Barbarians of the Modern World In The Lord of the Flies, fire, the beast, painted faces, spears, pig hunts, and the dance were all aspects of savagery that had a stronger appeal than civilization to the boys on the island. Fire symbolizes the loss of civilization and the descent into savagery. Two major examples of this theme include the fires that were created by Ralph and Jack. The first fire made by Ralph was civilized, created with the intent of the boys being rescued. “ There’s another thing. We can help them find us. If a ship comes near the island they may not notice us. So we must make smoke on top of the mountain. We must make a fire (Golding 35) ”. Being spotted by a plane or ship was Ralph’s number one goal so that the boys could …show more content…
At this point, numerous boys had lost some human characteristics, howling and throwing fiery sticks into the ocean. Simon had been on his own in the jungle exploring the supposed beast, but when he realized that it was a dead parachuter, he went to tell the boys. When he crawled out of the woods he was met by many savage boys claiming he was the beast, when in fact they were to blame. The fact that it was dark and stormy is no excuse that the tribe couldn’t identify Simon, who they ended up killing, because the fire was bright enough to illuminate him. The heat of the moment, evil, and mob mentality were the major causes of Simon’s …show more content…
The boys had agreed that only the person holding the shell could talk, but Jack chose to disobey the rules as the book progressed. His opinion remained that the powerful should talk and the weak remain silent. “We don’t need the conch anymore. We know who ought to say things. What good did Simon do speaking, or Bill, or Walter? It’s time some people knew they’ve got to keep quiet and leave deciding things to the rest of us(61)”. Barbarism affected Jack enough that he stole Piggy’s specs instead of asking for them. Ralph had even said that he would have shared the specs with Jack’s tribe if he had asked, but Jack didn't care enough to even try asking. “Bollocks to the rules. We’re strong-we hunt! If there’s a beast, we’ll hunt it down! Well close in and beat and beat and