Savagery In William Golding's 'Lord Of The Flies'
Bruner 1
Lake Bruner
21-November-2013
Professor Smith
English 102-015
Civilization vs. Savagery In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, there is a huge clash between civilization and savagery. Golding shows this clash through many symbols. Most people might think that civilization would be key in a group’s survival, but a human’s natural desire to be savage can overpower being civilized. In the novel, a group of well-mannered, English schoolboys crash-land a plane on an abandoned island in the middle of the ocean. The boys have no clue where they are or how they got there. All they no is that there are no “grown-ups” on the island and that they need to find someway to survive together. The protagonist, Ralph, is the best …show more content…
Unlike Ralph, Jack is abusive with his power. He doesn’t want civilization and order. He wants to hunt pigs and be savage. He breaks off from Ralph’s leadership and forms his own
“tribe” because he cannot stand to be ruled by an equal. He is the best hunter in the tribe, and most of the boys on the island end up going to Jack tribe. All the boys realize that savagery
Bruner 3 might be better than civilization on a deserted island. Once Jack kills his first pig on the island, he becomes obsessed with killing and power. “[Jack] began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling” (Golding 66) The boys become better and better at killing pigs and adapting to the mountain. It seems that the boys start killing for fun rather than for the meat.
“Behind them on the grass the headless and paunched body of a sow lay where they had dropped it” (Golding 146). The savagery becomes so extreme within some of the boys, that two of the nicest boys in the story, Simon and Piggy, get murdered by Jack and his tribe. In conclusion, humans natural impulse is to be savage, and it is society and civilization that contains this impulse. People would think that being civilized would always be the
Lake Bruner
21-November-2013
Professor Smith
English 102-015
Civilization vs. Savagery In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, there is a huge clash between civilization and savagery. Golding shows this clash through many symbols. Most people might think that civilization would be key in a group’s survival, but a human’s natural desire to be savage can overpower being civilized. In the novel, a group of well-mannered, English schoolboys crash-land a plane on an abandoned island in the middle of the ocean. The boys have no clue where they are or how they got there. All they no is that there are no “grown-ups” on the island and that they need to find someway to survive together. The protagonist, Ralph, is the best …show more content…
Unlike Ralph, Jack is abusive with his power. He doesn’t want civilization and order. He wants to hunt pigs and be savage. He breaks off from Ralph’s leadership and forms his own
“tribe” because he cannot stand to be ruled by an equal. He is the best hunter in the tribe, and most of the boys on the island end up going to Jack tribe. All the boys realize that savagery
Bruner 3 might be better than civilization on a deserted island. Once Jack kills his first pig on the island, he becomes obsessed with killing and power. “[Jack] began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling” (Golding 66) The boys become better and better at killing pigs and adapting to the mountain. It seems that the boys start killing for fun rather than for the meat.
“Behind them on the grass the headless and paunched body of a sow lay where they had dropped it” (Golding 146). The savagery becomes so extreme within some of the boys, that two of the nicest boys in the story, Simon and Piggy, get murdered by Jack and his tribe. In conclusion, humans natural impulse is to be savage, and it is society and civilization that contains this impulse. People would think that being civilized would always be the