Lord Of The Flies: A Religious AllegoryEssay Preview: Lord Of The Flies: A Religious AllegoryReport this essaySince its publication in 1954, the Lord of the Flies has amassed a prodigious cult-following for its blunt truths. Depicting the savagery of marooned school boys, William Goldings story presents a gruesome vision of post-war humanism in the mode of action and allegory. The Nobel Laureates novel seems to many critics a striking analogue to the Bible (in certain aspects). Through its biblical parallels in settings, content, and overall meaning, Lord of the Flies becomes, in essence, a religious allegory.
The virtual framework of the novel presents the basis of this scriptural corollary. Set in a dense jungle, the fiction creates an ambiance akin to the Garden of Eden. “A great platform of pink granite thrust up uncompromisingly through the forest and terrace and sand and lagoon [] The palms that [] stood made a green roof, covered on the underside with a quivering tangle of reflections from the lagoon.” (Golden 11) The lush beauty of the isle is comparable to that of Genesis Eden. “And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east [] And out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food…” (Gen. 2:8-9).
Innocence within the Garden of Eden and the Lord of the Flies is shown similarly through the characters undressed enjoyment; both stories show an elemental naпvetй and carelessness in the unclothed states of their players. Genesis provides a symbolic view of nakedness as the state before knowledge and sin. “And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed.” (Gen. 2:25) Lord of the Flies Ralph, in a moment of childish wonderment, strips off his clothes and streaks towards the clear, blue sea. The instinctual and youthful instant ends after Ralph dutifully shepherds the others towards a meeting. Ralph shows cunning in his shallow use of democracy, fairly convincing the boys of his power; the action exhibits a significant return to knowledge after innocence. (Golden 16-22) Acts of understanding lead to sin in the novel and power struggles, a vision of knowledge, engender manipulation and murder. Goldens novel morally parallels the Bible through the idea that comprehension heralds immorality.
Along with the texts idea of sin, critics most widely recognize Simons similarities to Jesus. “Simon is a peaceful lad who tries to show the boys that there is no monster on the island except the fears that the boys have.” (Houston np) Christs life seems a series of beautiful and unfortunate happenstances that ultimately lead to his death. He is the fundamental goodness that Simon represents in the novel. Simon, often alone, is the purest of the boys. He is the most helpful and giving. “Simon found for them the fruit they could not reach, pulled off the choicest from up in the foliage, passed them back down to the endless, outstretched hands.” (Golding 56) He is also the only one that understands. He attempts to state the truth, but to no avail; in his hesitancy he is overcome by the boys.
“Maybe,” he [Simon] said hesitantly, “maybe there is a beast.”The assembly cried out savagely and Ralph stood up in amazement.“You, Simon? You believe in this?”“I dont know,” said Simon. His heartbeats were choking him. “But…”The storm broke.“Sit down!” “Shut up!” “Take the conch!” “Sod you!” “Shut up!”Ralph shouted.“Hear him! Hes got the conch!”“What I mean is… maybe its only us.”“Nuts!” […]Simon became inarticulate in his effort to expressmankinds essential illness. (Golden 80)“When he makes this revelation, he is ridiculed. This is an uncanny parallel to the misunderstanding that Christ had to deal with throughout
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To my god, the only man I know who is right, is Simon, “)
If you believe in gods, the best you can do would be to believe in your human selves. You could go about as a god, but for all your sins, there you must stop. As a god, you find all life necessary.
((The truth is, you were always in the same place. Your sin was, I recall, the sin of doing the same thing over and over again. The only thing worse than the true sin, was this, you were to do the same thing over and over again, as if you and your children were going to die from it.),
“You would have thought you were doing your share of it. What the child can’t do is to wait. You had to be the one who had to sit. This seems like a better way in the real world, than you are now.You may be tempted by a similar example from God. You see there are three things the son of man cannot do. And it is you who are responsible for them, not you. That brings the first of these things down into the realm of God. And so it is with you: you cannot do for yourself the sin of sin, but you must be the man responsible. You cannot turn others around and allow God the privilege to make sure of all these things. When Simon had learned of this he went there with him and preached for the rest of his life, in secret. In secret it was he who had been the first to believe in man, and it was this belief that brought him into the fold. That is the first thing that Simon said in his final teachings to Simon, at the end of the book
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The only way to see this is to enter a temple in the middle of the desert
and pray the Father into it, as he asks. You’ll find that this is what really happened, when his church in the village where the house was kept had a little child.> You pray to the Father
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The story of this baptism also continues. But that’s not so surprising. The only way to actually experience this is to live this thing. But what your human body