Savagery In Lord Of The Flies Symbolism Essay

Throughout the novel Lord Of The Flies, the boys on the island are continuously faced with numerous fears. Subsequently there is nothing on the island which they fear more than the beast. The beast is not a tangible object that can be killed or destroyed by conventional means, but an idea symbolizing the primal savage instincts within all people. Its Golding’s intention to illustrate the innate evil inside man through his view of human nature, the actions of the Jack and his tribe, and the relationship between the beast and the school boys.

When people think of a beast, a few ideas may come to mind. The monster that lives under your bed, a creature with fangs, or abomination waiting in the dark. But how often does one consider that the scariest beast may be humans themselves? In Sir WIlliam Golding’s novel “The Lord of the Flies,” boys stranded on a remote island are terrorized by a beast, similarly to some children and even adults in the real world. However, the events and actions of Jack and Ralph in Golding’s novel illustrate that the beast is really humans themselves, and their unending selfishness throughout the story.

“Maybe there is a beast… maybe it's only us,.” said William Golding, Lord of the Flies. When a symbol is examined, many conclusions can be drawn by relating the symbol to society and real life. In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, even though the beast does represent something one can hurt or kill, as a symbol it represents a larger concept or idea because it brings out the beast-like personalities of the boys on the island, illustrates Jack’s dominant personality, and portrays the personalities inside all of us which humans can never defeat.

“Maybe there is a beast… maybe it’s only us.” A group of British boys, ranging from six to twelve years old, become stranded from their plane crash on an uncharted island after being evacuated presumably from the shadows of WWII with no adult supervision. At first, the boys are inflamed with the gobs of freedom they are given but some swiftly realize that it’s the worst possible thing to happen. The way of the wild consumes some of the boys past the point of no return and unchangable “mistakes” are made. Eventually, they are rescued from the island but perhaps not from their behavior. In the novel Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses personification, diction, foreshadowing, and imagery to convey that savage tendencies in all of us tend

The image of the beast is introduced by Golding as a physical being, however, it is merely a fictional symbol of the darkness within. The beast is immediately associated with the decay of the makeshift society on the island. In chapter five, Jack shares his thoughts on the state of the island during an assembly: “‘Things are breaking up. I don’t understand why. We began well; we were happy. And then-’ He moved the conch gently, looking beyond them at nothing, remembering the beastie, the snake, the fire, the talk of fear. ‘Then people started getting frightened’” (Golding 82). Here, lines are drawn directly between the dilapidation of the island society, and the growing fear within it. This fear of the beast, or

In William Golding’s “Lord Of The Flies” Novel, symbolism is a very important element of the book, Many symbols show how the boys on the island are slowly becoming savage and losing their civility.

Firstly, the beast represents the irrational fear that exists within humans. People have irrational fears toward multiple things, such as the Loch Ness Monster or the Boogey Man. In Lord of the Flies, the boys developed a fear of the unknown. “The circle became a horseshoe. A thing was crawling out of the forest. It came darkly, uncertainly … ‘Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood! Do him in’” (Golding 168). As time passed and the concept of the beast grew and the boys lost more and more of their will and hope. As a result, they turned to

Initially, the “beast” in the Lord of the flies is fear. In the article on Doc A, it states that, “They externalize these fears into the figure of the “beast.” This illustrates that the fears of people, or in this case the boys, began to materialize, and eventually transforms into the beastly figure in the novel. In Doc B, the boy with the mulberry-colored birthmark on his face, claims to have seen a “beastie.” He goes on to to elaborate to the other boys that “ It was a snake-thing ever so big.” This representation of the “beast” probably symbolizes the boy’s fears.

