wilderness prevails upon reason

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

Hello!
I would really want to know the meaning of this expression: ‘the hidden coins of oneself’?
Is this sentence correctly written: ‘wilderness prevails upon reason’? (it’s about ‘The Lord of the flies’-Golding)
Thank you for time!

2

Hi,
Not having the context, I could only guess that the “coins” meant to be one’s virtues. This could also mean ‘the hidden characteristics/features of a person’ if you recollect ‘the other side of the coin’ expression.
As to ‘wilderness prevailing upon reason’, was it meant ‘prevailed over’ i.e. “wilderness being stronger/defeating reason” on that particular occasion? Because ‘prevail (up)on’ would mean to persuade someone to do something. Dubious?

3

‘wilderness prevails upon reason’ - the boys, who started out a reasonable, decent human beings, gradually became wild as they spent longer and longer on the island (in the wilderness). Their social graces were affected by the fact that they were living in the wilderness away from the rules and laws of society.

4

Antonella, where did the quote ‘the hidden coins of oneself’ come from?

5

Sorry for being so late in answering,Dozy! I had this sentence from a course, from one of my professors, at University. Maybe I misunderstood the sentence, maybe I had to write ‘the hidden sides of oneself’ as I was writing while she was dictating to us. However, I like that idea, the fact that the boys were looking for the beast on the island but in fact the beast was inside themselves, the fact that from the very beginning they pretended to be hunters and from hunters one of them becomes the hunted. It seems to me that this book raises a question: How well do you know yourself? Maybe under certain circumstances, surrounded by different people,living in deprived regions, we would act and react differently and we would bring out the beast inside ourselves.

6

Hi Antonella, sorry I do not know what “the hidden coins of oneself” means. It’s possible that “coins” is a mishearing or mistake, it may be a metaphor that doesn’t really work for me, or it may have some other significance that I am not aware of.

7

‘The hidden side of oneself’ is far more likely than ‘the hidden coins of oneself’, Antonella.

8

[quote=“Beeesneees”]
’ Their ‘social graces’ were affected by the fact that they were living in the wilderness away from the rules and laws of society.

Hi Beees, could you help me understand the meaning of, social graces you used?

-Righteousness prevails upon unrighteousness.
Does it mean, righteousness defeats/overcomes unrighteousness?.

9

social graces - the polite way in which they behave, as expected by a modern, civilised society (where the rules indicate that they should behave in this polite, courteous manner, caring for others.)
prevails upon - is stronger/more powerful than.

10

Hi, Beees.
Please check my usage of ‘social graces’:

  1. The teachers like that student because of his social graces.
  2. The guy has some social graces.
    Are they correct?
11

Hi, Beees.
Please check my usage of ‘social graces’:

  1. The teachers like that student because of his social graces.
  2. The guy has some social graces.
    Are they correct?
12

The sentences are correct but it’s not possible to tell from such short statements whether or not you understand the usage. The usage as outlined in those examples is not common.

13

The hidden coins of oneself
Everyone of us has some personal secrets or we have some problems we suffer from and we don,t others to know,these are the hidden secrets
Criminals an people who suffer from psychological troubles have a lot of hidden coins
Wilderness prevails upon reasons
When we live we learn new things and rules which are closed to the environment rather than to reason
We can give un example
People in the wilderness speak loudly
And logically it is better to speak with low voice

14

[quote=“Beeesneees”]
The sentences are correct but it’s not possible to tell from such short statements whether or not you understand the usage. The usage as outlined in those examples is not common.

Hi, Beees.

I presume according to your comment social graces is to be used for two or three persons, but rarely used for one person.

15

No that’s not right. It’s just the context in which you’ve used it in your examples. Sorry I don’t have time to hunt for further examples right now. Try COCA or even Google