2008년 3월 3일 월요일

Lord of the Flies - Climax


* what is the climax of this novel? what happens? how do the events of this novel make you feel?

The climax of this novel was when Jack's group burned the forest and chased Ralph. Jack wanted to kill Ralph because he believed Ralph ignored himself and became the leader. Jack gave everyone a job even Sam and Eric to capture Ralph and kill him as soon as possible. When Ralph was hiding, a naval officer found and saved him.


Without his best friend Piggy, Ralph had to endure by himself. Even Sam and Eric, used to be his side, left Ralph and joined Jack's group. Although they liked Ralph, they had to leave him because they feared Jack's group might attack them as well. This part sort of saddened me. To save Sam and Eric, they and also Ralph had to give up their friendship. In addition, I thought this symbolized some aspects of our human nation too. People tend to sacrifice themselves to save others. This somehow represented Christianity also. Ralph was alone, advocating the right thing, just like Jesus did to his people. Being the last conflict in the novel, this showed the result of every conflict that had happened.


At first, I thought the climax was when Simon died by the boys because after that point, the concept of civilization entirely disappeared and only savagery survived. After Simon died, Ralph again lost his hope. From this point on, Jack held the most power and everyone except for Piggy joined Jack’s group. Claming that the most important thing is to adapt the environment, Jack thoroughly re-grouped the kids for hunt. Even though Simon was killed by them, they did not feel any sympathy with him but to think in cold blood. Only moral and ethical Ralph and Piggy empathized with Simon and felt sorry for him. Later than, Jack’s group committed another serious offense, which were the murder of Piggy and the crash of conch. This caused Ralph to lose self-control and indulge into ferocious life. By that time, Jack burned the forest.


With endless conflicts, I thought it was natural to have a lot of climaxes. However, I thought the forest-fire one was the most intense and the last conflict that marked the end of the story. In fact, it was a very tense moment for Ralph and for me too. When the naval officer found Ralph hiding from Jack’s group, Ralph cried because Piggy and Simon were dead by Jack and Roger. Ralph thought everyone lost his innocence especially Jack. Thus, Ralph himself and everyone became sorrowful due to their intentions and actions. However, when the naval officer found them, the readers including myself could find out what will happen the next. Although the ending was sort of ambiguous, readers could assume that they went back to their own normal life habits.


I felt sorry for Ralph while reading this climax. I cannot imagine how it would feel if my friends left me alone, became enemies, and confronted me to kill. At the same time, I was so proud of Ralph's indomitable willingness. If I were Ralph, I should have joined Jack’s group even though I think it was wrong. As the boys got wild, I could assume that Ralph will experience a huge difficulty. I was glad that the officer found the boys. If there were no rescue, then the condition would be more brutal.

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익명 :

What do you mean by “When Ralph was hiding, a naval officer found and saved him?”
I don’t think the book said the officer found Ralph.
The savages see Ralph in hiding, and Ralph in surprise runs away. However, on the way, Ralph falls over, and as he gets up, he sees the officer.

I disagree with you when you said that Ralph had to give up his friendship with Samneric to save them. Technically, Ralph and Samneric did not, actually, give up their friendship with each other. If they did, then Samneric would not have allowed Ralph to escape when Ralph came to them. Moreover, even though Jack forces Samneric into his tribe, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they threw away their friendship with Ralph. For example, even though a person may seem as if he or she is apologizing sincerely, that person may be angry and resentful inside. That person may not even be sorry or remorseful. In addition, sacrifice means to give up something for the result of something better. If Jack wanted to kill Samneric, he would have killed them., regardless of whether or not they were Ralph’s friend. This shows that Ralph’s “supposed” sacrifice is useless.

You said, “I thought this symbolized some aspects of our human nation too. People tend to sacrifice themselves to save others. This somehow represented Christianity also. Ralph was alone, advocating the right thing, just like Jesus did to his people.”
Even if Ralph sacrificed his friendship I, definitely, don’t think it represents any part of humanity or Christianity. First, people do not usually “tend” to sacrifice themselves to save others. (Aren’t you contradicting yourself? Wasn’t your point about how great the evil within us is?) People naturally tend to think about themselves first, and the savageness is often bigger than our kindness. It is more common for people to do the wrong than to do the right because we are innately evil. Second, Jesus’ purpose was to redeem us. On the other hand, Ralph did not save anyone; he only stood up for his beliefs.

The ending was, rather, ambiguous; I agree with you.
However, I find it highly unlikely that the boys will return to their normal life. Ralph experiences terror on the island that he will never forget: his loss of innocence. He knows the capacity of a man’s barbaric nature, and the harm this malice can inflict. It may even be possible that Ralph will look at the society coldly because of his memories on the island.