As time progresses in both Lord Of the Flies and “I Only Came To Use the Phone”, the characters show definite sings of savagery. The authors of these stories show the change from civilization and reduction to the characters’ basic, primitive nature. In the beginning of Lord Of the Flies, the young boys are deserted on an island due to their plane crashing. Once on the island, they find each other and begin to assemble. They come together as a big group and elect a leader. There are other boys in charge of certain tasks that need to be accomplished. A conch shell found on the beach is used as a way to call a meeting. This reaction to sudden change shows an instinct in humans that, when something goes wrong, people try to keep as normal of a schedule as possible. The boys use this make-shift kind of government because they realize that they need some type of structure in their lives.
While the boys are on the island, they become more inhumane. Jack’s job is to hunt, strictly for the purpose of bringing back food. As the story progresses, however, hunting becomes more of a way to show his power ad violent ways than a way to find food necessary for the group. Jack said to “kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood” (Golding 69). This quote shows how violent Jack is becoming and the progression of hunting being a way to supply food, to a quest for blood.
Another example of human nature that Golding shows through Lord Of the Flies is through the killing of Simon. The boys are too focused on their chanting around the fire and other primitive behaviors to realize that the “beast” that they see is Simon. Simon, unlike the rest of the boys, is not associated with savage-like behavior and remains very civilized throughout his time on ...
... middle of paper ...
...l” (Marquez ). Normally when someone is angry, they hold a grudge for a while but not for the rest of their life. Maria’s grudge against her husband lingers from day to day and she is never able to forgive him. Humans forgive and forget, they move on from the things of the past. Maria’s grudge is another example of her insanity and her inability to move on.
Both stories show change in people after a dramatic event. The boys on the island start out as innocent young kids and quickly evolve into violent savages. The events that took place on the island can never be taken back, and will never be forgotten. Maria came into the institution as a sane person but her corrupt, chaotic surroundings turned her insane just like all the other women in the building.
Works Cited
Lord Of the Flies
Coward-McCan
New York
1962
Strange pilgrims: twelve stories
Knopf
New York
1993
Imagine a life that is detached from civilization and free from any socially imposed morals. In the story Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a group of young boys is faced with this situation, and there is a perpetual conflict between the boys who are trying to maintain order and those whose violent instincts take over. Despite Ralph’s efforts to maintain order on the island and get the boys rescued, the boys, including Ralph himself, resort to violent and primitive behavior, and this is what causes Simon’s death. Whereas the other boys on the island lose their moral principles once savagery takes over, Simon retains his morals and does nice things such as helping the younger boys find food. In Lord of the Flies, Simon represents the speck of intrinsic morality and perceptive reasoning on the island, and unlike the other boys, he demonstrates morality as a way of life rather than a socially-imposed concept that is to be quickly lost in the wake of uncertainty.
As soon as they realise what must be done to survive on the island, jack has the desire to kill a pig for meat. This is the first sign of his savagery. Soon his urge to kill a pig turns into the desire to kill and hunt other living
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.
Jack fails to realize that the boys need security, stability, and order on the island Jack was a leader of the choir before the boys landed on the island. These boys, who were in the choir, still want to follow Jack; however, they have no discipline at all. The only thing that is on Jack’s mind is hunting. He doesn’t care about anything else, except capturing and kill the pigs for some food.
On the other hand, Golding tries to show the evil within man through Jack. Jack is a character in which he almost symbolizes cruel political leaders, such as Castro, Hussein, Hitler, etc. He is the leader of the hunters, the first time they find a pig, Jack stops, and couldn't kill the pig. That revealed how Jack was civilized, yet later on he would kill the pig without hesitation. "'We've got to have rules and obey them. After all, we're not savages. We're English, and the English are best at everything.
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.
At the beginning of Lord of the Flies, the boys create a democratic government. As the story progresses, the initial democracy on the island is ignored, and a dictatorship rises in its place. This dictatorship fails to keep the boys in order. The author, William Golding, shows that without the institution of a strong government and set of rules people will become impulsive and seek instant gratification. In the absence of order, people tend not to become disciplined of their own accord, but rather dissolve into destructive chaos.
