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Civilization Vs Savagery

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“Which is better – to have rules and agree, or to hunt and kill?” (Golding, 180). In the novel, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the main concern is the conflict between two instincts that thrive within all human beings: Civilization vs. Savagery. Throughout the novel, Golding established a civilization that is bound to collapse by the fault of savagery; however, some of the boys in the novel are not as cruel. Ralph, the main character, attempts to create a society that is livable and organized until the group gets rescued. On the other hand, Jack, represents evil and arrives on the island expecting to have the power to control anything and anyone, and will punish those who do not obey. Throughout this page-turning novel, Golding prevails …show more content…

To emphasize, at the beginning of the novel, the island is seen as a tropical paradise full of peacefulness and bliss. While Ralph was exploring the island, searching for other survivors, the setting convinces him that everything is serene, “Within the irregular arc of coral the lagoon was still as a mountain lake –blue of all shades and shadowy green and purple” (Golding, 10). Correspondingly, when there is little or no conflict on the island, the beach is calm and appears to prohibit danger. Nonetheless, the concealed parts of the island like the mountains and jungle are seen as gloomy and eerie to the boys. On the night of Simon’s tragic death, there is commotion, and the weather is atrocious, “Between the flashes of lightning the air was dark and terrible” (151). The setting is described as violent and the storm’s fury represents the boy’s bitterness and enmity. Similarly, mistaking Simon as the beast, Jack’s group of savages kill him, which is ironic because Simon discovered that the beast is within everyone and was on his way to tell the rest of the group. The setting of the novel prevails the theme Civilization vs. Savagery because the weather changes according to the boy’s animosity and the island isolates them from any other human contact, leaving them to make important survival decisions without input from adults, which causes them to ignore the civilized values that used to

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In the book, the constant darkness is a symbolic feature of the island that stands for fear. “At last the way to the top looked like a scramble over pink rock, with no more plunging through darkness.” (48) The quote shows that the boys are afraid of the dark and yearn to get away from it, trying their hardest to stay together and where they can keep an eye on one another. Although darkness is seen as fear and terror, it is also seen as the birthplace of the “beast”.

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Our thoughts and reactions to Simon Abbott are: his main purpose on the island was to show and emphasize the savagery that took place between the group of boys. Golding used his fainting problem as a way for him to communicate with the beast and reveal the total evil that the island is succumb to. The author also used Simon’s brutal murder as a way to further emphasize the savagery of the boys and display a loss of innocents for Piggy and Ralph. Simon Abbott’s body has not yet been found from the Island case. Based on the statements from the other victims Simon is not guilty of any crimes that may have taken part on the island.

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The boys have an unjustified fear of the “beast”. In chapter nine specifically, Simon wakes up and realizes that the beast is actually just a dead man who had crashed on the island after his plane exploded. Simon goes to tell the others. They are in the middle of a feast and are filled with excitement and end up killing Simon. This is a turning point in the novel.

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In the novel Lord of the Flies, Golding uses many quotes and Imagery to represent nature of mankind and society. Golding uses lots of analogies to try to foreshadow you about the real life. Throughout the book Golding uses many of the character and the setting to really make the point go across the whole story. As the story is told you begin to think humans are inherently good but nature and other people can turn you evil. In the beginning of the story jack is trying to get the group together to form so type of group which really means they are trying to set up a government.

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Human Endurance and Its Shatterable Civilization The Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a warning to all about human’s natural instincts and the flimsy idea of society’s civilization. After the schoolboys’ airplane crashed on the island with no surviving adults, it was up to them to create a system or government of some sort to prevent absolute chaos. In the beginning of the novel all the boys’ had their sense of civilization still intact. As the reader can see throughout the book, Jack, Ralph, and Piggy are symbols of how dominant human instincts can easily take over the weak rules of civilization.

