They Failed yet Succeeded “I stayed up late searching through my novel last Wednesday night for examples of irony in Lord of the Flies, only to find out the next morning that our in class essay was about a confidant in the novel.” This is an example of irony, or two contrasting ideas that fail to meet an expectation. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, Golding applies situational and verbal irony as a …showed first 75 words of 941 total…

…showed last 75 words of 941 total…but when they actually try to destroy the island, they get rescued. By using examples of irony and sarcasm like this throughout the novel, Golding creates a contrasting tone in which the reader can make distinctions between the civil and the ill-mannered and which is the greatest influence on society. His characters’ words deviate from their actions, creating situational irony that assist the reader in analyzing the themes of civilization and savagery throughout the novel.