Essay about Lord of the Flies: Civilization vs Savagery

The Lord of the Flies is a novel written by William Golding, established in 1954; the book is based on British boys deserted on a remote island without any adults. The novel deals with major themes such as civilization versus savagery, loss of innocence and the nature of evil. Golding uses a variety of techniques such as foreshadowing, dramatic irony, symbolism, metaphors and also characterisation to develop these themes.

Lord of the Flies by William Golding shows how the world is man eat man. Golding

In the novel Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, a group of English boys in their adolescence are stranded on an island. They crash-land while being evacuated because of an atomic war, so the boys must learn to cooperate with each other in order to survive. The boys are civil at first, but the bonds of civilization unfold as the rapacity for power and immediate desires become more important than civility and rescue. The conflict between Ralph, the protagonist, and Jack, the antagonist, represents the conflict between the impulse to civilization and the impulse to savagery, respectively. In Lord of the Flies, Golding uses Ralph and Jack’s struggle for power to show that greed and lust for power can corrupt the best

The conflict between the instincts of civilization and savagery emerges quickly within the group: the boys, especially Piggy, know that they must act with order and forethought if they are to be rescued, but the longer they remain apart from the society of adults, the more difficult it becomes for them to adhere to the disciplined behavior of civilization. In the First chapter the boys lead by Ralph try to recreate order and a system that will improve the quality of life on the island until they are rescued, but in Chapter 2 the enthusiasm and passion to do this is directed now to there more primal needs of having fun on the beach and playing in the water, this prevents them from acting responsibly and the only ones that do concentrate on improving there chances of being rescued are Ralph, Piggy and Simon. As a result, the signal fire nearly fails, and a young boy apparently burns to death when the forest catches fire. The controls of society still linger around the boys, who are confused and ashamed when they learn the young boy is missing, a sign that a sense of morality and goodness is still guides and restricts their savage behavior at this point.

Thesis Statement: The novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding portrays the theme that regardless of each person’s different background and characteristics, every individual has the ability to commit brutal acts. While this book depicts Ralph and Piggy as the most civilized characters, and Jack and his hunters as young English choir boys, their actions reveal that they all have the capability to act violently.

This close call is what began to fuel Jacks' obsession with hunting to kill. After Jack killed his first pig and realized he could kill without negative consequences, he brutally

The British Boys disembark on an island, inhabited of any adults and left to surrender for themselves. Through their journey of survival, Golding illustrated the darkness that lays within mankind. Golding was capable of using the boys feeling of trepidation of the beast but in reality there was no external beast but enteral beast; at the root of fear was themselves. The publication of Lord of the Flies by William Golding portrays this evil that exist in mankind.

The Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a novel in where savagery versus civilization is seen and Analyzed, showing the raw human nature that is within us all. After the boy´s plane is shot down, they become stranded on an isolated island at the time of a nuclear war. Throughout the book the conflict between two main characters, Jack and Ralph, who represent civilization and savagery. The rest of the boys throughout the novel delve further and further into savagery as instinct, leaving behind what was symbolically civilization.

The Lord of the Flies is a novel written by William Golding where the theme of civilization versus savagery is strongly exemplified. Throughout the novel, the theme starts to develop from the ongoing conflict between Ralph and Jack, who represent civilization and savagery. While Ralph uses his authority to establish rules and give commands that will help the boys survive and get rescued, Jack is more interested in appeasing his primal human impulses. The conflict between these two will further the theme of civilization versus savagery and affect the other boys on the island. In addition, Golding also uses symbolism and additional themes to support the overall main theme of civilization versus savagery.

Consequently, Golding is able to establish his theory that the primitive nature of savagery is more influential to the human consciousness than an instinctual sense of civilization. This theory has been supported by various aspects of the boys, especially through the eradication of logic and what is deemed necessary for survival. The demise of rationality and intelligence represents the loss of civility and order in the boys and brings about the inherent darkness in mankind. Throughout the novel, Simon has represented a Christ-like figure, as well as the inherent goodness in mankind. He was the only boy to realize that the beast was within each of them when he encountered the Lord of the Flies in the forest: “You knew didn’t you? I’m part of you? … I’m the reason why it’s

After a few tries, Jack and the hunters finally catch a pig. The boys and Jack brutally attack it and kill it. This is the first step of Jack's decent to primitive savagery. We see the loss of innocence because Jack has killed his first living creature, and also had a loss of innocence sexually. Now we see Jack become very confident in his hunting ability and we start to see him act more like a hunter. He now wears a mask over his face and always wants to hunt. The author has this to say about Jack and his mask, "the mask was a thing on its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness" (62).  With the aid of the mask, Jack is now transforming into a different person. He seems to be happier as a hunter. The author also lets us into Jack's mind, for his thoughts on his first kill, "His mind was crowded with memories; memories of the knowledge that had come to them when they closed in on the struggling pig, knowledge that they had outwitted a living thing, imposed their will upon it, taken away its life like a long satisfying drink" (70).

Jack starts to show just the start of his savagery within a short amount of time away from society. Golding writes, “He snatched the knife out of the sheath and slammed it into the tree trunk. Next time there will be no mercy” (31). That action of Jack shows his first break into his savage side. His anger through the action of slamming the knife and him saying “no mercy” for the next time he wants to kill a pig, all plays into how this can cause intense savagery later. Golding also writes, “Rescue? Yes of course! All the same, I’d like to catch a pig first- He snatched his spear and dashed it into the ground. The opaque look came into his eyes again” (53). Jack is showing the same intention as before, but now is expressing that a kill is better than rescue. Jack showing the “opaque” savage look in his eyes shows his taking of a bloodthirsty point of view towards the pigs. Already having a thirst for blood, Jack’s released savage with just grow and spread.

Jack had been behaving as noble individual since long time but soon he showed his true self when he brutally killed a pig. He killed the pig to satisfy his hunting instincts and ended up beheading the pig. The killer instincts that demonstrates his savagery are observed when it stated, “Behind them on the grass the headless and paunched body of sow lay there where they had dropped it” (129) . Here, the pig was killed mercilessly by Jack and his group. The boys indulged in extremely savagery behaviour and kills the pig just for fun. Therefore, glimpses of savagery depicted in the text could have been controlled with the group power which could have generated more power among the

Savagery is a recurrent subject that surrounds the boys in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. The author intricately writes about the savagery of human nature, emphasizing the impact of the inhumanity on each of the boys. Samneric are twins who are alike to the point that none of the boys can tell them apart. Golding writes them more as background characters than anything else, only implying their importance. However, due to their amalgamation, the twins represent a community of togetherness and structure among the group. As savageness spreads because of a lack of civility, Samneric are divided which proves that human existence is drawn together by societal regulations and pulled apart by barbarity.

As humans, we have two instincts that are always at war with each other, constantly battling to be the dominant one. One instinct is our impulse to act savagely and indulge in our selfish ways. The other instinct is to be civilized and live morally by society’s laws. In Lord of the Flies, a novel written by William Golding, the author shows these conflicting ways of life through the relationship between two of the main characters: Ralph, who represents civilization, and Jack, who represents savagery. Like our two instincts, Ralph and Jack are constantly fighting to gain authority over the other boys. When Ralph gains authority he uses his authority to establish rules and protect the boys. Jack only wants to gain power and have authority over the other boys. As the novel progresses, Golding shows that even though the boys try to live civilized lives on the island, savagery is inevitable.