Who Is The Savages In Lord Of The Flies

“They were black and iridescent green and without number; and in front of Simon, the Lord of the Flies hung on his stick and grinned. At last Simon gave up and looked back; saw the white teeth and dim eyes, the blood—and his gaze was held by that ancient, inescapable recognition” (Golding 138). Once an offering to the “beast”, the pig’s head swarming with flies that had been severed by Jack and placed on a stick, manifests into the Lord of the Flies, representing pure evil. Simon, embodying the goodness of man and peace stumbles upon the head. The interaction between Simon and the Lord of the Flies is almost an interpretation between good and evil. The strong symbolism in this book gives a deeper meaning and a definite truth

Jack believes that the beast will be satisfied with the pigs head and that the beast will leave them alone and not attack them “ that way the beast will leave us alone….maybe”(Golding). The pigs head is called the lord of the flies because of the flies that swarm around it head

The tragedies that unfold their civilization occur when they brutally beat Simon to death. After Jack and his hunters place the mother sow’s head in the forest as an offer to the beast they think exists, Simon encounters it and sees that it is covered in flies. Suddenly, the head started to talk to Simon as he feels like he is going to faint. It identifies itself to be the Lord of the Flies. It says, “You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are?” (Golding 158). Simon then realizes that there is no physical beast, but a mental beast in each and every boy on the island. They all went from being joyful to a bunch of savages. Their

Humans savagely turn against each other when they feel it would better them. One could say that there is no hope for humankind and that evil is an inborn trait of people, and in the novel, these two things go hand in hand together. In the Lord of the Flies, it portrays these ideas very well because it shows and explains how British school boys turn to savages because of the island.The boys’ shift to savagery was not gradual and this change in tone allowed many to come to a realization.

When Ralph asks him about his opinion on the beast, he says that he is unsure about it but if there is a beast, then it is within them. It is inside them which as a result is going to present itself when it feel its need to present itself as they are the dirtiest thing on the island than the beast. No one believes his prediction, for this reason, he goes to his secret hiding place full of butterflies, beautiful fragrant flowers, and candle buds where he can meditate to find out about the beast. As he reaches the place, he sees a pig’s head stuck on a stick with bees swarming around it. He continues to gaze it with such an immense interest that it seems like the pig’s head (Lord of the flies) starts talking to Simon. It says that it does not want him to be here and wants him to forget about their conversation and enjoy with his friends. If he does not do according to the Lord of the Flies, then he plans to have some with him through Jack, Maurice, Roger, Bill and Ralph whom he loves the most. “‘I’m [Lord of the Flies] warning you. I’m going to get waxy. D’you…See? Jack and Roger and Maurice and Robert and Bill and Piggy and Ralph. Do you. See?” Indeed, at last, it had fun with him through the other group of boys. Meanwhile, Simon reveals the real truth, the other boys have a pig hunt dance. As the boys see a creature moving through the bushes, they assume it as the beast

The struggle between humanity and savagery portrayed through the events of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies demonstrates how simple it is for one to succumb to the mannerisms of depravity. This is impossible with the implementation of structure and order, as such concepts provide boundaries and keep man sane and behaved. Once the boys arrive on the island, isolated and expelled from society, they look to a shell to relieve them of this hardship, and to institute a form of government that will keep them from acting out. Despite the trust they put in the shell, it fails to hold them from corruption, only adding to the growing tension between all of the boys inhabiting the mysterious island. Through the escalating tension surrounding the

Men, without rules, can be led towards destruction. Lord of the Flies depicts at first a group of boys trying to maintain order, and a later descent into savagery. One of the most direct, apparent examples of this is through Roger. Through the contrast of the self-restraint Roger has at the beginning of the novel and the murder he absentmindedly commits at the end, Golding illustrates how man’s desire for savagery is restrained only by the enforced civilization of society.

This begins to explain one of the main themes throughout the novel Lord of the Flies. For one to be uncivilized is to be barbaric and inhuman, without having a sense of culture and social development. When innocence or civilization is lost, levels of economic, social, technological, political, and cultural evolution differentiates from that of the normal, because ideas, values, institutions, and achievements of a particular society is changed. The boys in Lord of the Flies find themselves in a situation where their only option was to learn to grow up and learn to do it fast on their own. They have to learn how to survive and fend for themselves without the presence of any adult figures, and create a prosperous society for their own. They

Stranded, lost, unsupervised, and wild is the way Samneric, Roger, and Jack live. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, a plane crash leaves a group of boys on a stranded island to fend for themselves, which later on has a negative effect leading to death, devastation, and destruction. Their morals and humanity are put to the test when they are forced to survive on a deserted island. Is a structured society with rules or fending for yourself with your own free and will the best way to survive the island?

