"Perfect portrayal"

Perfect Portrayal

Writing is harder than it looks. There are so many details to perfect. One of the hardest is portraying the characters realistically. This was obviously no task for William Golding. He portrayed the characters in such a realistic way that it connected you with the characters, and brought you to realization of the savageness of human life. He paid close attention to every detail of the characters such as their language, maturity, and savageness under harsh conditions.

Would you like a spot of tea? That's what we all envision when we think of British school boys. That's exactly what golding's character's were, British school boys ranging from six to twelve. Although these children may have started out as the stereotype British boys, they soon changed. William did an excellent job on showing the change in language as time went on. For example, near the end of the story one of the children says, "Right up her ***!" This type of language would not be permitted back in school, but because they are alone without parental supervision, the boys forsake their school rules. Ralph comments in the end of the story, "Pretend the were still boys, schoolboys who had said "sir yes sir" and worn caps." This shows that the change is being noticed by the boys. They no longer had manners. They were no longer mature little boys.

The maturity of the boys was another greatly detailed element. Each boy's maturity whether six or twelve was perfectly portrayed. For example, William noted the littluns having night mares. This is a common occurrence in children. Especially under the given situations. Also we see that the littluns would go off and play instead of working. We all know that this is true. I can think of many times as a child when I would go off and play outside instead of cleaning my room. The older boys were a little more mature. They would go hunting and some would build huts, while the littluns were playing. Although they seem quite civilized now, that soon changed.

William's view on the boys as time goes on without adults, seems rather disturbing, but when you visualize the austere situation and the temperaments of the boys, it seems as though the events are feasible. In the beginning of Lord off the Flies the boys were well mannered and civilized, by the end this was not the case. For example the boys often had tribal gatherings in which one boy would pretend to be a pig and would be beaten by the others. They even killed Simon in a surged of violence, at one of these meetings. At first they thought he was the beast, but even after they realized who he was they continued. So as you can see, isolation has its dramatic effects on people.

William showed excellent detail in the language, maturity, and the savageness of the boys. He showed the change in the boys made through time, and showed how they realized what had happened to them once returned to civilization. It's upsetting to think what humans will do without civilization surrounding them.