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Although the boys are stuck on the island for weeks and begin to turn to savagery, one boy, Simon, makes an observation that no one else makes yet. Simon, who is an intuitive and sensitive individual eventually recognizes the darkness that hides within the human heart. When the boys argue about there being a beast on the island, Simon proposes the idea to the group that “maybe it’s only us that we’re afraid of” (Golding 195). Simon tries to suggest that the beast may be something within the boys themselves but to the boys, it’s just easier to fear the beast than to face the reality that they are actually afraid of each other. Towards the end of the novel when Simon and Piggy face death, and Jack’s savage group is about to kill Ralph, a naval officer shows up at the same time Ralph was about to give up and let himself die.

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The characters in William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, illustrate a loss of morality that comes with the growth of tribalism. The book in question, Lord of the Flies, is about a group of boys who are the only survivors of a plane-crash on an uninhabited island, and how they survive on their own. The growth of tribalism was evident in the increasing separation between the boys and the eventual formation of two conflicting groups, and the loss of morality was illustrated by the boys’ lack of respect for human life. Instead of progressing through Kohlberg’s stages of moral development, we see the boys regress through the stages. The spark that created intense tribalism occurred at the start of the novel when Ralph was voted chief over

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The hidden savagery of humans that is dormant because of civilization is presented in Lord of the Flies through its symbolism, repetition and diction. The struggle for power and control on the island led to the exposure of savage nature that is present in the boys who were forced into a lawless place. Throughout the novel reason and logic are abandoned, causing the boys to act on whims and be controlled by their instincts rather than control themselves. Civilization has dampened human’s savage ways, but believing that there are no consequences could lead to the downfall of humanity and the return of the primitive ways society believes it has abandoned. Golding wrote Lord of the Flies to expose the hidden savagery that humans possess and how if humans aren’t careful they will become the savages

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They fall victim to the island, and slowly turn into savages. Because they are still children with strong imaginations, they believe they are not alone. The thought of a beast living on the island with them emerges from the boys firm imaginations, and starts killing any innocence the boys have left. One of the best examples of loss of innocence in this book is when a main character, Jack, starts hunting pigs. Before his hunt, he put clay and dirt on his face to use as camouflage, To this young boy, it was a lot more than camouflage.

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He sees that the violence is coming from the boys. They are the ones who are burning things up, fighting, and eventually killing. Simon, however, refuses to give in to the barbarity and violence that is taking hold of the boys on the island. Simon also values spiritual truth-seeking. Rather than trying to take control of the island and control its weaker inhabitants, Simon wants to understand the island and the psychological effects of being stranded.

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As Jack’s moral character deteriorates, it brings his savagery to the surface, allowing the remnants of civilization to be forgotten. In the beginning of the novel, a group of young boys find themselves alone, without any adults, on an island after

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In the psychological novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, it is demonstrated that in the conflict for power between savagery and civilization there is no winner. This is verified through Ralph’s initiative to bring order and peace to the island, Jack’s actions against rational thoughts, and finally, the group’s decisions made while free from the rules of adult

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At the beginning of the story the boys are very scared and confused on where they are because this place is a unknown entity they have no clue what could be on the island and how they are going to survive. This is symbolism of human instinct, because when people encounter unknown experiences they start to freak out and make irrational decisions on easy problems with simple solutions. This occurs most in Jack because he wants to be the leader of the group of boys but when Ralph gets leader he tries to sabotage it in different ways by creating more fear and promoting protection of the group from “The beast”. “If you’re hunting sometimes… you can feel as if you’re not hunting, but being hunted”. While Simon is still scared he is not making irrational decisions, he is trying to figure out how to survive and follow orders and creating shelters and fire.

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(Golding, 77). Although the boys laugh at Simon’s idea, his belief conforms Golding’s idea that inner evil exists. The boys develop into the beast when they kill Simon. Simon was desperate to explain the unidentified creature on the mountain but the boys weren’t in the mood for listening to him. With his brutal murder by the other boys, chaos takes over civilized order on the island.

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“At once the crowd surged after it … no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws” (Golding 153). Simon was the main symbol of pure innocence on the island and the boys have destroyed that, taking away any morality that they had. Golding's use of symbolism here shows that the final drop into chaos for all the boys on the island is coming and will happen faster now that they have lost all innocence. Through Jack's disregard for the rules,

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