When placed on a deserted island, a group of strangers banded together to try to survive. They decided on a leader, problem-solved, fought off a beast, and formed their own society, even if it was somewhat flawed. This was the situation in the famous TV show, Lost. The Lord of the Flies and Lost are similar in these many different ways, with the exception that the show featured a tribe of adults instead of children. That just proves how difficult it is to maintain order in a society; even the adults struggled with keeping it peaceful and civilized. In Lord of the Flies, William Golding presents a broken society of savage boys fighting one another to suggest that man’s capacity for evil is brought out by the need for power and control.
As the story progresses it shows how the boys change from disciplined school boys to savages. Jack is the first to show the transition. When Jack, Simon and Ralph go exploring for the first time, they come across a piglet caught in a curtain of creepers. Jack couldn't kill it "because of the enormity of the knife descending and cutting into living flesh; because of the unbearable blood (31)." From that moment on, Jack felt he needed to prove to himself to the others that he's strong, brave and isn't afraid to kill. When Jack says, "Next Time (31)" it's foreshadowing his future of savage hunting.
In Lord of the Flies, William Golding expresses the idea that humans are naturally immoral, and that people are moral only because of the pressures of civilization. He does this by writing about a group of boys, and their story of survival on an island. The civilized society they form quickly deteriorates into a savage tribe, showing that away from civilization and adults, the boys quickly deteriorate into the state man was millions of years ago. This tendency is shown most in Jack, who has an animalistic love of power, and Roger, who loves to kill for pleasure. Even the most civilized boys, Ralph and Piggy, show that they have a savage side too as they watch Simon get murdered without trying to save him. Simon, the only one who seems to have a truly good spirit, is killed, symbolizing how rare truly good people are, and how quickly those personalities become corrupted.
A desire for blood and flesh eats away at Jack's innocent and civilized nature. Shortly after a plane crash brought boys to on the island, Jack volunteers himself as a hunter, eager to maintain some position of authority. Jack is given the first opportunity to hunt when he and two other boys, setting out to explore the island, encounter a piglet, which, if killed, could provide dinner. Although he hesitates, allowing its escape, he demonstrates his forceful nature as he stabs a tree with his knife, and implies that in the future, "there would be no mercy"(31). Despite the initial failure, the possibility of hunting remains in Jack's mind. The reader witnesses Jack's struggle to contain the desire affecting him
All of the boys but Simon are becoming the beast at that moment. In Lord of the Flies, Golding proves that fear draws out man’s inner evil and barbarism. Within the novel, Golding uses characterization of the boys and symbolism of the beast to show the gradual change from their initial civility to savagery and inhumanity. Learned civility, order and humanity become ultimately futile in the face of fear. The author teaches that without logic, fear consumes us endlessly.
Jack begins the novel partially innocent, cruel enough to yell at the boys yet pure enough to hesitate when faced with the task of killing the pig. Jack obtains the tools necessary to kill the pig, yet claims to need help cornering the animal. Jack, not truly needing help to kill the pig but rather needing the support provided by the mob mentality, acquires the support of his choir and together the boys hunt and kill the pig, all the while chanting, “Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood”...
...and eventually hunts Ralph. This demonstrates the demise of innocence of Jack and his insanity begins to show as he kills the pig and dances around in a sort of victory dance. He no longer has any feelings for killing creatures. As he becomes more deranged, he becomes obsessed with blood. “Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Bash her in.”(Golding 75). He constantly reenacts the scene. This madness takes over and Jack is no longer the innocent youth that he used to be.
In “The Lord of the Flies”, William Golding uses several characters to symbolize two main sides of humanity. Jack, Roger, Ralph, and Simon are all characters who represent an important part of humanity in “The Lord of the Flies”, although not all of them retain their good nature. As Jack and Roger resort to their savage instincts, they begin to represent the ruthlessly savage side of humanity. However, they are opposed by the order and civilization that is represented by Ralph and Simon. As a result of this conflict, it is shown that savagery will work to wipe out the order in society and the good in humanity if it is allowed to.