Once the biguns start to fear the beast, chaos takes over the island. Fear of the beast drives the boys to do things they would never have done before, including murder. The first one to see the beast for what it truly is, Simon, hallucinates a conversation with it in the clearing. He speaks with the pig’s head Jack’s tribe mounted in the clearing, and it taunts him that “there isn’t anyone to help [him]. Only me. And I’m the beast” (143). The name Simon gives the disembodied head is “The Lord of the Flies”. This is another name for Beelzebub, or, translated, Satan. The Lord of the Flies clearly states that it is the beast, which confirms that the beast is not an actual creature the boys can hunt down. If Satan is a parallel to the beast, then the beast must be the embodiment of the evil in people, in this case, the very boys who are trying to defeat the beast. The evil and destruction the beast brings upon the boys is demonstrated when it drives them to finally kill. During a thunderstorm, Jack’s tribe is in a panicked frenzy, and is doing a dance to ward off the inevitable thunder. They blame it on the beast, and try to overpower it, chanting “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!” (152). They are so crazed that when Simon wanders into their midst, they mistake him for the beast and beat him to death. Before the idea of the beast prevailed in their minds,

Civilization was created to contain social structure. However, in utmost circumstances, it is possible for instinct to triumph over civility. Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, is a plane evacuating a group of British schoolboys that crashes over a tropical deserted island. Once they crash on the island, they pick Ralph, the protagonist of the novel, to be their leader, and Ralph chooses Jack, the antagonist of the novel, to be the leader of the hunters, establishing somewhat of a civilization. Then when Jack comes upon a mother boar and kills it, that’s when their makeshift civilization slowly diminishes and the boys become savages. In addition, loss of social structure within a society can lead to the absolute destruction of the civilization. The author of Lord of the Flies, William Golding, uses man vs man and man vs nature conflicts to develop the theme of loss of social structure leads to savagery. Golding reveals this theme by exploring the conflicts of

Stranded on an island with complete strangers. What would you do? Attempt to restore order and rebuild civilization or tap into your natural human instincts and hunt? In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, this fight between civilization and savagery play out. For most boys, they attempt to remain civil, but for Jack Merridew, the antagonist, this decision is simple. Jack hunts and kills anything in his path. Whether it be a pig or human. In Golding’s Lord of the Flies, Jack descent to savagery is tracked to display man is inherently savage.

Similar to the devil, The Lord of the Flies is the root of all evil in the novel. In fact, “Lord of the Flies” is a translation from the Greek word “Beelzebub,” meaning “devil.” The Lord of the Flies is powerful and Simon explains it as having “the voice of a schoolmaster” (Golding 206). For the boys, the pig head on a stick becomes the symbol for their savage behavior. The Lord of the Flies can also be paralleled to the devil through Simon’s conversation with it. The conversation is similar to that of the one between Jesus and the Devil during Jesus’ forty days and nights in the desert. Through the characteristics given to The Lord of the Flies, a devil component is

During the younger boy’s explanation of the beast, Ralph “ push[es] both hands through his hair and looked at the little boy in mixed amusement and exasperation.”(page 35) Still retaining their civility, the older boys do not initially believe in the beast for they simply disregard it as a figment of their imagination. Nonetheless, the longer their stay on the island, the more the group accepts the existence of the beast. As they move further away from order whilst gravitating towards chaos, Simon points out “maybe it’s only us...” (page 96), insinuating that perhaps the beast is in fact the evil from within. Amid Simon’s confrontation with the Lord of the Flies, the sow teases him saying “You knew didn’t you? I’m part of you.” (page 158), confirming his previous proposal. Throughout the time of the feast held on the beach, Simon lays on a mat of creepers only to disclose the true identity of the beast; a dead parachutist. Upon his recent discovery, Simon makes his way down to the beast with the intention of revealing the reality. However, the boys have lost all sense of order, consequently mistaking him for the beast. As they hunt him down “ There [are] no words, and movements but the tearing of teeth and claws.” (page 169). Simon’s horrendous death is a result of the others’ complete descent into savagery. The beast, originally presumed as fantasy, is now present in the minds of those on the island, symbolizing evilness as well as a lack of

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.