Lord Of The Flies: Civilization Vs Savagery

“There are too many people, and too few human beings.” (Robert Zend) Even though there are many people on this planet, there are very few civilized people. Most of them are naturally savaged. In the book, Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, boys are stranded on an island far away, with no connections to the adult world. These children, having no rules, or civilization, have their true nature exposed. Not surprisingly, these children’s nature happens to be savagery. Savagery can clearly be identified in humans when there are no rules, when the right situation arouses, and finally when there is no civilization around us.

The human mind is made of up two instincts that constantly have conflict: the instinct to live by society’s rules and the instinct to live by your own rules. Our civilized will has been to live morally by law and order, and our savage will has been to act out for our own selfish needs. We each choose to live by one or the other depending on how we feel is the correct way to live. In this allegorical novel, William Golding represents the transformation from civilization to savagery in the conflict between two of the main characters: Ralph who represents law and order and Jack who represents savagery and violence. Lord of the Flies has remained a very controversial novel to this day with its startling, brutal, and truthful picture of the

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

In many parts of the world, humans live in a civilized society where law and order are organized and enforced. But within a lawless society, savagery surfaces in an ungoverned setting of bloodshed and harm. In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, Civility and Savagery are differentiated with Ralph and Jack, Ralph establishes a community compared to Jack who damage and divide civilization. Because of how Jack and Ralph use their democratic and dictatorial authority, through the examples of the declined civilization, the increase of savagery and the different ways of power by Ralph and Jack.

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.

Lord of the Flies is a chilling work about human savagery and the flow of power. Golding uses symbolism, characterization, and description to illustrate the occurrences and the underlying themes in the novel. The work has an ominous but irresistible tone that Golding lays out through his description of the island. Golding makes the island seem sinister and irresistible by writing,” The shore was fledged with palm trees. These stood or leaned or reclined against the light and their green feathers were a hundred feet up in the air . . . Behind this was the darkness of the forest proper and the open space of the scar.” (Golding 4-5) His description of the palms being feathered gives an enticing pull to the beach, but the darkness of the

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

When the boys first crash land on the island, Ralph and Piggy quickly try to bring order to the island while Jack shows he has other things in mind. The conch Piggy finds becomes a method of calling a meeting among the boys. At the first meeting, the boys’ conditioning from society shows when Ralph comes up with the idea that the boys “ought to have a chief to decide things” (Golding 18). Ralph knows that in the adult world, having a leader works. He is trying to mimic that with the group by electing someone to make the decisions. However, early on we see Jack acting in ways that would not be considered civilized. When he is out exploring with Ralph and

Civilization was created to contain social structure. However, in utmost circumstances, it is possible for instinct to triumph over civility. Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, is a plane evacuating a group of British schoolboys that crashes over a tropical deserted island. Once they crash on the island, they pick Ralph, the protagonist of the novel, to be their leader, and Ralph chooses Jack, the antagonist of the novel, to be the leader of the hunters, establishing somewhat of a civilization. Then when Jack comes upon a mother boar and kills it, that’s when their makeshift civilization slowly diminishes and the boys become savages. In addition, loss of social structure within a society can lead to the absolute destruction of the civilization. The author of Lord of the Flies, William Golding, uses man vs man and man vs nature conflicts to develop the theme of loss of social structure leads to savagery. Golding reveals this theme by exploring the conflicts of

In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a group of young boys find themselves stranded on an island as a result of a failed attempt to escape England during the war. There is a constant theme of civilization versus savagery throughout the story. The concept of civilization starts out strong in the beginning when the conch shell is discovered by Ralph and Piggy. “Let him be chief with the trumpet-thing.(22)” The kids are voting for their chief leader, and since Ralph finds the conch shell that bring them all together, the kids, especially the littleuns, are drawn to him. Immediately the conch symbolizes power to the boys, whoever holds the conch has the power to speak his mind, and the one who blows it, Ralph, is the leader. The conch represents civilization, but slowly the importance of the conch starts to disappear as the need for law and order fades away and savagery takes over.

If the instinct for savagery lies latent in all human beings, can they truly be held personally accountable for their actions? In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, one of the overarching themes of the novel is the conflict between savagery vs civilization, and explores the concept of the individual vs the society. Civilization, society and its righteous and morally good ideologies are represented by Ralph, and those of aggression, individualism and the morally bad are associated with Jack. Ralph, as first elected leader of the tribe of boys argues for organization and self sacrifice for the better good of being rescued and maintaining peace, whereas Jack slowly and insidiously wins over the support of the boys by promising fun and freedom- under his tyranica rule, naturally. It is plainly obvious, with both the reader’s good sense and Golding’s obvious inclination towards Ralph, that he is the most appropriate leader and that a civilized society is the correct and right way to go about governance.

Civility and savagery are completely different things. Civility is formal politeness and courtesy in behavior or speech. Savagery is the quality of being fierce or cruel. They can counteract each other in society, or one can out rule the other almost completely.

Civilization today has become almost completely reliant on technology. Almost the entire planet is connected by phone lines, roads, air travel, or the internet. People converse with others thousands of miles away through modern connections, watch live broadcasts of news in foreign lands, or talk on wireless phones by use of satellites. We are governed by laws designed to protect us. We live in heated homes with fresh water and electricity. We commute to work by car or mass transit. We live by rules, values, and ideals that keep the peace. Our world is organized, convenient, and technologically advanced. What would happen if suddenly our civilization

Piggy acts as a conscience when rumors of ghost and monsters are spread, and he ends the gossip by explaining ghosts are not logical or scientific, meaning they do not exist. Piggy uses his smarts to make sundials for the boys to keep track of the time, and with Ralph’s combination of leadership, the two boys begin to form what looks like the beginnings of a civilized camp. Civilization exists in the children, as they follow Ralph’s initial commands and help build the first shelter. They don not fully understand why they act civil, but their morals passed on by parents or self growth guide them during the first portion of the book. Golding uses the combination of Ralph and Piggy to show the roots of civilization, and the peace that morals bring, and the other boys to show the balance factor of feeling obligated to act civil. They use law as a protective companion, making rules for only speaking when holding the conch, to prevent yelling and fights. Jack even shows a civil side to his mind, when first establishing their camp, crying out, "We’ll have rules! Lot’s of rules!" (33) The fact that Golding would show that Jack, the symbol of savagery, has some civil thoughts, indicates that he is conveying the idea that civilization exists in even the most immoral people. Jack retains a sense of moral propriety and behavior that society leaves impressed on a person. Rodger, the

The conflict of civilization versus savagery primarily describes the struggle between laws and freedom. Under Stalin’s rule over Russia, he ruled with a totalitarian view, where the national government controlled all areas of the country. Many individuals who lived in this country felt that they had no freedom for their future. However, a free society has never occurred because of the savagery that most individuals fear might occur. In the 1950s allegorical novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, and the 1930s dystopian novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, the authors use the contrasting ideas of civilization versus savagery to emphasize that individuals require order and humanity for a society to function. Therefore, individuals must retain their ethical values if they wish to construct a lasting environment.