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Literary analysis everyday use
Theme of savagery lord of the flies
Savagery and civilisation in Lord of the Flies
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The killing of the sow serves as a pivotal scene in Lord of the Flies. It both demonstrates how the boys have descended into savagery and foreshadows that they will sink further still. The boys become more and more savage throughout the book. They started off with order, then they progressed to doing what they needed to do to get by and “having fun”. Soon after that they become full on monsters. They were killing pigs and then started killing each other.
In the beginning of the book they had rules and were in a way starting a society. They were voting in a chief and trying to think of ways to get off the island. It was centered more on them getting off and staying alive. “Vote for a chief!” (pg. 22). They needed a way to stay alive long enough
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to get rescued and having rules and a leader seemed like the best idea. Eventually they were surviving and “having fun”. They were still being smart but less focused on immediately getting off. “All the same you need an army—for hunting. Hunting pigs—.¬¬¬¬” (pg. 32). The boys started to have fun. They even created a little army and gave out orders. Then came that very first pig, the one that got away. It was their first attempt at killing a pig and it gave them the biggest rush. They got so excited, even though they missed. It brought to light a whole new side to the boys. The boys eventually became full on savage. Partially because of “the beast”. It scared them and this was how they let out some of that fear. Another major factor to the complete 360 0r 180 was the fact that they had finally killed a pig. After they killed that pig everything came crumbling down. First the killed Simon. They were all hyped up because they finally got that pig and the reality of the beast was setting in. Simon’s death may or may not have been an accident but that still doesn’t make it okay. The boys murdered him. After Simon everyone really started to fall apart. They separated the camp into two sides, Ralph and Jack. They started to basically go crazy. They even started hatching plans to steal things from the other camp. It became somewhat of a war, fighting to survive and fighting each other. The next to die was Piggy.
However his death was different. It was a complete accident and shouldn’t have even happened. He had no chance of surviving unless someone sacrificed themselves and pushed him out of the way of that boulder, but no one was willing to do that. At this point they had passed the point of no return, murdering one and not even trying to save the other.
Even though this seem awful and like it couldn’t get any worse it did. They had a manhunt. “They’re going to hunt you tomorrow.” (pg. 188). They began to hunt Ralph down and were going to kill him. He ended up running for his life and if it wasn’t for the naval officer he would be dead. Eventually they all would have probably killed each other. The irony of it all was the fact that the only reason the naval officer went over to the island was because he saw the smoke from the fire that they were going to use to kill Ralph.
Killing that pig was really a turning point in the story, everything started to fall apart after that. They started out forming a society then they had to make a decision of whether or not they would continue on with that society or completely flip it around and become savages. Even though it may seem like they didn’t have a choice and that they were destined to resort to savagery they weren’t. There are always going to be multiple paths to take in life and there are always going to be
consequences.
Golding's Lord of the Flies is highly demonstrative of Golding's opinion that society is a thin and fragile veil that when removed shows man for what he truly is, a savage animal. Perhaps the best demonstration of this given by Golding is Jack's progression to the killing of the sow. Upon first landing on the island Jack, Ralph, and Simon go to survey their new home. Along the way the boys have their first encounter with the island's pigs. They see a piglet caught in some of the plants. Quickly Jack draws his knife so as to kill the piglet. Instead of completing the act, however, Jack hesitates. Golding states that, "The pause was only long enough for them to realize the enormity of what the downward stroke would be." Golding is suggesting that the societal taboos placed on killing are still ingrained within Jack. The next significant encounter in Jack's progression is his first killing of a pig. There is a description of a great celebration. The boys chant "Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood." It is clear from Golding's description of the revelry that followed the killing that the act of the hunt provided the boys with more than food. The action of killing another living thing gives them pleasure. The last stage in Jack's metamorphosis is demonstrated by the murder of the sow. Golding describes the killing almost as a rape. He says, "Jack was on...
However, as the plot progresses, Ralph faces both internal and external conflicts; from those conflicts he greatly matures. Ralph always has the strong belief that all the children will be saved from the island sooner or later; he is so sure that he even insists that they should have fire at all times to signal. However, when the boys abandon the fire which is symbolic of Ralph’s hope of getting saved, Ralph faces an internal conflict that makes him fear about their future; perhaps they will not be rescued at all. By insisting that the children should keep the fire going, he creates an external conflict with Jack whose values are different. Jack is enjoying life as a leader of the savages, and he fears that fire will possibly end his authoritarian rule over the savages. Both conflicts are resolved when Ralph finally meets the naval officer.
After turmoil erupts on the island, and Ralph is on the verge of being killed, a naval officer arrives on the island. Ralph is first unaware of the of the naval officer, “He staggered to his feet, tensed for more terrors and looked up at a huge peaked cap. It was a white-topped cap, and above the green shade of the peak was a crown, an anchor, gold foliage. He saw white drill, epaulettes, a revolver, a row of gilt buttons down the front of a uniform” (200). Once this uniformed (properly dressed) man arrives at the island, order is once again restored. The conflict and combat is immediately ceased. Once the naval officer asks who is in charge, Ralph claims authority over the boys without any questions.
The basic premise of Lord of the Flies is that humans naturally live in savagery and ignorance, without any idea of how to live together. The most terrifying death in the novel is that of Simon, who symbolizes the eyes of a blind and stumbling group of children digressing into savagery. As Christ lived, so lived Simon, as Christ died, so died Simon. Each died because human nature hates prophets, because humans naturally live in savagery and ignorance.
