Comparison Of Savagery In Lord Of The Flies

In scholarly studies, symbolism and imagery apply to enhance a reader’s knowledge of theme development. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the general theme is the conflict between human inclination towards savagery and the rules of civilization. The purpose of symbolism and imagery is essential to the theme development of civilization versus savagery. Three symbols used to illustrate the theme of civilization versus savagery throughout the story are the conch shell, the conflict between Jack and Ralph and the hunter’s painted faces.

Despite the obvious age gap of the main characters in both novels, authors Golding and Remarque alike manipulate the text into conveying the theme of the loss of humanity that derives from violence. In Lord of the Flies, it is apparent early on that primal instincts will emerge from the innocence of the boys, such as, "He began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarl," (Golding Chapter 4). The split second snarl that escapes is a crystal-clear indicator for the future event depicting the death of a boy, Simon. "Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!" (Golding Chapter 9). Albeit the dancing boys do not know it is a fellow child and not a savage beast, they do not halt the actions taken to harm Simon, which ultimately leads to his death.

Beast, devil, evil, corruption, the seven deadly sins, they all represent some form of evil within humankind. Lord of the Flies is the story of schoolboys that have crash landed on an abandoned island, and go through many hardships as they fight for power and try to be saved. Throughout the story, however, they boys go from having a civilized structure to utter chaos, they struggle for their lives and grasp for survival from a darker creature on the island. Within chapter nine, Simon discovers the beast for what it really is; meanwhile Ralph and Piggy decide to join the other bigguns for a feast with Jack’s tribe. The boys play and dine, and circle together for a “dance” when Simon stumbles out of the forest to tell them of his discovery, and lands in the circle, which results in him being brutally beat to death. This attack on Simon demonstrates how the fear of the beast that the boys are experiencing is affecting their better judgment, and pushes their morals to the side, just so that they can feel safe. In chapter 9 of Lord of the Flies, William Golding employs repetition, animal imagery, and natural imagery to convey the theme that fear can corrupt humans, which pushes them to engage in unspeakable acts.

The struggle between humanity and savagery portrayed through the events of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies demonstrates how simple it is for one to succumb to the mannerisms of depravity. This is impossible with the implementation of structure and order, as such concepts provide boundaries and keep man sane and behaved. Once the boys arrive on the island, isolated and expelled from society, they look to a shell to relieve them of this hardship, and to institute a form of government that will keep them from acting out. Despite the trust they put in the shell, it fails to hold them from corruption, only adding to the growing tension between all of the boys inhabiting the mysterious island. Through the escalating tension surrounding the

Men, without rules, can be led towards destruction. Lord of the Flies depicts at first a group of boys trying to maintain order, and a later descent into savagery. One of the most direct, apparent examples of this is through Roger. Through the contrast of the self-restraint Roger has at the beginning of the novel and the murder he absentmindedly commits at the end, Golding illustrates how man’s desire for savagery is restrained only by the enforced civilization of society.

“We are all ready to be savage in some cause. The difference between a good man and a bad one is the choice of the cause.” -William James (https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/w/williamjam157170.html?src=t_savage)

This begins to explain one of the main themes throughout the novel Lord of the Flies. For one to be uncivilized is to be barbaric and inhuman, without having a sense of culture and social development. When innocence or civilization is lost, levels of economic, social, technological, political, and cultural evolution differentiates from that of the normal, because ideas, values, institutions, and achievements of a particular society is changed. The boys in Lord of the Flies find themselves in a situation where their only option was to learn to grow up and learn to do it fast on their own. They have to learn how to survive and fend for themselves without the presence of any adult figures, and create a prosperous society for their own. They

In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, Ralph and Jack’s power struggle is observed throughout the book. Ralph’s democratic leadership sharply contrasts Jack’s tyrannical and uncivilized rule. Ralph is stripped of everything and the line between him and Jack is blurred near the end because he gives in to savagery. Though all men will ultimately revert back to animalistic instinct and savagery in the absence of civilization, Ralph only succumbs to this when he loses his friends and when he is hunted; Jack succumbs all on his own.

In Golding’s Novel, The Lord Of The Flies he uses great details to explain how every human has this evil core with us but, in this book Golding names this evil core as the “Beast”. In the scenes where you can see the beast growing out of the boys are Simon’s death, Roger throwing rocks later turn into boulders, and finally hesitating to kill a pig to brutally killing it. Now if we have a evil core within us or devil however you want to call it will it actually change us or does that “devil” really show who we really are in reality? In Golding’s Novel, lord of the flies, golding uses brutal as well as gruesome death of simon to convey the darkside of human nature and what we can become.

