Lord of the Flies Essay

Jenna Traub

November 16th 2017

English 11

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Lord of the Flies Essay

 

Through isolation of a civilized society, mayhem will erupt which is what Lord of the flies by William Golding explores. The themes of savagery and civilization between young boys is deeply examined throughout the novel. The beginning of the story starts with a plane full of young British boys crash landing on a deserted island and initially left to fend for themselves. On the island conflict rises between the two main characters of the story, Ralph and Jack who respectively illustrate civilization and savagery. The absence of civilization on the island leads to savagery and the loss of innocence in the children. In order for a structured society to be successful rules must be followed otherwise fear and savagery will take over and the structured society will be destroyed.

 

The theme is first introduced through the symbol of the conch shell which symbolizes Ralph and authority, since he is the first to use it and gather all the boys together. He is immediately voted in as the chief of the island and all the boys follow his rules. The conch represents the authority he possesses among the boys. “I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak…. he won’t be interrupted.” Pg. 31. Ralph suggest civilization giving all the boys a chance to speak but allowing one person at a time so every thought can be heard among the boys. Ralph feels as though he should take up the role of the adult on the island. The boys have created a democracy on the island which shows their civilized side. They want to mimic their lives and adults who they have left. Contrasting the conch is Jack, who since the beginning has wanted to have the most power on the island, as well as gain power by using the boys fear to control them. At the beginning of the book however he is tied to civilization for instance he can’t kill the pig because of his civilized mind, “They knew very well why he hadn’t: because of the enormity of the knife descending and cutting into living flesh; because of the unbearable blood.” Pg. 29. Yet, as the book progresses and the longer the boys are isolated from civilization and adult supervision, Jacks civilized mind crumbles and his savage ways shine through and he learns to hunt and kill and enjoys it.

 

Ralph and Piggy fortunately continue to believe in the rules they have made. In fact, Ralph and Piggy create a civilized community at the beginning of the book, building shelters, assigning boys different jobs, as well as keeping a rescue fire going to create smoke so a rescue ship could spot them. The fire represents hope and rescue from this island. It is the good on the island. Jack however, has a different mind set, he believes hunting and killing is the most important idea on the island. “….what do you want the choir to be? ‘Hunters.’” Pg. 19. Since the beginning of the book, Jack wants to hunt and use his power over the choir to do so. He chooses to be far away from Ralph’s rules and civilized society. One day, while Jack as abandoned the fire along with two other boys, the fire goes out, no smoke is created, and a ship sails by clueless of the activity on the island. “‘We’ll go hunting every day -‘ Ralph spoke again, hoarsely. He had not moved. ‘You let the fire out.’” Pg. 73. This is where the conflict between Ralph and Jack, civilization and savagery is shown deeply between the boys on the island.

 

The fear of the beast from the boys allows the beast to grow into the devil. This fear they have leads them to forgetting their rules and acting more like savages which Jack uses  to withhold his power among the boys and create his own tribe of savage hunters. This tribe is taken over by the fear inside of them and the beast, they chant, “kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!” Pg. 168. This chant illustrates how the boys have lost all ties to civilization and become savage hunters, and end up killing Simon. Jack controls the boys with this fear and wants to overrule and ignore the conch as well as Ralph’s rules, this is where Jack completely turns into a savage among all the boys. As a result, savagery and fear make its way into Ralph when he throws a spear at the wild boar, as well as the night Simon is murdered. In the same way both of these events were lead by fear of losing civilization resulting in savage behaviour, which is how all the boys become savage by the end of the book. “Which is better-to have rules and agree, or to hunt and kill?” Pg. 200. The boys by this point in the book are all apart of Jack’s tribe and following a savage nature instead of following the rules they made at the beginning to stay civilized. All the boys despite Ralph, Piggy, and Samneric have lost their civil mind and ties to their proper English society.

 

In conclusion, this novel ultimately demonstrates the differences and conflicts between savagery and civilization. Ralph represents civilization throughout the novel trying to push his rules and organized behaviour on the island, whereas Jack represents the savagery that has taken over because of isolation and the lack of civilization the boys demonstrate on the island. The absence of a structured civilized society leads to fear and savage behaviour among the boys which is illustrated through the many events that take place.

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