Savagery In Lord Of The Flies

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

In the book there is conch which gives the beholder of it power over the rest of the group. Jack knows that the group is torn on who should be their leader, so he does whatever is necessary to get the conch and control the group. Jack knows that the only way to do this is to make the group turn against Ralph. With power on his mind his begins to belittle Ralph and make the group think Ralph hasn’t been a good leader. This happens when Jack says, “Who are you, anyway? Sitting there telling people what to do. You can't hunt, you can't sing” (Golding 238). The group then begins to trust Jack because Ralph seems inferior compared to him. Once Jack has this power he begins to think that everyone who isn’t with him is against him. This leads to Jack killing Piggy to stop and uprising from him and Ralph. There is no way that a 13 year old boy would kill another classmate unless he was fueled with power like Macbeth was. Jack isn’t the only one in the book to let power get the best of him, Ralph also falls victim to it. Ralph begins to disrespect his best friend on the island Piggy when the book says “Ralph pushed Piggy to one side. ‘I was chief and you were going to do what I said’” (Golding 132). This quote shows how Ralph is willing to harm someone he care about just to show everyone including Piggy how powerful he truly is. Both Ralph and Jack let power cloud their judgement which

(pg. 161) Relating to dictators’ intentions, Jack chooses to galvanize the vulnerable children into taking the path of savagery. As a result of the power Jack holds over the tribe, the savages turn against Ralph and follow Jack’s demands to kill Ralph, which leaves Ralph completely

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

Jack foreshadows his eventual savagery in the beginning when he was still part of Ralph’s tribe. However, because Ralph was chief Jack was forced to obey him. When he was still with Ralph, Jack did not focus on being rescued. Instead he would rather take advantage of the fact that they don’t have adults on the island and used violence by hunting pigs. This caused Ralph and Jack to fight and during one of their disagreements, Jack shouts to Ralph, “‘Bollocks to the rules! 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 91). Jack’s desire to hunt is shown when he forgets what his priorities are and says, “‘Bollocks to the rules!’” Both Ralph and Jack have different priorities on the island. Ralph’s focus is on the fire signal so that they could be rescued, however, Jack just wants to hunt for the thrill of it. When Jack kept repeating, “beat and beat and beat” it emphasized his thirst for killing. This crave for violence Jack has shows that he is headed towards savagery. Jack’s mutiny of hunters against Ralph also demonstrates that humans have a dark side of them. When Jack finally left Ralph’s tribe he let go of the last piece of civilization he had and turned into a violent and selfish person. He allowed his savage thoughts to take over his actions. Jack shows that he is no longer innocent when he, “Viciously, with full intention, he hurled his spear at Ralph. The pint tore the skin and flesh over Ralph's ribs, then sheared off and fell in the water. Ralph stumbled, feeling not pain but panic, and the tribe, screaming now like the chief, began to advance” (Golding 181). When Jack “with full intention” attempted to kill Ralph he committed a crime that would land him in jail in society. His action show that he had already forgotten about what society has taught him as well as the

Multiple passages and quotes in the book suggest that Jack gradually becomes a savage. When Golding writes,“he began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty

The difference between Jack and Ralph was not as significant as readers might think. Both them at points were at the savage “ready to kill” state of minds, where they we not thinking in reality. In chapter 7 Ralph got caught up in the exhilaration of the chase. He excitedly flings his spear at the boar, and though it glances off the animal’s snout, Ralph is thrilled with his marksmanship nonetheless. He is showing multiple signs of savagery when they accidentally kill Simon.

Jack’s departure from the boys sparks a civil war in between them and ultimately creating a giant war that lead to death of some of the boys. Jacks uprising or rebellion is hinted early in the book but he shows his true side leaving Ralph’s group. This action by jack creates the events of piggy and simons death but creates the reason they are rescued. Jacks new aggression embodies war and destruction itself and is a monster. When jack breaks out against Ralph he not only defeats him but he shows that Ralph is weak eventually taking everyone Ralph has by torture or death.

Since the beginning, Ralph’s main goal is to be rescued as soon as possible while trying to set up a form of democracy. On the contrary, Jack prefers to hunt and be in charge like a dictator. Although Jack is convinced that his actions are right, the readers can detect how sick he is becoming as the book progresses. Jack is hungry for authority which leads him to try to eliminate anyone who questions it including Ralph. When Ralph confronts the tribe and asks, “which is better, law and rescue, or hunting and breaking things up” (page 180), Roger murders Piggy and the conch is broken . Instead of checking on Piggy, Jack makes the statement that, “there isn’t a tribe for you anymore! the conch is gone--” (page 181). The conch represents order and peace and with it broken, the civilization that Ralph was trying to build becomes nonexistent, replacing that is a group of savage boys. When Ralph meets the twins in the forest, they tell him “they’re going to hunt you tomorrow” (page 188) showing that Jack is no longer thinking of the consequences of his actions. During a time where the boys must work together, they broke off and some becomes savages. Jack embodies true wickedness, showing that he is capable of dire acts without the presence of a supernatural force. His actions are his

