Savagery In Lord Of The Flies Essay

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.

Jack shows that savagery is like an illness and only gets worse over time. After Jack kills the first pig, he proudly says, “’I cut the pig’s throat’” (Golding 69). In this quote, Jack is proud of killing a defenseless sow; this proves that by nature humans are savage because a young, innocent child like Jack killed a mother pig who was nursing her young. Without a real man to look up to, Jack thought being a man meant acting as though he was tough and killing everything he saw. This is a mindset of a savage person. In addition to this scene, Jack leads the charge that killed Simon. This also proves that humans are savage by nature because Jack had no

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).

“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.

William Golding’s Lord of the Flies presents a story of a group of boys who become stranded on an island together, and in their struggle to survive; some begin to fight for power. Having power makes them feel in control of their situation; however, this power struggle quickly begins to consume them. Golding uses the power struggle between Ralph and Jack, the two main characters, to illustrate the power struggle between good and evil.

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

Jack and his tribe show the true meaning of savagery creeping in when the rules of society are forgotten. Ever since the boys arrived on the island, Jack has wanted to be the only one in control. When the boys voted for Ralph over Jack he became angry. The boys separated, some decided to become hunters and the others desired rescue. Jack quotes “ who will join my tribe”, so now Jack does have the power he’s been wanting but only to the savages. Jack becomes obsessed with the thrill of killing pigs that he takes his killings to another level. Golding uses zoomorphism to describe jack and the people in his tribe; “Jack began to dance and his laughter became bloodthirsty snarling.” Golding would use this literary device to show the ptrue animals the savages are. The boys chant “‘kill the pig. Cut her throat. Bash her in’”, this indirectly shows the savagery that the boys have developed since stranded in an environment where there is no authority. After Jack achieves killing pigs he becomes even more bloodlust. Jack and the boys kill Simon with no couth then Jack allows Roger, another savage, kill Piggy. After the murders they all act like nothing has happened. Jack doesn’t show pure savagery because he uses a clay mask when he hunts, which hides his true personality. This savagery creeps in when all

Even though Jack demonstrated his leadership qualities when proposing a rescue plan to the ‘tribe’, and by accepting Ralph’s election to lead the group, something he wanted for himself, he eventually turns into a savage through killing a pig. This incident gives him a sense of power realizing that he can act with impunity without consequences. Wanting to hunt and kill pigs turned into a priority, eliminating the need to be

By the end of the novel, Jack has become a full blown barbarian. He is so caught up in killing pigs that he no longer listens to Ralph. He tries to become chief again and fails. Because of that, he starts his own tribe on the other side of the island where all they do is hunt pigs. The boys that follow him are transformed into the savage that he is. “Here, struck down by the heat, the sow fell and the hunters hurled themselves at her…Jack was on top of the sow, stabbing downward with his knife. Roger found a lodgment for his point and began to push till he was leaning with his whole weight. The spear moved forward inch by inch… [t]hen Jack found the throat and the hot blood spouted over his hands.” Jack and his followers were demoralized and tainted

Ralph notices this and tries to stop him by yelling “‘Jack! Jack! You haven’t got the conch! Let him speak.’”, and tells him in front of everyone, saying he’s “‘breaking the rules’” (Golding 129). Jack, however, furiously retorts that he “‘[doesn’t] care!’” (Golding 130). It is because of this behavior that he starts to chip away at the conch’s power over Ralph and the other kids. Along with this disagreement, he also outright refuses to concede with the rules, but instead acts immature and thinks the rules are “‘[Bollocks!] We’re strong—we hunt! If there’s a beast, we’ll hunt it down! We’ll close in and beat and beat and beat!’” (Golding 130). Jack goes even farther with this later in the book, even going so far as to to “tie Wilfred up…and beat Wilfred” (Golding 229) due to a mistake. This makes Jack a very strong leader, not unlike that of a dictator, using force to keep people in line.

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.

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.

jack throughout the story is Ralph's counterpart representing what happens when one fully accepts humans dark inner nature. even at the beginning of the story he is shown to be violent and at odds with Ralph."he (jack) tried to convey the compulsion to track down and kill that was swallowing him up" pg.51.this shows that even towards the beginning of the story jack was embracing savagery putting him at odds with Ralph, who

The novel " Lord of the Flies" focuses on the conflict that exists between two competing impulses that Golding, suggests exist within all humans; these being the instinct to follow the rules, act in a peaceful manner and comply to moral commands compared to the instinct to act violently in order to gain control over others and to satisfy our own greed and personal desires. The conflict exists within the novel in several forms; law and order vs. anarchy, civilization vs. savagery and the basic term of good vs. evil. Golding uses these themes consistently throughout the novel, clearly associating instinctive savagery with evil and the instinct of civilisation with good. The representation of this lies in Ralph and Jack, the two central

Once these boys join Jack’s tribe, they are forced to follow his orders, committing heinous atrocities against their former friends in a desperate attempt to avoid the physical punishment Jack inflicts on those who disobey him. Jack rules his subjects through fear and intimidation, and yet lures them in by playing on hidden desires unbeknownst to them. Jack is often shown acting cruel and menacing towards the other boys, however is he also shown as being self-conscious and a bit insecure: “Boys are desperate to distract from their own helplessness and do so by projecting their fear of subjection onto an even weaker