, this guilt eventually causes Bowker to hang himself. Cross thinks it’s his fault for stationing them in a terrible spot. Even Azar feels guilty about making fun of the way Kiowa died. There was really no way for a soldier to be in a war without feeling guilty about something, even the people who survived felt guilty for living when their friends didn’t.

One story that combines both tones of sympathy and guilt is Lee Strunk and Dave Jenson’s pact. Their pact was that if either of them got seriously injured the other would kill them to end their misery. Strunk gets his leg blown off after stepping in a trap. Lee tries to convince Jenson saying, “Really , it’s not so bad. Not terrible. Hey, really — they can sew it back on — really”(63). Dave sympathizes with Lee and decides not to kill him, but console him and try to make him feel better about his situation. Jenson also feels guilty for not honoring their pact and killing him.

In order to convey a different side to soldiers ,the author uses tones like guilt and sympathy to show their emotions. Tim shows sympathy when recollecting about the man he killed in the war. Cross shows guilt after both Lavender and Kiowa’s death. Finally, both sympathy and guilt are shown in Strunk and Jenson’s pact. It is important for the author to show the more vulnerable side of soldiers because it gives the characters more character and helps them to not be one dimensional.