The conflict between Ralph and Jack shows how lack of civilization can result to savagery. Ralph states, “We need shelters” contrasting to Jack who says, “We need meat” (Golding, p.42). The lack of civilization in Jack shows because he thinks hunting is more important than shelters although he has yet to catch a pig, while on the other hand Ralph thinks it’s more important to build shelter for a sense of home and protection from the rain and the beastie that all the littluns are afraid of. “Let him be chief with the trumpet-thing”(Golding, p. 15). This quote states that Ralph should be in charge because he has the conch, and Jack gets upset since he is not voted chief but then Ralph puts him charge of the choir boys who later on become the hunters. Ralph creates civilization when he is given power to become the chief on the island, and he has the power with or without the conch. Later in the novel when Ralph realizes he doesn’t like being dirty and “disliked perpetually flicking the tangled hair put of his eyes,” it shows that Ralph is used the civilization he had before and wants to return to that civilization (Golding, p.66). Then Jack becomes an example of savagery when he shows up to the fire in chapter 8, “stark naked save for the paint and a belt” (Golding, p.125). Ralph and his followers show the civilized and orderly side of the island, but on the contrary, Jack and his tribe show the savagery of man and barbaric side of the island.

Jack, negatively portrayed in comparison to Ralph, tempts the boys with an array of forbidden treats, indulging their most violent, suppressed desires in an attempt to lull them away from the security of Ralph. In a sense, Jack is negatively compared to Ralph throughout the novel, and is often portrayed as confused and violent, very aware of the evil inside of him: “The real problem that arises among the boys involves their own inner nature…” (Johnston 2). When his plan fails, Jack feels as though his seat of power is threatened and therefore resorts to terrorizing, threatening and essentially forcing the boys to join him and align themselves against Ralph, alienating them from their former, comfortable life-style and thus making what they once failed to appreciate all the more desirable.

After Simon and Piggy die and Sam and Eric are captured, the only person left in Ralph’s tribe is Ralph. Jack’s anger and hatred towards Ralph continues to live within himself. As a result of this hatred and anger from Jack, he sets the jungle on fire in order to find and kill Ralph. “He wormed his way through the thicket toward the forest, keeping as far as possible beneath the smoke” (216). Jack’s actions clearly show that savagery overrules civilization. It makes sense that Jack has a strong desire to hunt Ralph because Jack represents savagery and Ralph represents civilization. Emphasizing the symbol throughout the novel, especially when Jack overrides Ralph, clearly shows that savagery always conquers

“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.

Through out the book, Ralph struggles with his civilization and savagery. An example is when he joins Jack and his tribe of what they thought was the "Beast". Over a period of time, Ralph beings to lose the way that he thinks. You can see signs of this when he has a hard time developing an agenda for his meetings with the boys. He also beings to lose his morals and self control. Ralph becomes savage after everyone has joined Jacks new tribe. He has always been savage because everyone has savagery in them. He truly shows his savage side when he murdered Simon. It was a night on the beach while everyone is around a fire. The boys start to chant for the beast to come out. Everyone is in the moment and something from the woods comes out onto the beach. "A thing was crawling out of the forest"(Golding152). They start attacking what they think is the "beast". Once they stop Ralph then realizes that they have killed Simon. The next morning, Ralph is the only person to acknowledge that they murdered someone the night before. This is the only time that Ralph becomes savage. He knows what he has just done was an awful thing, but at the same time it gave him an adrenaline rush. He was excited about what he did. In the end, Ralph gained an understanding of mans human nature character, something that he cant acquire.

This scene represents the lack of civilization. It shows what happens when things get out of control, when there are no laws or regulations, and when Ralph starts to lose his authority over the boys. Specifically, this is when the author states, “Jack held up the head and jammed the soft throat down on the pointed end of the stick which pierced through into the mouth. He stood back and the head hung there, a little blood dribbling down the stick” (p. 136). A good majority of the boys have become inhumane savages. For instance, it isn’t normal for a hunter to cut off an animal’s head, put it on a stick, and leave it in the woods. Jack and his hunters used to be the type of hunters that felt bad when they killed an animal. Now, they are inconsiderate hunters that could care less about how they hurt living things. Ralph, being a kid, isn’t the same as if there was an adult around. Due to the lack of age difference, Ralph can’t keep the sanity and authority for very long because the boys don’t see him as any better than the rest of the boys on the island. Once the boys start to realize that Ralph is just a kid, and he can’t really control their actions, they rebel. Without an older adult around to keep the peace, most of the boys don’t seem to care what they do. Overall, this scene portrays the beginning of their rebellion against Ralph’s upper