Lord Of The Flies Savagery Analysis

Humans & Savages While reading chapters seven through nine of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, I noticed a certain theme within the text. This theme revolves around the idea that there is a certain savagery that appears in humans when the borders of society crumble. The boys are currently embracing this mindset now, and are willing to do whatever it takes to survive. The “government” they have created is dissolving and combined with the pressures of the beast, the boys are ticking bombs ready to explode. They do, in the most brutal and abrupt way they can, and it is beast-like. The savagery the boys have within them represent what the beast really is. This theme begins to reveal itself when one specific character uncovers what

That character is Simon, who becomes a catalyst for the theme presented above. There are two parts to Simon’s one man investigation; a hallucination and a dead body. Simon has a meeting with the beast after witnessing Jack and his tribe brutally killing the sow. He has a conversation within his mind with the head of the dead pig, and he addresses it as the Lord of the Flies, which is a direct connection to the title, and titles are usually a big part of a book’s central meaning. The mental battle represented in this pivotal scene, is a clear depiction of the savagery that lives in all of us, and that reveals itself when we need to survive. Simon’s mind berates him when it states, “ ‘Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill.’ said the head… ‘You knew didn’t you? I’m part of you?...I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are the way they are?’ ”(Golding 143). This shows that the troubles of the boys are happening because they are relying on their animalistic instincts, and Golding practically screams through his writing that the beast is not an animal, but human nature itself. This is the base of a very realistic, complex theme. Additionally, this theme is only proved by the scene where Simon uncovers