Civilization Vs. Savagery, By William Golding

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CONFRONTATION FOR THE REAPPEARANCE OF CIVILIZATION “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.” By George Martin. This commentary will talk about how William Golding has alluded to history to shape up the theme of this extract, which is civilization versus savagery. This extract talks about how Jack’s group, which is the savage group, stole Piggy’s glasses and how the civilized group prepares to confront them into returning them back. The setting of this extract is on a stranded island during the Second World War. “Awful things have been done on this island” Piggy gives a setting of the extract. “Just a smoke signal so that we can be rescued” This indicates that the boys are stranded, as they are needed to be rescued. “There’s them on this island, as would laugh at anything” This gives further evidence that the setting of the extract is based on an island, since Piggy mentions ‘island’ twice. Golding decides to base this extract on a stranded island because the isolation generates a sort of civilization and community. At the same time, the island absences a society, societal laws and rules permitting the boys to run wild and display their true, ugly, inner selves. In this extract Golding inserts a variety of character traits to bring out the theme of this extract. Piggy as an example believes fervently in civilization, law and reasoning through problems. He also has a tendency to lecture