Lord Of The Flies Civilization Vs Savagery

“Round the squatting child was the protection of parents and school and policemen and the law. Roger’s arm was conditioned by a civilization that knew nothing of him and was in ruins,” (Golding 62). When people are given rules, they become very civilized and orderly. However, some people break these rules or the rules are taken away and they turn into savages who do not care about the harm they are causing to others. This concept of civilization verses savagery is apparent in society, but also in Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Throughout this novel, young boys slowly change from innocent children into bloodthirsty barbarians who try to kill each other. The most obvious example of civilization and savagery in this novel is the conflict

Through his leadership, he encourages order and tries to create a small civilization while they are on the island. He begins his leadership when he calls a meeting with the conch for the first time. The boys immediately recognize him as a leader because of the, "stillness about him that marked him out: there was his size, and attractive appearance; and most obscurely, yet most powerfully, there was the conch" (22). His initiative to find the others on the island led to him being elected as chief, and creating the rules of the conch: the person who held the conch could speak and could only be interrupted by Ralph. These rules helped the boys to keep themselves under control instead of ignoring any responsibilities they had. Ralph also shows his excellent leadership when he comes up with the idea to, "make smoke on top of the mountain," as a signal to other ships (38). When he creates this idea, Ralph shows that he is concerned with their safety and wants to be rescued above having fun. He then explains that someone needs to watch the fire, and after he assigns someone to do this, he again portrays that the rules of civilization are good and will keep people from

When Ralph is elected, he assigns Jack as the leader of the choir, and they are to be hunters. Throughout the novel, Jack slowly becomes more and more obsessed with the hunt. His obsession with killing a pig is so great that he abandons his duty to watch the fire, which is one of their duties to their small civilization. When Ralph tells him this, Jack simply says, "We can light the fire again," proving that he does not really care about rescue (69). Jack shows Ralph and the rest of the boys that he does not care about their safety or being rescued. He also completely disregards the rules of the conch. He is angry at Piggy for saying he does not believe in ghosts, so he speaks out of turn. When Ralph becomes angry with him, he says, "Bollocks to the rules! We're strong---we hunt! If there's a beast, we'll hunt it down! We'll close in and beat and beat and beat----!" (91). In saying this, he begins to break away from the rules of the conch and moves toward savagery. He shows the other boys that it is more manly and fun to hunt the beast, instead of being safe from the best. Eventually, they learn that the beast is inside all of them, and Jack chooses to give in to this beast. Jack is the prime example of a savage, which is depicted through his blatant disregard for the rules and for the safety of everyone on the