Lord of the Flies Allegory: Civilization vs. Savagery Essay

In the book, the readers can tell that Jack only cares about savagery and hunting pigs. Jack feels that he can replace Ralph as leader, because Ralph does not take much of responsibility. He falls into the savagery category because when he puts on the mask to kill the pigs, it hides his inner inhibitions. “Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood.”(pg. 69). This quote shows Jack’s evil side when it comes to the death of their first pig, and it is also a political allegory. “The conch doesn’t count on the top of the mountain… so you shut up.”(pg. 42) Jack feels like he is a dictator, so he decides to take control of Piggy. “You should have seen the blood!”(pg. 70). This shows Jack’s loss of innocence, and the savagery inside him and the

Lastly, the use of WWII as the backdrop for the novel is effective because it shows an accurate comparison of the events. In both cases, violence and killing occur very often. The events that take place in the war can be related to many points mentioned on how humankind is savage. The killing of the sow can easily be related to the accidental or intentional killing of civilians during WWII. In both cases, the killings of innocent people or children in front of others are examples of the inhumanity that

“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

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.

Ralph is not only a leader, but a voice of reason within the group. Ralph’s main priority throughout the novel is to be rescued, even when it did not seem as important to the other boys in the group. Ralph creates a signal fire and consistently reminds the boys that it is imperative to their survival. Ralph explains, “Don’t you understand? Can’t you see we ought to--ought to die before we let the fire out?” (Golding 81). Ralph’s scolding to the hunters is well deserved considering that they wasted a possible opportunity to be rescued after letting the signal fire go out. As time went on, Jack and his hunters become more and more consumed with hunting and order began to turn into chaos. The hunters chant, “Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Bash her in” (Golding 75). Ralph refuses to join the boys and viciously murder pigs. The boys’ hygiene habits were also worsening, to the point that the boys were defecating in the wrong areas. Ralph tries to address it at a meeting, but the boys’ find their animal-like behavior amusing. Throughout the loss of civility and order, Ralph always keeps a persistent effort to keep the signal fire going and keep order within the group. Ralph’s attitude towards the entire situation drops, however he never completely lost hope.

Jack becomes obsessed with hunting and changes his appearance by painting his face to resemble a savage. He just leads his tribe to make an act of transgression like raid Ralph’s camp, steals Piggy’s glasses, and orders his gang to hunt and kill Ralph. Meanwhile, Ralph does not fall into the savagery life as Jack did, he remains determined not to let this savagery -overwhelm him, and only briefly does he consider joining Jack’s tribe in order to save himself. When Ralph hunts a boar for the first time, however, he experiences the exhilaration and thrill of bloodlust and violence. When he attends Jacks feast and participates in the killing of Simon, he starts to realize that evil exists in him as well as everyone else. This new fact made him fall into a restless despair for some time, however, this knowledge enables him to cast down the Lord of the

Anarchy fallen over the once peaceful land and all but one has returned to their savage ways. In William Golding’s, Lord Of The Flies, The character of Piggy is a symbol of civilization. To commence, Piggy symbolises civilization because of his glasses as the fire is started by thm, and fire is the first sign key to civilization . Secondly, by insisting the continuation of the rules to be enforced on all of the island, Piggy demonstrates the ideals of civilization. Finally, Piggy idealises civilization by wanting to advance in technology on the island. In William Golding’s, Lord of The Flies, Piggy symbolises civilization on the island, while others turn to primitive, savage ways.

As the story progresses, Jack begins to fall closer and closer to that evil extreme. He hunts pigs on the island without any forethought to the future of the island’s resources (Golding 135). He attempts to overthrow Ralph’s leadership on numerous occasions, even though Ralph is trying desperately to get the boys rescued. Jack is also partially responsible for the deaths of Simon and Piggy; his evil actions encouraged the boys who followed him to act in a similar way. He also shows no remorse for his actions afterwards: “He [Jack] is Golding’s quintessential metaphor for underlining darkness in human beings” (LnC Silhouette).Golding also wrote Jack this way to show the reader to avoid imitating the evil extreme that Jack leans towards.

Lord of the Flies, an allegorical novel by William Golding, holds truths about mankind’s true nature of existence. The novel explores the savagery in all men that lies dormant, yet when society’s rules cease to exist, the boy’s innocence perishes along with it. The boys attempt to band together and mock the society that they came from, but not understanding the complexity of the situation, results in their society falling into ruins. On the island the boys are returned to man’s primitive nature, without rules or discipline, and they slowly drift into anarchy. Without proper guidance, the boys resort to cloaking their innocence with body paint to survive. With the body paint coating their skin, the boys bury their old personas within and allow themselves to commit acts that society would frown upon. When Jack’s tribe uses the facade of body paint to dissociate themselves from civilization’s morals, they denote that hiding one’s true identity liberates them from the constraints of society.

Best put by Virginia Woolfe, “Growing up is losing some illusions, in order to acquire others”. Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a coming of age tale, documenting the change from boys to men in its most primitive form. After their plane crashes on a remote island, a group of schoolboys find themselves without any adults and take it upon themselves to create their own utopia. With time, there once ideal civilization transgresses into a time of fear and barbaric actions. The common thread that holds the story together is the age old comparison of civilization and savagery. Lord of the Flies demonstrates the retrogression from the civilized school boy to the primitive man, exemplifying the theme of civilization vs savagery

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

"Man has demonstrated that he is master of everything - except his own nature." This quote from Henry Miller demonstrates that even the best of people can be tempted and twisted by their own nature. Like the symbolic pig’s head stuck in the calm forests clearing, all beauty and innocence can be mutated when order is overthrown by impulse actions. In William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, a central theme exists demonstrating the deterioration of civilization, and the overpowering of savagery, leading to the abandonment of moral thoughts and actions within a person. The beauty of the island is burned away slowly as the fiery demon of savagery attempts to overwhelm the boys. The beauty of the island symbolizes the charm of law and

In the beginning of the novel, Jack fears killing the pig which shows his civilized side. He adores order and civilization, "We've got to have rules and obey them. After all, we're not savages" (42). Over time, Jack finds pleasure in killing pigs, turning him into a cruel savage. As more time progressed, one sees Jack’s savagery conquer his morals and humanity when Jack and his hunters kill Simon. As shown in the novel, Jack is hungry for power and can do anything to gain it. Golding describes jack in a controlling way, “Jack, painted and garlanded, sat there like an idol” (149). This shows how Jack is on his throne as a representation of forceful dictatorship, worshipped by the rest of the boys in the group. Moreover, Jack develops to become more aggressive and demanding, making him seem more like an aggressive leader under

The Lord of the Flies is a classic novel written by William Golding in the year of 1954. The novel tells the tale of a group of schoolboys who are miraculously marooned on a desert island after their plane crashes. At first the boys attempt to govern themselves and to keep a grasp on civilization and order; In the beginning the island was very much like their home, but eventually this ideology fades into savagery and brutality. The boys resort to theft, torture and even murder. Although The Lord of the Flies depicts many themes and morals, the underlying theme is the battle between the human impulse towards civilization and savagery. This theme is brilliantly and respectively portrayed by battle of the two characters; Jack and Ralph.