Lord Of The Flies Civilization Vs Savagery

Through vivid details and gruesome characters, William Golding presents themes of civilization vs savagery, the struggle for power, and the nature of evil in his novel The Lord of Flies. Golding’s use of symbolism and imagery takes the novel from a simple idea of young boys fighting for survival to something more dark and twisted, drawing readers in and making this a classic. Though there are many memorable aspects of Lord of the Flies that sets it apart from other novels, Golding’s style of writing is the most prominent in doing so. His extensive use of complex vocabulary and imagery allows the reader to place oneself on the island. Consider the line, “The glittering sea rose up, moved apart in planes of blatant impossibility; the coral

The line between savagery and civilization is defined when Jack’s disregard for rules is exposed. Consider the line,”’The rules!’ shouted Ralph, “you’re breaking the rules!’ ‘Who cares?’” (112). Jack’s hatred for the rules sets him apart from Ralph, who wants to be civil and get rescued. The fear of the beast is what keeps the two together for the majority of the novel. All the boys have a fear for the beast except for Simon, who later talks to a pig head and discovers that the beast is inside of themselves. When Simon talks to the pig head it states, “‘You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close? I’m the reason why it’s so go? Why things are what they are?” (182). As the novel goes on, the beast inside of them grows and they slowly forget the idea of rescue. For example, “‘I hadn’t’, said Ralph loudly. ‘I knew it all the time. I hadn’t forgotten.’”, Ralph, whose main focus throughout the novel was maintaining the fire, became distracted by the trivial issues occurring on the island. These issues eventually lead to the destruction of the hope of civilization. Consider the line, “...the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist.”.When the conch broke, so did all hopes of resolving order. Later in the novel, the author states, “Ralph wept for innocence,

The four characters of Ralph, Jack, Simon, and Piggy each represent a necessary symbol that helps define the themes of the novel. Ralph symbolizes order, civilization, and leadership by constantly calling meetings and yearning for rescue. He repeatedly tells the other boys that they must be have order and keep the fire going or they will never leave, but they are tempted by the thought of meat and savagery and eventually veer off the path Ralph leads. Jack ,happy with this result and hungry for power, represents the raw, harsh ways of savagery. Due to his jealousy of Ralph’s power, Jack constantly opposes any rational ideas and insists that hunting for meat is more imperative than being civil and getting rescued. Unlike Jack, Simon’s innate goodness is shown through his pure intentions. His character is refreshing compared to the other animalistic boys on the island. He tends to the little ones by assisting in harvesting fruit and helps Piggy recover his glasses when they are knocked off his face by Jack. Though Piggy is bullied constantly throughout the book, he still continues to provide rational solutions to dilemmas and advice to Ralph. Due to him being intellectually superior to the other boys, he is targeted by others’ jealousy and hate. His intelligence allowed him to introduce the idea of civilization and help them