At one point, a dead pilot lands on the island, which the boys (specifically SamnEric) mistake for the beast they already feared (document D). At this point in the story, the beast begins to represent war. This new “beast” came after Ralph wished for a sign from the grownup world in chapter 6. It symbolizes that even the adults can’t help them, quite possibly because they are no better. As stated earlier, everything the boys do is influenced by their perception of the existence of a beast. When Golding writes the beast to represent war, the boys actions are related to war (document C). This first shift in the meaning of the beast occurs as the boys are beginning to divide, as Jack begins to undermine Ralph. The beast symbolizes war; the boys are consumed by the beast, and the boys are eventually consumed by

Beast? “Kill it! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!” WIlliam Golding’s Lord of the FLies is one ofthe most powerful and popular novels of the 20th century, but no one truly knows what the “beast” is, except for Golding himself. The novel begins just after a plane evacuating a group of English schoolboys has been shot down over an unnamed deserted island in the Pacific Ocean.When the boys first land, there is an air of adventure and even celebration at their newfound freedom from grownups, but what the children don’t know is that there is something there with them. As the book goes on, there are many different thought of what this thing is, or some would say what the “beast” is.

In Lord Of The Flies, William Golding uses a fictional being in the young boys minds to introduce the idea of savagery within human beings. For example in chapter 5 Simon states his opinion on the beast that everyone on the island fears, Simon says, “ maybe there is a beast...maybe it’s only us.” Through this statement Golding displays the idea that evil resonates within them all. Thus showing the reader that the fear that was among the boys all along was soli created by their evil acts and intentions. This fear can be seen, when the idea of a “beast” was first introduced to the novel in chapter 5, Ralph “remembering the beast, the snake…the talk of fear.” brings up the beast but the idea is quickly counter attacked by Jack saying, “...as

In the novel, Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses the appearance of the beast to represent the boy's inner savagery that is being battled and embraced by the characters of Ralph and Jack. Through the beast, Golding suggests that fear is a powerful tool that can be used as a weapon to control others and can even eventually consume the minds of sane individuals.

The Beast’s introduction marks the boys’ savage nature becoming increasingly dominant paralleled by the growth in the boys’ irrational and primitive behavior. When the boys reach the epitome of savagery, they begin to give the Beast human characteristics. Jack uses the Beast to instill fear into the boys, asserting his own authority. “‘This is more than a hunter’s job,’” Ralph explains to the group of boys “‘because you can’t track the beast. And don’t you want to be rescued?’” (102). Jack receives the new role of tyrant amongst the kids due to this. The tyranny associated with the Beast causes Jack to become in charge. Jack thoroughly convinces the boys that the Beast is real by feeding into their imagination. He shouts that “The beast is sitting up”, scaring the boys into following his orders due to his “knowledge” regarding the beast

The boys’ psychological fears terrorize them, threatening their survival and causes them to become violent to each other. When the plane crashes, it is implied that for the first time in their lives, the boys are alone and afraid. They do not understand the internal fear and they project it into a physical fear, the beast. Early on as Piggy translates for a littlun,“‘ Now he says it was a beastie.’ ‘Beastie?’ ‘ A snake-thing. Ever so big.He saw it” (34). This idea becomes rooted into the other boys and they develop a fear of this ‘beast’ that takes on multiple figures as the novel progresses, consequently causing a threat to their own survival as they murder Simon thinking he was the so called ‘beast’. Golding writes, “ At once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt onto the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore. There was no words, and no movements but

The beast is what drove fear through the island, and it represents evil. This evil lies within the boys, but was most displayed in Jack when he decided to part ways. In the beginning of the book the boys were united and worked together to find a way home. But as soon as fear sparked within the littluns, trust grew weaker. The more they feared, the less they trusted each other. When Jack decided to form a tribe with the hunters, they killed Simon thinking that he was the beast. What they didn’t know was that the beast was them all along. This fear that all of them felt was really evil controlling them, manipulating them in a way. In chapter 5 of the book, Simon came to a realization that “maybe there is a beast…… maybe it’s only us,” (80). The boys laugh at him, and didn’t take him seriously. But what they didn’t know is that he was right all along. The whole idea of the beast being within them kind of shows how it is hiding beneath them and not really showing itself. This relates to when Jack and the others put face paint it allows them to dehumanize or hide themselves in a way of letting their inner beast out, the face paint is a symbol of their tribe and their actions parallel the beast in a way. In chapter 8 Simon encounters the beast when he hallucinates that the pig’s head is talking to him, this shows that the beast was always there, and that the boys were too caught up in their own behavior to even