When Ralph sees the naval officer that appears on the island to save them, he realizes that he will return to civilization. The shock causes him to reflect on what has happened. The rescue does not produce joy; instead he feels despair at what he has been through. He is awakened to the reality that he will never be the same. He has lost his innocence and learned about the evil that lurks within himself and all men through his experiences on the island. Ralph’s revelation to his loss of innocence and societal order among the boys is exemplified through the collapse of the attempted Democratic government, the killing of the pig, and the death of Piggy and Simon.
To begin, survival is the key in every ones mindset. You only live once as most people say. However, with Jack and Ralph and the rest of the boys, they all seemed that all hope was lost. They had been stranded in the island for months, hoping that one day, someone will find them and return them home. Ralph was the most panicked person in the group simply because he hadn’t cut his hair and it was growing. He also did not shower at all, and he did not shave or eat as much simply due to the lack of surviving. He had given up on the hope for rescue, until in chapter 12, he, along with Jack and the rest of the boys, were saved by an officer which saw the destruction and the vicious bodies of the ...
This does not work for the boys are missing the necessary stability that they need. Jack said that they need to decide about being rescued. Everyone starts talking at once. The boys decide to elect a chief to establish rules, so they have a vote and elect Ralph chief (Golding 22). This shows that the boys start this type of government on the island, but it goes downhill when Jack takes over without being elected.
Jack decides to set fire to the island to force Ralph out of hiding. Jack was the perpetrator of all three deaths that happened on the island. He systematically removes forces opposing him. Ralph realizes that man is not a kind creature by nature.
In the Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses characters to convey the main idea of his novel. The story begins with a war, and a plane carrying several young boys, who are being evacuated, is shot down from the sky. There are no adult survivors; however; the boys were brought together by Ralph blowing on the conch shell. They formed a tribe to stay alive. Slowly the stability and the sense of safety in the group started to deteriorate, similar to the downfall of societies during World War II. They are not only hunting animals now, but they are killing each other like savages in order to stay alive. This action of killing is like Hitler during World War II and his persecution of Jews during the Holocaust.
Civilization struggling for power against savagery was shown throughout Lord of the Flies. These opposite mindsets are shown battling while determining who had the right to speak during assemblies, when the group hunted pigs, throughout the struggle over Piggy’s glasses, and finally with Simon’s death. These polar opposites are shown throughout these examples and reveal the desperation of clinging to civilization while savagery took over the actions of the some of the boys in Lord of the Flies.
That’s why if I had to pick between Ralph and Jack it would be Ralph because he is a caring person. Ralph overall really tried his best to be together as a team and a family. So the point of this is to tell you that Ralphs motivation was to find help to get off the island he wanted to keep people safe so that they would all help and comfort each other. The tragedies were hard but Ralph did contribute even when he was upset he still showed effort. Oh and all the deaths Ralph was speechless he could not have prevented it even if he wanted to and we know he really wanted to.
As Ralph is trying to hide from them overnight, he wonders, “Might it not be possible to walk boldly into the fort… pretend they were still boys, schoolboys who had said, ‘Sir, yes, sir’- and worn caps? Daylight might have answered yes; but darkness and the horrors of death said no” (186). No matter how hard Ralph tries, he cannot discard his new knowledge of Jack and his tribe’s potential for evil and corruption. For a long time Ralph seems to be in denial; like many others, he seems to want to stay true to his belief in the overall goodness of the human heart. Ralph’s expectations for human kindness are finally challenged to the point of irreversibility when Jack attacks him and tries to pursue him on a vicious manhunt. When Ralph collapses on the beach and a naval officer arrives, “With filthy body, matted hair, and unwiped nose, Ralph wept for the end of innocence, [and] the darkness of man’s heart...” (202). One might think it strange that rather than rejoicing over rescue, Ralph and the rest of the boys cry out in grief. The young schoolboys come to understand the enormity of human greed and evil, and unfortunately it is a lesson that they will not be able to ignore or forget. They witness and play a role in their own loss of innocence, and the time they spend on the island teaches them what
The death scene of the sow in “Lord of the Flies” creates a similar atmosphere as the death of the Apatosaurus from the movie, “Jurassic World”. This comparison results from the sow being attacked and being brutally and being murdered by the savage society through the choir putting a stick up the sow’s buttocks. Which is similar to that of the Apatosaurus death scene in that the Apatosaurus was murdered in a cruel way by a larger dinosaur and left to die. Also, the extreme suffering that the sow faced when being stabbed is similar to the condition that the Apatosaurus was in when the two characters found it. In addition, both situations include the beast (Jack’s society or dinosaur) using extreme actions of stabbing and clawing for their own
The Naval Officer actually saw the fire burning the island and goes to the island! Ironically, the fire was used as a signal fire, which was a virtuous symbol, but it really was used for evil purposes (the fire was intended to killed Ralph). The person who did not care about the signal fire (Jack), instead
When the children become stranded on the island, the rules of society no longer apply to them. Without the supervision of their parents or of the law, the primitive nature of the boys surfaces, and their lives begin to fall apart. The downfall starts with their refusal to gather things for survival. The initial reaction of the boys is to swim, run, jump, and play. They do not wish to build shelters, gather food, or keep a signal fire going. Consequently, the boys live without luxury that could have been obtained had they maintained a society on the island. Instead, these young boys take advantage of their freedom and life as they knew it deteriorates.