preview

The Alternate Ending Of The Lord Of The Flies

Decent Essays

Lord of the Flies has many important themes and with an alternate ending, there are many new concepts for a theme introduced. Lord of the Flies has the theme of civilization versus savagery, which can be seen through Jack and Ralph. There are many similarities between the alternate ending and the original ending, but there are also many differences that can be noted. Lord of the Flies is a complex novel with a complex ending that can be analyzed to find the deeper meaning. The original ending to Lord of the Flies had Ralph running from the hunters, just to eventually find himself on the beach with a naval officer waiting to take the boys back to civilization. He had run from the hunters for fear of the stick sharpened on both ends as was stated by Samneric on page 273. The stick was going to be used for Ralph’s severed head like it was for the Lord of the Flies. Ralph had wanted to stay as one group and pushed for civilization and rescue. Ralph clung to civilization throughout the entire book and even at the end without the conch or Piggy, he remained civilized and avoided becoming savage like Jack and the hunters. The alternate ending was not the same outcome for Ralph. Ralph had descended to savagery and lost sight of civilization and rescue. In the book he had moments where he forgot about wanting to be rescued, like on page 245; “He paused lamely as the curtain flickered in his brain.” This shows he had already started to lose sight of civilization but Piggy was

Get Access