At the end of chapter nine in The Lord of the Flies, William Golding utilizes figurative language to establish Simon as a Jesus figure, who dies and becomes released from his suffering. After Simon's realization that what the boys believe is the beast is instead a dead man with a blue parachute, he returns to the other boys to tell them that the beast they imagine on the island is fictitious. During a stormy night, the boys create a barbaric circle where they repetitively dictate a chant in order to summon the beast so that they have the opportunity to kill it. Because they mistake Simon as a beast as he attempts to tell them of his discovery of the dead man, Simon is forcefully pulled into the center of the boys'

Even though Golding had an enormous amount of symbols throughout his novel, Simon is the first to recognize the complication posed by the beast and the “Lord of the Flies” that is, that the monster on the island is not a real, physical beast, but rather a savagery that lurks within each and every human being. As a final point, the loss of social structure within civilization can lead to the demise of the boys on the island whether it's between Ralph vs Jack, the boys vs the island, or even Simon vs

Through all the fear and savagery, one boy saw through it all, and began to speculate as to what the beast really was, this boy being Simon. As the idea of a beast arises, the tribe becomes chaotic. Simon however, a persona of neither savagery nor civilisation, questions the existence of a beast. “Maybe there is a beast...maybe it’s only us” as quoted by Simon, shows that he believes that there is a beast, but not the same beast everyone else has in mind. Instead, Simon, unaffected by the fear, believes that the beast is within each boy. Later on in the book, Simon’s speculations are proven true, as in a vision, he sees the Lord of the Flies who confirms that "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?"(Page 143). Simon also discovers the supposed beast is just a human being. Certain of this, Simon runs towards the tribe in order to tell them the truth. Fearful however, the boys see him as the beast and kill him and their only way of destroying the beast. From this, it is evident that the boys could not destroy the “beast” as they had killed the only boy who knew the truth.

In William Golding's Lord of the Flies the central and recurring theme, civilization vs savagery, is very evident and obvious. Throughout the novel, Golding associates civilization with good, while associating savagery with dark and evil. Due to the intense and driving force of the novel, civilization and savagery clash against each other as the novel progresses. Golding also lets the two main characters represent this theme. Ralph, the protagonist, represents leadership and has a civil wellbeing, while Jack, the antagonist, stands for the desire of power and savagery. “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 42). Jack agrees with Ralph in this statement about how the boys must obey and follow the rules given, however, as the novel progresses, Jack starts to become a savage and butts heads with Ralph. Nonetheless, the novel moves forward and the boys still retain their civil sides. In Chapter 3 the main conflict intervenes and the first verbal conflict takes place. As Jack and Ralph argue it is apparent on which side each of the boys take and the division of the boys starts to take action. Ralph advocates to build huts, while the bloodthirsty Jack, demands that the boys hunt for food. But because Jack and Ralph are children they are unable to successfully express their feelings and ideas during the debate. Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 present a new challenge that the

During the younger boy’s explanation of the beast, Ralph “ push[es] both hands through his hair and looked at the little boy in mixed amusement and exasperation.”(page 35) Still retaining their civility, the older boys do not initially believe in the beast for they simply disregard it as a figment of their imagination. Nonetheless, the longer their stay on the island, the more the group accepts the existence of the beast. As they move further away from order whilst gravitating towards chaos, Simon points out “maybe it’s only us...” (page 96), insinuating that perhaps the beast is in fact the evil from within. Amid Simon’s confrontation with the Lord of the Flies, the sow teases him saying “You knew didn’t you? I’m part of you.” (page 158), confirming his previous proposal. Throughout the time of the feast held on the beach, Simon lays on a mat of creepers only to disclose the true identity of the beast; a dead parachutist. Upon his recent discovery, Simon makes his way down to the beast with the intention of revealing the reality. However, the boys have lost all sense of order, consequently mistaking him for the beast. As they hunt him down “ There [are] no words, and movements but the tearing of teeth and claws.” (page 169). Simon’s horrendous death is a result of the others’ complete descent into savagery. The beast, originally presumed as fantasy, is now present in the minds of those on the island, symbolizing evilness as well as a lack of

After having your life flipped upside down, it is never easy go back to living a normal life. In the book “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding, there are a group of English boys stuck on an island with no adults and no rules. The boys were forced to survive on their own, and they attempted to keep order, but eventually turned to savagery. I have been chosen to write the sequel to this book, and this is the outline of three of the main characters. After their lives had been twisted by savagery, and greed, the young boys, Ralph, Jack, and Roger, were forced to move on and return to civilization.