Lord of the Flies
William Golding's Lord of the Flies is a compelling story of survival about a group of young English school boys who get stranded on a tropical island. Throughout the book the boys make an effort to keep a civilized life with order and rules, but they fail miserably, and succumb to savage ways. The theme humans are inherently evil is being shown through the boy's ascending savagery the longer they stay on the island.
One way the theme is shown is through the boy's somewhat childish fascination with the act of killing pigs. The first pig kill is committed by a group called the hunters led by Jack. "At last the words of the chant floated up to them, across the blackened wood and ashes. 'Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood'… Jack his face smeared with clays, reached the to first and haled Ralph excitedly, with lifted spear. "Look! We've killed the pig- We stole upon them- We got in a circle-' The voices broke from the hunters" (69). The theme is being shown here because the boys are so excited that they create a disturbing chant; they turn killing a pig into a glorified act with no remorse about having killed a living creature. The theme is also shown because killing animals is necessary to obtain meat and survive, but the boys excited behavior comes from the act of killing itself instead of the meat the pig is providing them. The boys enthusiasm does not diminish, for they keep talking about the pig killing. "All the boys were talking at once relieved and excited. 'We closed in-' The first blow had paralyzed its hind quarters, so then the circle closed in closed in and beat and beat-' 'I cut the pig's throat'… The Maurice pretended to be the pig and ran squealing to the center, and the other hunters circling still, pretended to beat him. As they danced they sang the song 'Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Bash her in'" (75). This shows the theme by the kid's animated description of the pig hunt, which is a gruesome act, and they are talking about it as if it
One way the theme is shown is through the boy's somewhat childish fascination with the act of killing pigs. The first pig kill is committed by a group called the hunters led by Jack. "At last the words of the chant floated up to them, across the blackened wood and ashes. 'Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood'… Jack his face smeared with clays, reached the to first and haled Ralph excitedly, with lifted spear. "Look! We've killed the pig- We stole upon them- We got in a circle-' The voices broke from the hunters" (69). The theme is being shown here because the boys are so excited that they create a disturbing chant; they turn killing a pig into a glorified act with no remorse about having killed a living creature. The theme is also shown because killing animals is necessary to obtain meat and survive, but the boys excited behavior comes from the act of killing itself instead of the meat the pig is providing them. The boys enthusiasm does not diminish, for they keep talking about the pig killing. "All the boys were talking at once relieved and excited. 'We closed in-' The first blow had paralyzed its hind quarters, so then the circle closed in closed in and beat and beat-' 'I cut the pig's throat'… The Maurice pretended to be the pig and ran squealing to the center, and the other hunters circling still, pretended to beat him. As they danced they sang the song 'Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Bash her in'" (75). This shows the theme by the kid's animated description of the pig hunt, which is a gruesome act, and they are talking about it as if it