Irony

Saying one thing whilst meaning another. Irony occurs when a word or phrase has a surface meaning, but another contradictory meaning beneath the surface.

Golding has introduced an underlying example of irony throughout the text. He shows how innocent choir boys become heartless killers and this helps to show his views about society. It also helps to twist the plot of "The Coral Island" more completely. There are more examples of irony in the text however this is the most obvious and prominent one.

Irony- The expression of ones meaning using language that signifies the opposite.

Example from the text-

We expect English choir boys to be courteous to one another, and they are for a short period, but they become savages and hunt to kill each other, which is unexpected of most humans, especially English school boys.

Irony: the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning: the irony of her reply, “How nice!” when I said I had to work all weekend.