Travails of an Uncertain Scholar

--> Book III of Homer's Illiad General Introduction to Homer's Illiad: The Illiad is one of the foremost achievements in Western Literature. The Iliad is an epic poem written in Homeric Greek around eighth century BC. The Illiad recounts the final weeks of the war between the Trojans and the Acheans, the fall of Achilles, the fall of Troy. Short Summary of Book III: The war is about to begin and the Acheans march in silence towards the Trojans who rush towards them screaming. The Trojan Army is led by Alexandrus also called Paris. He wears a skin of panther and he carries a bow, a sword and two spears made of bronze. He show off his spears in order to challenge the bravest of the Acheans to come forward and fight him. On seeing this, Menelaus comes out of his ranks relishing at the fact that he will be having his revenge soon enough. Alexandrus, on seeing Menelaus is frightened and falls back upon his ranks. Hector on seeing his cowardice rep

Symbolism in Lord Of The Flies Symbol is somethimg that stands for something else, most often a symbol in a novel is based upon an image. An image is something that can be recognised by one or more of the five senses. It can be seen, heard, tasted, felt or smelt. The image is then made to stand in place of an abstraction which cannot be easily visualised – an idea. Symbols can be divided into two large categories, both of which appear in Lord Of The Flies – public symbols and private symbols. A public symbol is one which anyone can understand without explaination as it uses images that are familiar to us. A private symbol is one which must be explained by the author since its meaning is arbitrarily assigned by him. Thus when we see the crosses on the boys dresses, we know without further explaination that they are christians and that they are supposed to think and behave like Christians, follow The Ten Commandments and so on. This is what we come across in the

William Golding’s use of satire in Lord of the Flies Since Golding’s purpose in writing his novel “Lord Of The Flies” is to, ‘trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature’, his aim is really to comment upon the civilized world. Golding’s boys are merely the metaphor by means of which he makes his comments upon the real world. His metaphor is itself satirical since it makes fun of adults. Briefly put, Lord of the Flies says that civilized man, in his civilized society is no better than a pack of children running wild without adult supervision. This comparison seems absurd at first, so there is humour in it, but Golding does a pretty good job of making his argument stick. The naval officer at the end of the story is too close to the reality of the war like world we all like to ignore. He looks and talks like a gentleman polished and sophisticated, but in the line of his duty, he will find the enemy and give the order to commence firing, killing indiscriminately

THEME AND MORALS OF THE LORD OF THE FLIES The theme of The Lord Of The Flies is its description of nature of man. According to William Golding himself, “The theme is an attempt to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature.” The moral is that the shape of a society must depend on the ethical nature of the individual and not any political system however apparently logical or respectable. The novel runs directly contrary to the Rousseauvian belief that naturally good man is the innocent and helpless victim of social forces over which he has no control. “The world is the way it is, because the people in it are the way they are”, says Golding. Golding is in the minority as a large majority if modern writers and thinkers cling to the Rousseauvian ideal of ‘noble savage’ or committed to the position that man is victimised from birth by society which is the real culprit. Golding’s position is a very old one. It goes back to atleast as far as the Old Testament. I