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Savagery In Lord Of The Flies

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When a group of boys are without authoritative figures on an island, as suggested in Lord of the Flies by William Golding, their human nature influences their evolution of savagery due to the lack of consequences. In the absence of any established society, boys choose hunting as a fundamental action of mankind and resort to killing for the pleasure of it without reason. As excuses to execute violence, the boys on the island create the idea of a beast manifested from their fears; oppose Ralph’s ideas for hope of rescue; and find disturbing satisfaction in killing. As a result, the boys’ savagery impacts their decisions on how to survive on the island. With the lack of a secure society, the boys on the island create the beast out of their …show more content…

When the boys divide themselves into the two tribes, Ralph struggles with maintaining power because the boys in Jack’s tribe refuse to listen to anybody who doesn’t share their murderous inclinations. Ralph’s idea of hope and rescue, the signal fire, is opposed by the boys who do not understand, “without the smoke signal they’ll die here” (Golding, 139). Jack and his tribe become so invested in the spirit of killing, they lose their sense of what is important on the island, which Ralph continuously tries to emphasize amongst the boys. What the boys do not realize is that, when they resist Ralph’s voice of reason, they begin to hurt themselves as well. The boys’ virtues and ethical sensibilities slowly deteriorate as their desire for hunting increases. Even when the boys are slipping further into savagery, Ralph persists with his logic on the signal fire, “who is defeated by the silence and the painted anonymity of the group.” (Golding, 178). Jack and his tribe, due to their collective vicious psyche, become impervious to Ralph’s appeals for logic and harmony, therefore losing any righteous justification for their

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