As humans, we have the natural instincts that can over take us in

Situation and turn us into savages. Such as in Where the Heart Is, the

main character Novalee Nation who is 7 months pregnant, has no education

and no money must survive on her own because she was abandoned at a

local Wal-Mart by her boyfriend. She must use her natural instincts and

live at Wal-Mart by dodging employees and using her street smarts in

order to avoid living on the streets when her baby arrives. This is

very similar to William Golding’s book Lord of the Flies because a

group of British boys are stranded on an island that don’t have much of

an education and have no experience whatsoever in the real world.

Golding uses imagery and diction to convey the attempts each character did to survive on

the island in the book.


Golding uses imagery to display multiple meanings in “But the island

was scorched up like dead wood.” This could either mean the boys do not

have any control over themselves whatsoever or the island could be a

symbol of how the young boys’ society failed and was destroyed. Golding also uses

diction in “For a moment, he had a fleeting picture of the strange

glamour that had once invested the beaches.” When the officer arrives,

it brought back the memory Ralph had on the first day, when everyone

had the goal to get rescued and remained civilized.






Golding uses dialogue in the sentence “I should have thought that a

pack of British boys- you’re all British, aren’t you?-would have been

able to put up a better show than that- I mean.” This means that the

naval officer has a high respect for British people and expected much

more out of these boys. He is very shocked and surprised how a group of

civilized British could: lose their sense of civilization, become

savage, and turn on each other, especially when they needed to stick

together and survive on the island. Golding also uses more dialogue

such as “It was like that at first.” said Ralph, before things-.” This

portrays that Ralph still considers himself as chief and clears up the

situation, but is unable to finish because of his disappointment

towards the boys by listening to Jack and giving up all hopes of

civilization.

Ralph and the tribe were once good, civilized human beings that were

just too young to realize what was happening. This is important because

once they became savage, there was no going back. Only Ralph was the

one who realized the importance of being rescued while the other boys

focused on growing up and becoming men that turned them savage. This would

characterize Ralph as a God-like figure who was just only trying to help the boys get

home.