Lord Of The Flies Imagery

From Civilized to Savage, