"And in the middle of them, with filthy body, matted hair, and unwired nose, Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of a man's heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy." (Golding 202)
Here is my final analysis paper! Enjoy! :)
Humans are complex organisms and the way that each and every one of us is created differently and thinks uniquely is, and always will be, beautiful. One common trait in every human being is that we all encompass good and evil. The choice of whether our good will dominate our evil, or whether our evil will overpower our good is up to each of us. When a human is thrust into a horrible situation, these personal values are questioned. In the famous novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, and in the movie The Hunger Games: Catching Fire directed by Francis Lawrence, morals are put to the test. Some people lose who they are in life threatening situations, and some rise to the occasion.
Lord of the Flies is all about the fall of innocence to savagery. In this particular novel, characters Jack and Roger slowly became dangerous. Both of the boys started off as just that: boys. They came to the beautiful island with their innocence, and Jack without bloodthirst. Roger seemed to be described as the character who held in his inner need to hurt others back at home. But on the island, and with Jack’s leadership, he is allowed to leash out and hurt others. At the beginning of the novel, Golding describes a couple of scenes where Roger is picking on some littluns. Golding’s segment, “Roger led the way straight through the [sand]castles, kicking them over, burying the flowers, scattering the chosen stones. Maurice followed, laughing, and added to the destruction. ...Percival began to whimper with an eyeful of sand and Maurice hurried away. In his other life Maurice had received chastisement for filling a younger eye with sand. Now, though there was no parent to let fall a heavy hand, Maurice still felt the unease of wrongdoing” (Golding 60) describes how Roger felt no guilt for injuring the littluns, while Maurice did. Feeling guilty for committing a wrong is one of the most basic feelings of humanity. Roger did not feel this. He enjoys messing with the heads of those around him. That’s why it is a lot easier for him to follow a savage route than it is for the others. At the beginning of the novel, Jack was a kind character. He tried to cooperate with Ralph, and he did his best to do his part so the tribe of boys would thrive on the island. But, Jack is power hungry. With his thirst of power also came his decent into savagery. Jack began to turn his back on Ralph, and thought of himself as a God rather than an english boy. He began to make excuses for his wrongdoing, because he wanted to ignore or explain the guilt he felt for committing them. Including the excuse he made for murdering Simon: “ ‘He came- disguised. He may come again even though we gave him the head of our kill to eat. So watch; and be careful’ ” (Golding 160). Jack comments that the boys didn’t kill Simon, rather it was the beast in disguise. The fact that Jack feels no guilt for the act deep down he knows he committed, proves how much he has changed with the responsibility of power. Just the simple presence of feeling guilt for a clearly wrong act can display what kind of morals a person has for the care of others.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire has numerous examples of human beings that have lost themselves to animalistic behavior. Just in general, all the tributes who enter the games are eighteen years or younger (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire). They go into The Games as innocents, as children who have barely begun their lives. Then, they are forced to hunt down their friends like animals, like pigs for meat in order to survive. Then, as the games go on they get lost in the “glamour” of the hunt and the future fame. For example, one of the past victors named Enobaria sharpened her teeth into fangs, so she could more easily rip out the throats of her victims (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire). The other member’s of Enobaria’s career alliance were Gloss, Brutus, and Cashmere (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire). They were more than willing to get back into the arena and relive the “glory days”. A crazy thing to think about is that these people were once children, babies. They turned into savages because of what the people and situations surrounding them needed them to be. At first they just wanted to survive but it turned into a lust for victory. Their need for survival and their eventual need for glory came with a dark and hefty price: a piece of their humanity.
Even though villains rise out of darkness, there are also heroes who shine against them. Heroes rise to the occasion; they are those who become the best versions of themselves. They make the good choices that help themselves and others. They keep their values, and don’t change who they are as individuals. In Lord of the Flies, two characters that kept their morals were Simon and Ralph. Simon is good, wise, caring, and overall a great person. Just the small things that he does gives emphasis to his pure heart. Golding adds, “Here the littluns who had run after him caught up with him. They talked, cried out unintelligibly, lugged him toward the trees. Then, amid the roar of bees in the afternoon sunlight, Simon found for them the fruit they could not reach, pulled off the choicest from up in the foliage, passed them back down the endless, outstretched hands” (Golding 56) to give the readers a better understanding into Simon’s character. Most of the other boys would never stop what they were doing to help a littlun, but Simon did. Even in Simon’s death, he kept who he was. He did not fight the boys back when they murdered him; instead he tried to protect himself (Golding). In addition, even as he was being ripped apart by his friends, he was being selfless and trying to warn them of the nonexistent beast (Golding). Not only does Simon shine in darkness, but so does Ralph. Ralph is a natural born leader, and with help from Simon and Piggy he made good decisions on how to lead his boys. Even though he almost lost himself a couple of times, he still was able to grasp the difference between right and wrong at the end of the novel. As the text continued, Ralph showed signs of becoming tired of responsibility and of keeping up the constant effort of remaining humane: “He let Jack lead the way… Ralph walked in the rear, thankful to have escaped responsibility for a time” (Golding 103). Not only was Ralph slipping from his responsibilities, but even he almost fell into animalistic behavior: “Ralph too was fighting to get near, to get a handful of that brown, vulnerable flesh. The desire to squeeze and hurt [the boy] was over-mastering” (Golding 114). These two quotes express Ralph’s desire to let himself go. To allow himself to have some fun and to stop fighting the evil inside him. Even though Ralph did almost slip into savagery a couple of times, the difference between him and the other boys was that he fought the darkness, and continued to feel guilt for his past actions. Golding shows the readers this by adding this conversation between him and Piggy: “ ‘I wasn't scared,' said Ralph slowly, 'I was- I don't know what I was.'...'Don't you understand Piggy? The things we did-'… 'I'm frightened. Of us. I want to go home. Oh God, I want to go home' " (Golding 156-157). Ralph expresses his fear and guilt for himself and of the boys around him. He knows that they murdered Simon, and he can’t grasp that he and a group of boys could commit such a horrid crime. Ralph feels guilt; this is the key to him remaining humane.
There are also characters in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire that displayed their high moral values during the movie. Two characters that shined brightest are Peeta and Mags. These two heroes in the film were frequently shown in high key lighting, which is the cinematographer’s way of telling the audience that these characters are honest and good. These two made all the right choices, and their positive decisions helped them keep their values while in the games. For example, Peeta consistently goes out of his way to ensure Katniss’ safety. When Peeta first found out about him and Katniss re-entering the games, the first thing he did was go talk to Haymitch and make him promise to help Katniss while in the arena (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire). Haymitch even said to Katniss in one scene, “You could live a hundred lifetimes, and still not deserve him you know” (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire). Peeta’s selfless choices are one key factor that helped him keep his humanity while in the arena. Mags was also a character who rose to the occasion in the games. In the movie, Mags volunteered to go into the games to save a mentally disturbed girl named Annie, for Finnick (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire). Finnick and Mags are close, and she knows that Finnick is in love with Annie. Plus, Mags also sacrificed herself into the fog in order to help save Katniss, Peeta, and Finnick because she knew that she was slowing them down. Mags sacrificial and caring nature are a couple of reasons that she was able to remain who she was as an individual and retain her humanity.
The choices that people make in life threatening situations are the ones that can determine who we are. All we have to do is make sure that our good overpowers our evil. To be human and retain our humanity we must allow the darkness inside of us to succumb to the light; our inner evil must dwindle in the face of our inner purity.
Lord of the Flies is all about the fall of innocence to savagery. In this particular novel, characters Jack and Roger slowly became dangerous. Both of the boys started off as just that: boys. They came to the beautiful island with their innocence, and Jack without bloodthirst. Roger seemed to be described as the character who held in his inner need to hurt others back at home. But on the island, and with Jack’s leadership, he is allowed to leash out and hurt others. At the beginning of the novel, Golding describes a couple of scenes where Roger is picking on some littluns. Golding’s segment, “Roger led the way straight through the [sand]castles, kicking them over, burying the flowers, scattering the chosen stones. Maurice followed, laughing, and added to the destruction. ...Percival began to whimper with an eyeful of sand and Maurice hurried away. In his other life Maurice had received chastisement for filling a younger eye with sand. Now, though there was no parent to let fall a heavy hand, Maurice still felt the unease of wrongdoing” (Golding 60) describes how Roger felt no guilt for injuring the littluns, while Maurice did. Feeling guilty for committing a wrong is one of the most basic feelings of humanity. Roger did not feel this. He enjoys messing with the heads of those around him. That’s why it is a lot easier for him to follow a savage route than it is for the others. At the beginning of the novel, Jack was a kind character. He tried to cooperate with Ralph, and he did his best to do his part so the tribe of boys would thrive on the island. But, Jack is power hungry. With his thirst of power also came his decent into savagery. Jack began to turn his back on Ralph, and thought of himself as a God rather than an english boy. He began to make excuses for his wrongdoing, because he wanted to ignore or explain the guilt he felt for committing them. Including the excuse he made for murdering Simon: “ ‘He came- disguised. He may come again even though we gave him the head of our kill to eat. So watch; and be careful’ ” (Golding 160). Jack comments that the boys didn’t kill Simon, rather it was the beast in disguise. The fact that Jack feels no guilt for the act deep down he knows he committed, proves how much he has changed with the responsibility of power. Just the simple presence of feeling guilt for a clearly wrong act can display what kind of morals a person has for the care of others.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire has numerous examples of human beings that have lost themselves to animalistic behavior. Just in general, all the tributes who enter the games are eighteen years or younger (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire). They go into The Games as innocents, as children who have barely begun their lives. Then, they are forced to hunt down their friends like animals, like pigs for meat in order to survive. Then, as the games go on they get lost in the “glamour” of the hunt and the future fame. For example, one of the past victors named Enobaria sharpened her teeth into fangs, so she could more easily rip out the throats of her victims (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire). The other member’s of Enobaria’s career alliance were Gloss, Brutus, and Cashmere (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire). They were more than willing to get back into the arena and relive the “glory days”. A crazy thing to think about is that these people were once children, babies. They turned into savages because of what the people and situations surrounding them needed them to be. At first they just wanted to survive but it turned into a lust for victory. Their need for survival and their eventual need for glory came with a dark and hefty price: a piece of their humanity.
