Kite Runner Lord
Loyalty and Coming of Age in the Kite Runner and Lord of the Flies
Coming of age is as difficult a challenge as one will ever face. The challenges of growing up and of taking on the responsibilities incumbent upon an adult are considerable. This is even more so when one grows up before a backdrop of violence, chaos or disorder. In such a context, honor, integrity and loyalty are either forged or bypassed. This is the reality at the center of both Khaled Hosseini's massively successful The Kite Runner (2003) and William Golding's groundbreaking Cold War parable, Lord of the Flies (1959). In both texts, young boys find themselves faced with matters of life and death; civility and violence; friendship and hatred. And in both texts, young boys are forced to make the kinds of decisions typically reserved for men. In particular, the struggles of Hosseini's Amir and of Golding's Ralph demonstrate the implications of loyalty as it relates to the difficult process of becoming a man.
For neither character is the demonstration of loyalty a simple task, but to be certain, one of the protagonists rises to the challenge while the other does not. In either event, they suffer for their decisions. In Ralph, the reader is given a model of leadership and loyalty in all of its nobility and self-doubt. When a group of boys is stranded on an island by an apparent plane crash, their ambitions for self-governance, survival and rescue quickly descend into a penchant for savagery. And the responsibility of maintaining some semblance of order falls largely upon the democratically elected Ralph. In his unenviable task, Ralph faces constant challenges to his authority and finds that the reciprocation of loyalty between he and a select few of the boys serves as the ever-diminishing line between order and utter savagery. We find that Ralph's power to retain civility depends on this loyalty. The symbol of the conch underscores this dynamic as in the scene where Ralph...
Lord of the Flies Introduction stating the topic and ending with a thesis Topic and concluding sentences for all body paragraphs Three examples for each body paragraph concluding paragraph that restates thesis and sums up essay Transitional phrases at the beginning of each body paragraph EACH ESSAY MUST INCLUDE THREE (3) QUOTES FROM THE NOVEL> Put each quote in quotation marks " " Cite each quote by chapter and page number. Lord of the Flies is an allegorical
They can no longer function as a team, because they have taken on the characteristics of violent animals whose only goal is to survive at any cost. They do not care that the four cannot do it alone, so they have already lost many of the important aspects of society that hold it together - a sense of teamwork and the common good. Simon and Maurice arrived. Ralph looked at
Jack discovers that he is not simply a leader, but that leadership makes personal demands on one's character that are not always enjoyable. Jack realizes that the boys cannot play all day, or forget about civilization, like schoolboys on a fun holiday. Instead, they must engage in the serious preparations of surviving on an abandoned island. Jack also realizes his limits as a leader as the group's fears conflict
Jack Jack attended Cambridge University, and obtained a 'first' in history. He did then attempt to join the army, but was rejected as physically unfit. While at Cambridge, he contracted a very violent case of pneumonia, which weakened his constitution. To this day, Jack says that he is bitter, never having served in the army. At present, Jack teaches history as well as leads the choir at one of the most
Piggy even blamed Simon. Piggy said, "It was an accident…that what it was, an accident. Coming in the dark -- he hadn't no business crawling like that out of the dark. He was batty. He asked for it… We was on the outside. We never done nothing, we never seen nothing" (220-221). Piggy dies during a fight between Ralph and Jack, which had been brewing the whole time they are
Initiation therefore helps the boys establish their identities and also creates social hierarchy. The conflict between Jack and Ralph serves also as a type of initiation: a battle between two individuals. Initiations represent a transition from one state of mind or being to another. Simon's vision is one of the most powerful initiations in Lord of the Flies. The vision, which lends the novel its name, has a supernatural component
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