“Ignorance, the root and stem of all evil.” These wise words spoken by Plato in the fourth century still apply to those written by William Golding in 1954. This book is a riveting tale of death and destruction, the right amount for us to question our morals and wonder if we are only animals in denial. Lord of the Flies tells a story of a group of boys stranded on an island, with no adult supervision and no rules. The boys' effort to form a society is in vain, as it soon falls into disarray and death. It proves that humans are savage and violent, which makes civic order impossible to sustain. One important reason that human beings are basically violent and savage is that depending on your circumstances or surroundings you can lose what civility …show more content…
Somewhere in humans’ minds there is something that remembers their savage roots. The island brings out those forgotten traits because it required them to have to complete more animal-like tasks (like hunting). The lack of parent and adult guidance made it so the boys could run wild and they didn’t have to worry about their actions being punished and/or watched. The text’s point is that a person doesn’t just “go savage”. The instinctual part of their brain will always remember the early stages of humanity, when humanity was more widely recognized as savage. The island brings out those hidden instincts because it required them to have to complete more animal-like tasks (like hunting). The lack of parent and adult guidance made it so the boys could run wild and they didn’t have to worry about their actions being punished and/or watched.. Of course, it is possible to disagree with the view that humans evolved from wild animals and we will always have some savage in us because of it and instead argue that it has been millions of years since we were savage and therefore lost it somewhere along the way. However, the weight of the evidence is on the other side. What must be remembered is that at the beginning of the book we see Jack as civil and proper, by the end of the book, after …show more content…
Since our resources are finite, we will soon be forced to start over, but without technology, we have no reason not to become savage. The text says that at the beginning of the book, everyone was civil. However, because of the circumstances and problems they face being on an island with no outside contact, all the boys (with the exception of a few) become extremely savage, and they lose all chances of staying civil. The text’s point is that as time passes, the boys are able to cope less and less, turning them into savages and making civil order impossible to sustain because of their state of mind. They didn’t have their minds in the right place and were unable to cooperate civilly. But, nonetheless, one can disagree with the argument that as time passes, humans turn more savage thus making civil order impossible to sustain and instead argue that with all of our technological advancements we aren’t becoming more savage, but in fact more civilized. This is a good point, but the evidence is on our side. What must be taken away from this is that we try to conceal our savage nature with advancements in STEM. We try to de-animalize ourselves so much, with humans staying with their parents long after animals would be on their own. We keep creating new iPhones and computers,
The boys plunged into savagery because they turned on each other, they forgot about living conditions, and they didn’t have a structured civilization these three points are all reasons that caused the boys to become savages. These
The violent nature of human beings is buried deep within everyone, just waiting for the right set of circumstances for them to be unlocked. In the book Lord of The Flies it is clear that the extreme circumstances of the island caused many boys to fall into this violent nature. The group of boys originally tried to form a civilization but eventually ended in chaos as the boys more susceptible to the savagery began to show their violent intentions. Proving human beings are born with the capability of doing both good and evil in the world.
As the boys grow more savage, their belief in the beast grows stronger. By the end of the novel, the boys’ behavior is what brings the beast into existences, so the more savagely they act, the more real the beast seems to become. ( Sparknotes, Themes, Motifs and Symbols). Jack one of the young boys who were stranded on the island is very savage, for example when Jack cannot bare the thought of someone else telling his story about how he killed a pig, he begins, “ we spread round. I crept. On hands and knees. The spears fell out because they hadn’t no barbs on. The pig ran away and made an awful noise- it turned back and ran into the circle, bleeding we closed in- I cut the pigs throat.” (Golding 79). Jack had reverted back to uncivilized ways because his civilization had been shattered because of being stranded on the island. Jack even gets the rest of the boys to join in dancing around the fire as they were cooking the meet from the pig they were saying “ kill the pig. Cut her throat. Bash her in.”( Golding 79). Savagery can destroy civilization. It only takes one person to become uncivilized and the others will slowly follow after. But on the other hand is it only children who become savages when left unattended or can young people who have grown up in good neutering homes become savages, the answer is ‘yes’ according to an article called In Harms way, “ One in three Canadian girls will experience a controlling, abusive dating
Regardless of how civilized people are, given certain surrounding environmental circumstances, can produce changes in human nature to the point where they can turn into savages.
