On The Art Of Irony In Lord Of The Flies

William Golding is one of the most influential British authors after WWII. He hascreated plenty of great works in his lifetime among which Lord of the Flies, his firstnovel, is the most famous one. It is the novel that enables him to win the Nobel Prize forLiterature in1983. Lord of the Files got great reputation after it came out. It not onlytook the fancy of the readers as a best seller in western countries but also attractednumerous scholars and critics to review it from different angles. For quite a long time, itwas a required book for every college student. Why could the novel draw so muchattention? For one thing, the deep meditation about human nature that William Goldingpresented in the book conformed to the circumstances of the society at that time. Foranother it was because of the superb writing techniques that Golding had applied in thebook.This thesis aims to approach the art of irony in Lord of the Flies. Since the novelwas published, critics have made various reviews on it, but few have made a detailedanalysis on its art of irony. Nowadays irony, as one of the basic writing and structuringprinciples in literary creation, has become an important academic vision and theoreticweapon of contemporary literary studies and criticism. Ironic narration has proved to be asignificant narrative mode of contemporary novel creation, too. Ironic works are regardedas the highest achievement in novel writing. Irony is a remarkable feature of Golding’snovels, and his masterpiece Lord of the Flies is an elaborate web of ironies. Therefore,this thesis makes a detailed study on the art of irony in Lord of the Flies. It is expected toguide the contemporary literary creation and help writers to master irony better and thenemploy it skillfully in their works so as to enrich the connotations and deepen the themes.This thesis consists of an introduction, the main body and a conclusion. Its maincontents are as follows:The first part is introduction, which mainly makes a brief summary of the researcheson William Golding’s Lord of the Flies at home and abroad, and then points out the greatsignificance and unique point of view of the analysis on the novel.The body of the thesis is composed of four chapters:Chapter One states the concept of irony. In this chapter, a brief retrospect of thedevelopment of irony from ancient Greece to the present day, its classification and main features are presented. Irony is an old concept, which has developed from a mere figureof speech into an important principle of writing over the past few centuries. Irony can bedivided into three broad categories: Verbal Irony, Situational Irony and Structural Irony.Its most notable feature is a contrast between appearance and reality.Chapter Two illustrates the irony in characterization by analyzing the threecharacters. Ralph is elected as chief as soon as the children land on the island. He trieshard to lead the children toward building a civilized and ordered democratic paradise. Asa result, owing to the hunters’ destruction, the democratic paradise becomes a dictatorialhell. Jack, the head boy of the choir, who has been expected to have a kind heart, leadsthe choirboys step by step to the depth of evil. Piggy worships blindly the adult world.He always pretends to be an adult, and feels disgusted at other boys’ childish actions.Later the boys act like adults just as he expects, only to murder him. Piggy is fullyconfident of science and justice. With his dropping down the cliff, science and justicedisappear forever on the island. Irony in characterization makes the characters more vividand their characteristics more distinct.Chapter Three concentrates on the irony in plot, taking three typical events forexample. Play is children’s nature. However, the boys’ game gradually presents violenceand bloodiness. They kill pigs mercilessly, and later it goes so far as to murder theircompanions. Childish innocence vanishes. Simon is the only person who knows what thebeast really is. Ironically, he is killed brutally by the children as the beast. The truth isburied from then on. Although the children are taken away by the officer from thehorrible island hunt, they are brought into a more dangerous global one. Irony in plotuncovers little by little the devilish nature hidden in the hearts of the supposed angel-likechildren by highlighting the discrepancy between outcome and expectation.Chapter Four focuses on the ironic theme of Lord of the Flies. Golding shows theevil existing in human nature through the novel. He believes that evil takes root in everyman’s heart, so the supposed innocent children harbor a desire for controlling over othersand an impulse of doing harm. There is not any outside well-intentioned endeavor thatcan save humans from murdering, and the final human redemption only relies on humansthemselves. Through the darkness of man’s heart shines the light of human salvation,which is the theme of Lord of the Flies. Through the use of irony, the work presents two or more than two contrasting yet complementary meanings, displaying unique artisticcharm like an inexhaustible mine.The last part is conclusion, which makes a summary to the preceding parts. Goldingnot only inherits the tradition of irony but also enriches it. He applies irony naturally incharacterization and plot, which makes Lord of the Flies a web of ironies, revealing thetheme more profoundly and powerfully. We are awoken to the realization that evil existsin every man’s heart, and we can only depend on our persistent self-examination andself-cultivation to achieve the real redemption. Golding, worthy of the title of first-classironic author, displays the power of irony, and makes a far-reaching influence on thefollowing writers.