Examples Of Savagery In Lord Of The Flies

Trace the descent from civilisation to savagery in ‘Lord of the Flies’. What is Golding’s view of humanity as shown in this novel?

The literature ‘Lord of the Flies’ provides an incisive insight to human behaviour. The novel tells the fictional story of a group of British boys during the outbreak of a war. These boys get stranded on an uninhabited island with no responsible authority figure among them, such as an adult. Over the course of time, these boys demonstrate the less well shown elements of human nature when they are put in a society and environment where no rules for civilisation are set in place. By creating this microcosm, William Golding contends that human nature, when set free from the constrains of society, draws people

Such a symbol is ‘The Conch’, a shell which the main protagonist, Ralph, finds at the beginning of the novel, and then uses it to gather all the boys on the island for their first union. The Conch Shell symbolises the rule of law and civilisation. It is also used to grant the power of speech to whomever is in possession of it. The Conch is described as a valuable object by the use of the phrases “ever so expensive” and “pounds and pounds and pounds”. Whilst this suggests that the conch is very precious - it also hints at it being very fragile with the next few lines, stating that The Conch is “a delicate thing”. The use of the word “delicate” highlights this. This word is once again used when describing the details on The Conch itself - Golding states that the conch is “covered with a delicate, embossed pattern”. By using these words and phrases, Golding claims that Civilisation (the conch) is a valuable and fragile thing, which is, later in the novel, shattered and

The glasses the boys to create fire, the first necessity of civilisation, Piggy’s glasses represent science and technology, and, mankind’s power to transform and remake their environment to best suit their needs. The glasses also represent hope in being rescued and surviving.

“‘Piggy! Have you got any matches?’… Piggy shook his head… Jack pointed suddenly ‘His specs- use them as burning glasses!’”

The quotation above explains that whoever has the glasses is able to use them as “burning glasses”- and, thus, create fire. The ability to create fire, or, more to the point, signal fire, gives hope to the boys that they will somehow survive and get rescued.

Later, “Jack smacked Piggy’s head. Piggy’s glasses flew off and tinkled on the rocks. Piggy cried out in terror: ‘My specs!’… Simon, who got there first found them for him… ‘One side’s broken.’” After this ordeal, the ability to create fire becomes fragile and valuable- and, theoretically, some hope is lost as the thought of being saved now becomes fanciful dreams. The boys then subconsciously through themselves into two different groups, which end up representing civilisation and savagery. The shattered lens of the glasses also foreshadows what will happen to Piggy; however, both of them never do crack- so they do end up being