William Golding The Role Of Nature

The story takes place on an unspoiled island that effectively isolates the characters from the rest of the world, especially the one of the grown-ups. Golding creates a mini-world and by making us look closely at this nature, he wants to show us the whole real world and the conditions of humankind. In my opinion the sea represents the vast distance between the group of children and the civilisation.

The sea is like a border which cuts them off. The contrast between the sea on the one side of the island and the sea on the other side echoes the division between the two groups of boys.

Golding s description of the vegetation and natural life on the island works on two levels. Nature is shown as balanced in contrast to the divisions appearing amongst the boys.

Food is a natural resource of the island.

The first impression the boys get while they are exploring the island is that this island is the ideal place to live. They find fruits and water. On this island, they really do have good conditions. There are pigs which means they have meat, there is the sea so they can go fishing.

But the boys make little use of the sea as a source of food. The first hint that the island has a bad side, too is the description on page five: the bird with the witch-like cry. This cry represents danger. The island does not only have romantic sides.

The kids have to be careful on exploring this island.

A second hint that their Garden of Eden may not be as perfect as it first seems is the diarrhoea the boys get by eating the fruits. The heat is another problem. It is the first force to change the boys usual behaviour. The temperature is quite different from what they are used to from their former life.

The mountain A major feature of the island is the mountain.

In this book the mountain is like a holy place. It is the place for the fire (their sign for rescue) and later on the place where the parachutist lands.

At first they climb the mountain to discover the truth of their whereabouts. The mountain stands for the truth because Simon finds out the truth about the beast on the top of the mountain.

He finds out that the beast is only a dead man - a dead parachutist.

The persons Simon is really integrated in nature.

He does understand nature pretty well so you can say that he is a part of nature.

This boy is living with nature and in nature.

You can also add that he is a little philosophical.

In contrast to Simon, Ralph does only accept nature.

He lives not in nature, but he tries to do the best out of his situation. The leader of the group often thinks about being rescued. That means that he is not a part of nature, he remains a part of the civilisation and the world of the grown-ups. The civilisation is his medium. Ralph never becomes a savage. He fights against it all the time.

Piggy represents the civilisation.

His specs are a symbol for civilisation and his way of thinking is a sign for this, too. He is unable to live in nature ...