Lord of the Flies
Lord of the Flies
There are many factors that determine how people conduct themselves in their daily lives. From the day people are born, they are governed by a set of laws that influence the way they live. Children are taught how to behave by parents or guardians, and adults are taught by the structures of society that keep people civilized with laws and order. In “Lord of the Flies,” by William Golding, the author shows that without the influence of civilized society and law, people can revert back to an undeveloped existence. In chapter eight of “Lord of the Flies,” the hunters kill a pig. They cut the head off of the pig and attach it to a sharpened stake in the jungle. In the novel, the pig’s head has symbolic importance because it represents evil, fear, and violence.
The pig’s head represents evil because it demonstrates the evil inside of every human being. The pig’s head is a direct result of their actions on the island. The rotting and defiled portrait of the pig indicates both power and fear, and it prays on the children’s madness that is silently accumulating. It becomes the symbol for all things evil and demonic in the shadows of their mind. The pig’s head brings out the evil side of Jack and the other boys in his tribe. The head of the pig has a different effect on Ralph and the boys who stuck by his side. The cause of the deaths and chaos on the island can be traced back to the pig. No matter how much the pig’s head deteriorates, the skull will always remain, showing that the evilness never leaves; it will always be there. Halfway through the novel, fear is instilled throughout the boys because a small, six year-old-boy with a mulberry birthmark on his face claims that there is a “beastie.” (35) The pig's head evokes fear and represents a deep evil that provokes Ralph to take the head off the stick. (He finds its bony grin unnerving). Ralph succeeds at knocking it off the stick, but unfortunately, the grin which unnerved
There are many factors that determine how people conduct themselves in their daily lives. From the day people are born, they are governed by a set of laws that influence the way they live. Children are taught how to behave by parents or guardians, and adults are taught by the structures of society that keep people civilized with laws and order. In “Lord of the Flies,” by William Golding, the author shows that without the influence of civilized society and law, people can revert back to an undeveloped existence. In chapter eight of “Lord of the Flies,” the hunters kill a pig. They cut the head off of the pig and attach it to a sharpened stake in the jungle. In the novel, the pig’s head has symbolic importance because it represents evil, fear, and violence.
The pig’s head represents evil because it demonstrates the evil inside of every human being. The pig’s head is a direct result of their actions on the island. The rotting and defiled portrait of the pig indicates both power and fear, and it prays on the children’s madness that is silently accumulating. It becomes the symbol for all things evil and demonic in the shadows of their mind. The pig’s head brings out the evil side of Jack and the other boys in his tribe. The head of the pig has a different effect on Ralph and the boys who stuck by his side. The cause of the deaths and chaos on the island can be traced back to the pig. No matter how much the pig’s head deteriorates, the skull will always remain, showing that the evilness never leaves; it will always be there. Halfway through the novel, fear is instilled throughout the boys because a small, six year-old-boy with a mulberry birthmark on his face claims that there is a “beastie.” (35) The pig's head evokes fear and represents a deep evil that provokes Ralph to take the head off the stick. (He finds its bony grin unnerving). Ralph succeeds at knocking it off the stick, but unfortunately, the grin which unnerved