As Jack began to hunt, savagery took over, and the thought of being rescued disappeared. Ralph realised the fire had died, as a passing ship left without noticing stranded children, “ They let the bloody fire go out” (Golding 68). “We can light the fire again. You should have been with us, Ralph. We had a smashing time. The twins got knocked over” (69). Or “I cut the pig's throat” … “ There was lashings of blood” … “You should have seen it!” (69). As Jack persuaded the others to hunt, the savagery took over causing them to neglect the idea of safety. Savagery began within all of the boys, and it came instinctively while applying war paint, and slaughtering pigs on the island. Throughout Lord of the Flies, savagery grew within each boy, mainly having a large effect on Jack and
“There is a savage beast in every man, and when you hand that man a sword or spear and send him forth to war, the beast stirs” ― George R.R. Martin, A Storm of Swords. Once a man is placed into the wild, he is soon to turn savage to gain power and thrive through uncivilized situations. They will do barbaric actions when left from civilization. In the book, Lord of the Flies By William Golding, he uses the group of boys to illustrate that while one may start as a civilized human, when there is a chance to seize power, he will turn savage to take and keep that power. At first, the boys remain calm and work together, until Jack moves to a more savage state making him do inhumane actions. This idea is also stressed in an article analyzing people without civilization.
“Civilization is a hopeless race to discover remedies for the evils it produces.” Mentioned Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Savages reflect a fierce, violent, and animal like behaviour. Lord of the Flies, the novel by William Golding, illustrates that blood thirst, loss of sympathy and anger towards others contributes to savagery.
Nevertheless, the boys are found by a naval officer, just as Ralph predicts at the beginning of the novel. The boys cry for all the things they have done, their loss of innocence; the officer turns away and allows them to pull themselves together, just as any person who has made a mistake may need someone to do for them. Perhaps all along the boys just needed a moment to put things in order. Notwithstanding, they are no longer ignorant of the beast inside of them, and though they are saved, their life will never go in the direction they wanted. They are forever changed; stripped of the ignorance of savagery and safety that civilization provides.
Since its publication in 1954, William Golding’s Lord of the Flies has remained one of the most controversial novels aimed at young readers. The novel, itself, grapples with sensitive, almost taboo topics that question true human nature. It is cited that his own personal experiences had influenced and shaped his writing. Having served five years in the Navy, he was exposed to the cruelty and savagery that he realised was deeply rooted in humankind and uses this as a basis for his novel. Lord of the Flies is a novel that explores the dark side of humanity through the medium of children. He focuses on the innate primal instincts built into humans, determining how their savagery breeds. A major element that he grapples with during this investigation
A definition of savagery is a member or person that is primitive and uncivilised, many similar words used in conjunction with savagery are fierce, brutal, violent or uncontrolled. These are all highly negative words that can commonly be used for describing forms or actions of evil. As the characters in the book are at a young age they resort to this form of savagery quicker as they haven't been exposed or faced situations where their morals are important and this is how the boys on this island exploit each other in ways we would never imagine a 6-12 year old could. By the end of the book, collectively the boys end up losing members as they become heartless and careless. They're ‘savagery’ takes over and when Simon comes rustling through the bushes they assume it's the beast they fear and they attack. After they brutally murder Simon they realise what they have done but it does not seem to phase them or affect them like it would if they still had any hint of humanity left in
The Lord of the Flies by William Golding is an allegory that explores the instinctual evil humans possess and how this evil manifests into our societies. The book demonstrates this through young boys who are stranded on an island due to a plane crash. Despite their best efforts, the lack of adult guidance inhibits the boys from maintaining an orderly society. The boys turn to their survival instincts, many of which are evil. The lack of order exposes the internal savagery within the boys, resulting in an understanding of the flaws within all humanity. The Lord of the Flies uses the innocence of young boys to show the societal impact of human errors through their lack of adult supervision, the desire to inflict violence, and the need for authority over others.
Jack shows that savagery is like an illness and only gets worse over time. After Jack kills the first pig, he proudly says, “’I cut the pig’s throat’” (Golding 69). In this quote, Jack is proud of killing a defenseless sow; this proves that by nature humans are savage because a young, innocent child like Jack killed a mother pig who was nursing her young. Without a real man to look up to, Jack thought being a man meant acting as though he was tough and killing everything he saw. This is a mindset of a savage person. In addition to this scene, Jack leads the charge that killed Simon. This also proves that humans are savage by nature because Jack had no
“There are too many people, and too few human beings.” (Robert Zend) Even though there are many people on this planet, there are very few civilized people. Most of them are naturally savaged. In the book, Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, boys are stranded on an island far away, with no connections to the adult world. These children, having no rules, or civilization, have their true nature exposed. Not surprisingly, these children’s nature happens to be savagery. Savagery can clearly be identified in humans when there are no rules, when the right situation arouses, and finally when there is no civilization around us.
What Goulding wanted his readers to understand was that every human being has an inner savage in them, because we have grown from animals. However, society has made us grow away from that with things like “Action = Reaction”. As the group of kids became stranded on the island, they began to lose what they were taught from society, which caused their society to go
Webster's online dictionary defines civilization as "a society in an advanced state of social development". Without the restraints of society, the behaviour of people will regress to their savage beginnings, due to the fact that one's need for survival will overpower all other impulses. The descent into savagery, man's inherent desire to survive over anything else, and the need for civilization and order shows how society unnaturally holds everyone together. Society artificially bonds everything together by imposing rules and structures and without the reminders of civilization and its conventions the savagery of human nature emerges.