Desolation In Lord Of The Flies

Lord of the Flies is an allegorical novel written by William Golding telling the story of young boys stranded on a faraway island and their response to new freedoms and the dangers brought on by themselves that come with it. It follows them on their hopes of being rescued and their struggles to keep a society of civility. The kids become friends with each other and appoint Ralph as chief, helped by other kids like Jack, Piggy, Simon, Sam, and Eric. This novel illustrates how desolation can make people lose their innocence and quickly become violent and aggressive, like in the case of Jack starting out as sweet and then turning murderous. In Lord of the Flies, William Golding’s debut novel published in 1954, Jack is turned from a civil person

In this part, he is incredibly similar to Ralph. He starts out as respectful of the law and Ralph’s role and goals as leader. He even contributes ideas and knowledge, like using Piggy’s glasses to make fire and using ‘“them as burning glasses!’”, in the beginning of them being stuck on the island (Golding 40). He is helping create a new lawful society on the island thanks to Ralph’s role as new chief. He also respects some of the rules Ralph puts in place such as whoever is speaking must hold the conch and waits patiently for his turn and holds “out his hand for the conch” (Golding 35). He also helps some of the older kids explore the island to make sure it is safe. He collaborates with Ralph on many things like adding on to Ralph’s previous words on some amenities of the island. He adds “‘There’s food; and bathing water in that little stream. . . and everything.’”, showing his excitement to help create a new community on the island while still maintaining a fun, peaceful environment (Golding

Now rivals, Jack’s tribe steals Piggy’s glasses in order to make a fire for themselves and forcibly takes them by beating up Ralph’s society. On his way back, Jack, now chief of his tribe, “led them, trotting steadily; exulting in his achievement” with Piggy’s broken glasses (Golding 168). He resorts to savagery in order to take something that would have been lended to him to let their tribe make fire too. Then, Jack escalated the problem even further when Ralph and his companions went to Castle Rock to ask for the glasses back. Here, they saw “Savages painted beyond recognition, edging round the ledge” and began asking for the glasses, leading to an argument between Ralph and Jack about stealing the glasses (Golding 175). This eventually leads to the death of Piggy and the conch breaking, ending all sense of order and peace between the tribe and the society. This dives into even more chaos with Jack and Ralph fighting, then Jack swinging “at Ralph with his spear. By common consent they were using the spears as sabers now, no longer daring the lethal points.” (Golding 177). This fight with each other pits violence against peace, civilization against savagery, and anarchy against harmony. This leads Ralph to realize that Jack and “These painted savages would go further and further.” and that there