'The Lord of the Flies' - Savagery
William Golding’s novel ‘The Lord of The flies’ presents us with a group of English boys who are isolated on a desert island, left to try and retain a civilised society. In this novel Golding manages to display the boys slow descent into savagery as democracy on the island diminishes.
At the opening of the novel, Ralph and Jack get on extremely well. We are informed Jack, “shared his burden,” and there was an, “invisible light of friendship,” between the two boys. Jack changes considerably throughout this novel. At first he tells us, “I agree with Ralph we’ve got to have rules and obey them,” This shows us that at the beginning of the novel, just like Ralph, he wants to uphold a civilised society. We are also notified, “Most powerfully there was the conch.” As the conch represents democracy we can see that at the beginning of the novel the boys sustain a powerful democratic society.
This democratic society does not last very long as the children (especially Jack) have a lack of respect for the conch and the rules. We can see this when Jack decides, “We don’t need the conch anymore, we know who should say things.” As the conch represents democracy we can see that civilisation on the island is braking up and savagery is starting to take over. We can also see a brake up in society when Jack says, “Bollocks to the rules!” Here we can see that Jack contradicts himself while managing to diminish the assembly and the power of the conch. Golding has made the two boys’ act similar at the beginning of the novel to show us how ‘normal’ they are. This demonstrates Golding’s view that absolutely anyone can be over ruled by power and become savage (like Jack) when civilisation collapses.
After this incident we can see continual conflict between Ralph and Jack. We can see this when Jack proclaims that Ralph, “Isn’t a proper chief.” Golding is trying to show us that this conflict is very similar to the conflict between humanities inner barbarism and the living influence of reason. We can see other evidence of this conflict within ourselves, with the masks that Jack and his hunters put on. We are informed that Jack, “ rubbed the charcoal stick between the patches of red and white on his face” The mask represents the dark line (charcoal) between good (white) and evil (red) within ourselves. These masks also let the boys hide f...
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...s when Ralph points out, “There’s going to be a storm.” This slowly builds us up to Simon’s death.
We Can see that even Ralph and Piggy have a savage side as they, “found themselves eager to take place in this demented but partly safe society.” This demonstrates Goldings view that everyone has a savage side to them.
At Simon’s murder the boys, “Leapt on to the beast, screamed, struck, bit and tore.”
This clearly shows us that the boys are completely barbaric and have no self-conciseness. The reason why Golding did not inform us straight away that Simon was the beast was because he wanted us to try and see things from the boys’ perspective.
As Simon was trying to tell the boys that the beast did not exist, his death symbolises that mankind can’t face the truth about their inner desires.
Part of Golding’s intent was to demonstrate that the evil is not recognised in specific populations or situations. On the island the beast is manifest in the deadly tribal dances, war paint and manhunt: in the outside world the same lust for power and control plays out as a nuclear war. Throughout ‘The Lord of the Flies’ Golding has managed to show that evil is present in everyone.
Our first aspect of Fear in the novel comes into play with the Beast. This fictional character becomes the center of the boys problems on the island and brings a long chaos and death. Simon is murdered due to the befuddlement of Simon being mistaken as the beast when in fact he was the jesus like figure and his death was a representation of sacrifice. The beast was not something tangible it was simply the boys because the beast was themselves. Our biggest demons in life rest within oneself, and on the island the beast was just a justification for the boys to blame their wrong doings on. William Golding refers to this using the role of simon by stating: “Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill! You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are" (158)?
Ralph is one of the few boys who realize that the only way to survive is through peace and order. Because he summons the boys at the beginning of the novel with the conch he and Piggy find, they look upon him as the most responsible of the boys and elect him as a chief over the humiliated Jack. Ralph creates a stable and peaceful society for the children to live; this significantly bothers Jack because he wants to have fun and do things that he never did back in the civilized society. Jack is eventually successful of pulling nearly all of the children out of Ralph’s control to form savages. Ralph represents the civilization, and Jack represents the primitive society.
The point that Golding was trying to make was that evil is inside all of us. He used this novel to express to the readers his thoughts on the matter, which was that to defeat the evil inside yourself, you have to admit that it is there. Simon managed to face the beast inside him. But unfortunately, since the other boys still believed that the beast was a living, breathing creature, it resulted in the death of Simon.
Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a novel that represents a microcosm of society in a tale about children stranded on an island. Of the group of young boys there are two who want to lead for the duration of their stay, Jack and Ralph. Through the opposing characters of Jack and Ralph, Golding reveals the gradual process from democracy to dictatorship from Ralph's democratic election to his lack of law enforcement to Jack's strict rule and his violent law enforcement.
...eir instinct to be savage, the tension in the story rises. The deaths of Piggy and Simon are examples of this. “Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of a true, wise friend called Piggy” (Golding 284), a quote in the book in the end of chapter 12, is a very deep quote. Here, William Golding expresses the darkness in the human heart; as Ralph was saved right before his death on the island, he thinks about how the savage instinct took over the boys’ souls. By the end of this novel, we open our eyes to realize how inadequate savageness becomes to these children, blinding them from their own civil instincts. Which later on appears to be restored after the officer makes them realize the terrible things they had done.
Throughout the novel, Lord of the Flies the major theme shown throughout is innocence. For the duration of the novel the young boys progress from innocent, well behaved children longing fir rescue to bloodthirsty savages who eventually lose desire to return to civilisation. The painted bloodthirsty savages towards the end of the novel, who have tortured and killed animals and even their friends are a far cry from the sincere children portrayed at the beginning of the novel. Golding portrays this loss of innocence as a result of their naturally increasing opened to the innate evil that exists within all human beings. “There isn’t anyone to help you. Only me. And I’m the Beast. . . . Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill! . . . You knew, didn’t you? I’m par...
During an assembly once, Jack declares: “We don’t need the conch anymore...It’s time some people knew they’ve got to keep quiet and leave deciding things to the rest of us” (Golding 101, 102). In this section, Jack proclaims how most people accomplished nothing speaking to the audience and the decisions should be left to the leaders, an anti-democratic idea. Desirous for power, Jack believes himself to be among the most useful on the island, even though he is clearly selfish and incompetent, never accomplishing anything outside of hunting. Proposing the idea that somebody as corrupt as Jack may try to consolidate power as a leader, or even an absolute ruler, Golding challenges the very core of the idea of absolute monarchy. The full effect of Jack’s “leadership” is shown near the end, when he and his “tribe” have completely split off from Ralph’s group. During this time, one of the hunters said: “[Jack’s] going to beat Wilfred up….[Jack] didn’t say [why]...made us tie Wilfred up” (Golding 159). Jack has ordered his hunters to tie up one of his hunters for no reason, and proceeds to beat him up as a scare tactic for the other boys. He does this solely because he just has the power to hurt others, which he demonstrates once again when he goes on a hunt for Ralph later in the story. This event clearly shows Golding’s opposition to absolute rule, as Jack acts selfishly and arrogantly, and most of the decisions he makes are completely useless to the survival of the group. All his hunters unanimously respect him out of fear, or as Hobbes described in his support of a monarchy, universal awe. In the end, while all the citizens obey a common leader and do not argue among themselves, the tribe still remains broken and unproductive, unified under a corrupt leader. It can be argued that Golding’s
Golding has a rather pessimistic view of humanity having selfishness, impulsiveness and violence within, shown in his dark yet allegorical novel Lord of the Flies. Throughout the novel, the boys show great self-concern, act rashly, and pummel beasts, boys and bacon. The delicate facade of society is easily toppled by man's true beastly nature.
Through the story Simon acted as the Christ Figure. The death of Simon symbolized the loss of religious reasoning. As the boys killed Simon they had let out their savage urges and acted in a cannibalistic manor. Even after the death of Simon Jack and his tribe did not feel any penitence to what they had done, killing to them had become second nature.The circle became a horseshoe. A thing was crawling out of the forest. It came darkly, uncertainly. The shrill screaming that rose before the beast was like a pain. The beast stumbled into the horseshoe."Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!" (Golding 141).In this quote a figure had crawled out of the forest and the ring had opened to let it inside. Mistaken as the beast by the Jack's tribe, Simon was beaten to death. After the group disbanded for shelter from the storm. The storm subsided and the tides moved in and out, Simon's body was washed to sea. Here because of the storm, the darkness and fear the boys became hysterical. They acted savagely not knowing what they were doing. The boys did not take a second look to what their actions were. They had let their malicious urges control them. He cam-disguised. He may come again even though we gave him the head of our kill to eat. So watch; and be careful (Golding 148). Here Jack is warning his tribe about the beast. Not caring or taking any notice to what had taken place with Simon. Jack or his tribe does not feel any remorse for the murder they had committed, whether they realized that or not. To Jack and his tribe what they had done was a pretentious accomplishment. A death could go by their eyes blindly.