Even though villains rise out of darkness, there are also heroes who shine against them. Heroes rise to the occasion; they are those who become the best versions of themselves. They make the good choices that help themselves and others. They keep their values, and don’t change who they are as individuals. In Lord of the Flies, two characters that kept their morals were Simon and Ralph. Simon is good, wise, caring, and overall a great person. Just the small things that he does gives emphasis to his pure heart. Golding adds, “Here the littluns who had run after him caught up with him. They talked, cried out unintelligibly, lugged him toward the trees. Then, amid the roar of bees in the afternoon sunlight, Simon found for them the fruit they could not reach, pulled off the choicest from up in the foliage, passed them back down the endless, outstretched hands” (Golding 56) to give the readers a better understanding into Simon’s character. Most of the other boys would never stop what they were doing to help a littlun, but Simon did. Even in Simon’s death, he kept who he was. He did not fight the boys back when they murdered him; instead he tried to protect himself (Golding). In addition, even as he was being ripped apart by his friends, he was being selfless and trying to warn them of the nonexistent beast (Golding). Not only does Simon shine in darkness, but so does Ralph. Ralph is a natural born leader, and with help from Simon and Piggy he made good decisions on how to lead his boys. Even though he almost lost himself a couple of times, he still was able to grasp the difference between right and wrong at the end of the novel. As the text continued, Ralph showed signs of becoming tired of responsibility and of keeping up the constant effort of remaining humane: “He let Jack lead the way… Ralph walked in the rear, thankful to have escaped responsibility for a time” (Golding 103). Not only was Ralph slipping from his responsibilities, but even he almost fell into animalistic behavior: “Ralph too was fighting to get near, to get a handful of that brown, vulnerable flesh. The desire to squeeze and hurt [the boy] was over-mastering” (Golding 114). These two quotes express Ralph’s desire to let himself go. To allow himself to have some fun and to stop fighting the evil inside him. Even though Ralph did almost slip into savagery a couple of times, the difference between him and the other boys was that he fought the darkness, and continued to feel guilt for his past actions. Golding shows the readers this by adding this conversation between him and Piggy: “ ‘I wasn't scared,' said Ralph slowly, 'I was- I don't know what I was.'...'Don't you understand Piggy? The things we did-'… 'I'm frightened. Of us. I want to go home. Oh God, I want to go home' " (Golding 156-157). Ralph expresses his fear and guilt for himself and of the boys around him. He knows that they murdered Simon, and he can’t grasp that he and a group of boys could commit such a horrid crime. Ralph feels guilt; this is the key to him remaining humane.
There are also characters in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire that displayed their high moral values during the movie. Two characters that shined brightest are Peeta and Mags. These two heroes in the film were frequently shown in high key lighting, which is the cinematographer’s way of telling the audience that these characters are honest and good. These two made all the right choices, and their positive decisions helped them keep their values while in the games. For example, Peeta consistently goes out of his way to ensure Katniss’ safety. When Peeta first found out about him and Katniss re-entering the games, the first thing he did was go talk to Haymitch and make him promise to help Katniss while in the arena (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire). Haymitch even said to Katniss in one scene, “You could live a hundred lifetimes, and still not deserve him you know” (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire). Peeta’s selfless choices are one key factor that helped him keep his humanity while in the arena. Mags was also a character who rose to the occasion in the games. In the movie, Mags volunteered to go into the games to save a mentally disturbed girl named Annie, for Finnick (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire). Finnick and Mags are close, and she knows that Finnick is in love with Annie. Plus, Mags also sacrificed herself into the fog in order to help save Katniss, Peeta, and Finnick because she knew that she was slowing them down. Mags sacrificial and caring nature are a couple of reasons that she was able to remain who she was as an individual and retain her humanity.
The choices that people make in life threatening situations are the ones that can determine who we are. All we have to do is make sure that our good overpowers our evil. To be human and retain our humanity we must allow the darkness inside of us to succumb to the light; our inner evil must dwindle in the face of our inner purity.