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Lord Of The Flies Civilization Vs Savagery Essay

509 Words3 Pages

This shows how he does not accept that they have gone savage, even though he very strongly seems to be as the novel goes on. The novel’s base is the conflict between civilization and savagery. This can also be expressed in good vs. evil, in this case civilization representing good and savagery representing evil. Civilization is expressed as the instinct to live by rules, act smartly, do the right thing and by keeping the order of the group. Ralph represents civilization, leadership and order. He is elected leader which means he must have obvious maturity and smartness since not many of the boys knew him earlier. The first thing he wants to do when he is elected is scout the island and make a fire so they can be rescued. Then he decides on shelters and divides the work so they can also get food. This is very civilized because he tries to keep good order and organize things logically. The instinct of savagery is however more important to humans than civilization. It causes people to act violently in order to keep power over others. Piggy has no savage feelings and only wants good but Jack …show more content…

When people are left alone they do not know what to do so they turn to cruelty, savagery and bullying. They create an enemy for themselves and become obsessed with it. In this novel they create the beast, an enemy that only exists inside their minds and was caused by a man that they only felt but did not see inside a dark cave they were exploring. A pig’s head which they managed to kill is then placed on a stick as an offering to the beast so it would not attack them. Jack so strongly believes that there is a beast that he kills Simon, mistaking him as the beast attacking. The beast is invented in the midst of hunting and savage thoughts while they were trying to get a kill. Simon, who was kind and civilized knew the beast did not exist but was killed due to

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