On contrary from all the other boys on the island Simon, a Christ like figure in the novel, did not fear the ‘beastie’ or the unknown. “Maybe there is a beast....maybe it's only us” Simon explained. (p. 97) The fear of the unknown in the novel contributes to the boys’ terror of the beast, the beast is an imaginary figure which lays in all of the boys’ minds and haunts them. Golding uses the beast as a symbol of the evil that exists in every creature. "You knew, didn't you? I'm part of you? Close, close close! I'm the reason why it's no go? Why things are the way they are?" The sow head announced to Simon to be the “lord of the flies”. The “lord of the flies” is a figure of the devil, and brings out all the evil and fear in people. It wants you to fear it, but if you don’t believe in the “lord of the flies” nothing can happen to you. Therefore Simon didn’t fall into the trap, but the beast killed him, meaning the other boys on the island did. Simon discovered that the beast is in fact just a dead parachute man before he died and ran down to tell the boys about his finding. When Sim...
At the outset of the novel, Ralph forms a democratic society that functions smoothly, as the boys' instinct is still to behave according to the moral responsibilities of their upbringing and to live by rules. ."..there was a space around Henry, perhaps six yards in diameter, into which he dare not throw. Here, invisible yet strong, was the taboo of the old life" (62). Roger, although barely able to comprehend civility, still lives by the rules imposed upon him from birth, which helps to keep the democracy together. Also, Jack still shows a great deal of civility at the beginning of the story. "Ralph, I'll split up the choir--my hunters, that is--into groups, and we'll be responsible for keeping the fire going--" (42). Because at this point he is relatively content with his role as leader of the hunters, he contributes to the group by offering to keep the fire going.
William Golding makes it clear by using Jack’s description and actions to show that evil is the natural essence of all mankind. As the story develops, Golding shows Jack to be selfish, violent and dishonest as he was driven "to violence … and able at last to hit someone” (Golding 71). Also, the description of Jack towards the end of the book reveals how deceivin...
... scream these words. Lastly it displays the savagery of the boys because Simon was Christ symbol; the symbol of innocence. By killing Simon they killed the innocence of the boys simultaneously.
Golding shows the ways Ralph handles things in Chapter 2 when all the boys keep talking at once it states, “The meeting hummed and was silent. ‘And another thing. We can’t have everybody talking at once. We’ll have to have ‘Hands up’ like at school.” He held the conch before his face and glanced round the mouth. ‘Then I’ll give him the conch.’”(Pg.33) Golding is basically trying to establish that Ralph represents a democracy in this novel because he is the one that tries to let everyone speak. A democracy like America, lets everybody say what they want and are free to do some things. Another example would be in Chapter 11 when Ralph and Jack are fighting it states, “‘See? See? That’s what you’ll get! There isn’t a tribe for you anymore! The conch is gone-’ He ran forward, stooping. ‘I’m chief!’ Viciously, with full intention, he hurled his spear at Ralph.”(Pg.181) Golding is establishing that Jack represents totalitarianism and dictatorship; he uses fear and violence to get what he wants throughout the whole novel. We have seen lots of people who act like Jack in the real world, for example: Hitler; Jack lured his prey and then used violence to finally capture the people, just like Hitler. Golding does not only use the older boys to represent the people with power in society, but he also uses items that the boys use in the story to represent other
... island. As a power struggle in a savage group, the conflict between Ralph and Jack manifests itself not as a competition to prove who would be the better leader but instead as a competition of sheer strength and courage. After this incident we can see continual conflict between Ralph and Jack. We can see this when Jack proclaims that Ralph, “Isn’t a proper chief.” Golding is trying to show both boys are fighting for power and recognition. Its shows conflict caused when dealing with two individuals trying to gain control over land through two different personalities. t