William Golding initiates an ironic structure in his novel The Lord of the Flies. This begins in the first chapters and becomes evident by the end of the novel. Any optimistic or hopeful situation that occur in the book always turn out catastrophic and the boy’s little society that they have created only falls apart more. On the surface, the novel implies that the boys’ age causes them to create a corrupt society because they do not know any better. On the contrary, there is an underlying yet exaggerated skepticism for the adult world as the reader considers how the boys ended up on the island in the first place. Every single event leads up to an even more ironic conclusion, where the boys’ rescue is a result from the fire that they create with the incentive of killing each other. Golding uses irony throughout the novel to show how such innocent boys, no matter what society has taught them, can turn into savages, and there is always going to be evil in the world even if it is not shown on the surface.
Both Ralph and Jack’s attitudes are different in the beginning of the novel compared to the end. Their idea of what life would be like on the island for them changed significantly by the conclusion of the novel. In the beginning, Ralph says “This is our island. It’s a good island. Until the grown ups come to fetch us we’ll have fun,” (page 45). The ironic thing about this statement is that his optimism is abruptly shattered by reality. The events that happened during the time that the boys stay there are so horrid it was foolish for Ralph to think life on the island would be anything like he thought. As well as Ralph, Jack also makes a surprisingly ironic turn. Jack threw out ideas in the beginning that seemed civilized and orderly. For example, on page 44 Jack
exclaimed “We’ll have rules! Lots of rules!” This gave the boys the impression that Jack had his head on straight and he was all about order and obedience. However, it does not take long for him to...