Lord of the Flies was a truly incredible story that included all types of themes and genres, but all in all, it taught me a lot of valuable life lessons and really opened my eyes to how humans can grow and develop in different settings, under different circumstances. This novel also taught me a great amount about mental health and that being healthy psychologically and maintaining a stable state of mind are extremely important nowadays. I'll be honest, I wasn't expecting this novel to be as good as it was, mostly because adventure books don't really stand out to me and a name like "Lord of the Flies" didn't exactly catch my eye at first, but this would be a perfect example of why you should not judge a book by its cover. And to think, this book was written in 1954, in an era that never saw the amazing developments that have been made in American Literature today, and the fact that it was able to grab my attention, alongside many other students my age or younger, is a testament to how much literature back then is left in the past. I want to share some of the themes that I identified while reading this story and believe make this story such a unique and fascinating story, which include the separation of a world with civilization and order against a reality of chaos, savagery, and brutality, the indignant battle between the good within humans and the alleged evil side that all humans own, and the vigorous and powerful opposed to the frail and the weak.

In this novel, I saw that civilization and brutality were, at times, neck and neck. When the boys were initially stranded on the island, they proceeded to incorporate civilization into their time on the island, more specifically Ralph. Ralph, who was chosen to be the leader of the island at the beginning of the story, established rules and regulations on the island to bring a sense of civilization on the island, one of those rules being maintaining the fire that was put in place to draw attention to the island and get rescued.  As stated in the novel, "We've got to have special people for looking after the fire. Any day there may be a ship out there... and if we have a signal going they'll come and take us off. And another thing. We ought to have more rules. Where the conch is, that's a meeting. The same up here as down there" (Golding 58). And then there were times that savagery took over the boys, more specifically Jack. Jack, at first glance, could easily be identified as just a simple bully.  His development though, into a savage was definitely unexpected, but one that should've been expected. I think this theme was introduced to show how, when separated from a society that has rules, regulations, and is in  touch with reality, you are bound to be separated from reality, and completely detached from a world that has order.

The war between good and evil is a one that has gone on for generations, long before the introduction of American Literature. Lord of the Flies is not only an example of good vs. evil in American Literature, but it has two characters that fit those roles extremely well. With Ralph representing the good, optimistic side within humans, Jack illustrates the evil, pessimistic side inside of humans. In the beginning of the story, it's evident that Ralph is not only a good person, but a natural born leader, its Jack who doesn't channel his inner savage until later in the story. As shown in the novel, "Bollocks to the rules! We're strong - we hunt! If there's a beast, we'll hunt it down! We'll close in and beat and beat and beat" (Golding 130). This was said right around the same time Jack struggled to hunt down and kill a pig, which he would then achieve sparking the inner brutality within him. All in all, Jack believes that being a hunter is a lot more important than following rules that were put in place to keep them alive and eventually be rescued. He values the killing and hunting aspect of being on an island more than contributing to maintaining the order and sense of civilization on the island. It's through this act that Jack demonstrates his growing hunger and desire for power over the everyone as he begins assuming a dictator style of leadership, which focuses heavily on hunting and brutality. I believe this theme was put in place to prove that good and evil people do exist, but it weighs heavily on a variety to seperate one from another. Maybe Jack was brought up into a bad family, which causes him to take out that anger from his household and take it out on other people, hence forth instilling the bully persona which we've come to see evident at the beginning of the story, and being away from civilization and in the jungle only builds him up into a ruthless and violent character.

The final theme that I believe is represented well in this novel, is the strong and powerful preying on the weak and innocent. Oftentimes a person, or a group of people will possess a tendency to single out another person, or another group of people to look down upon in order to feel better than that person or group of people and more secure. Piggy's character as well as the littluns personify this societal flaw as they, for the most, are always avoided and ridiculed to make others feel better. Although Piggy was the most intelligent boy on the island, his skillset wasn't initially utilized because he was only viewed as a overweight nerd. Even with it being clear that he was a genius, he was still bullied, more specifically by Jack. As stated in Chapter 1, Jack tells Piggy, "Shut up, Fatty,"(Golding 27) and Ralph tells Piggy, "Sucks to your auntie" (Golding 15) and "Sucks to your ass-mar" (Golding 15). In Chapter 4, Roger and Maurice intentionally destroy the littluns' sandcastles. According to William Golding, “Roger led the way straight through the castles, kicking them over, burying the flowers, scattering the chosen stones. Maurice followed, laughing, and added to the destruction" (84). I think the only reason those acts and many other acts of bullying were carried out was because of the lack of authority on the island which, in turn, provides many advantages and opportunities to do so.

With no adults to enforce rules against bullying and picking on others, the weak and frail boys on the island don't have a lot of options in terms of defending themselves solely because they're too little and non-athletic. I believe this theme was introduced to help readers and viewers grasp a realistic visualtion of the central theme of this story, to which the central theme of this story, in my personal opinion is civilization vs. savagery. In many aspects, the strong preying on the weak ties into balancing the role of a civilized person and a ruthless savage.

My essay reviewed three themes that I believe, not only bring this story to life and more exciting as well as keep students engaged and invested, but it also shares a lot of important lessons along the way. Lord of the Flies is a true classic and I'm very glad to have read it and more than likely I will revisit the novel in the future. Not only is it a great story, but the Lord of the Flies themes also convey powerful messages. In this essay, the themes that were discussed were the separation of a world with civilization and order against a reality of chaos, savagery, and brutality, the indignant battle between the good within humans and the alleged evil side that all humans own, and the vigorous and powerful opposed to the frail and the weak. After discussing and reviewing all of these, it's evident that this story wouldn't be the same if those themes and their examples were not introduced. Before I end my essay, I do want to reiterate one important point that I thought a lot about in the process of reading the novel and writing this essay and that is mental health. I know mental health doesn't relate directly to the story, but it is something that should be taken note of. Visualing how your mental state of mind can drastically change by being isolated from human society, can be frightening. This is just a reminder that all people, regardless of all protected categories, can suffer from mental health and it's important that we all make the steps to not spread awareness to the issue, but achieve and maintain a stable and secure state of mind within ourselves.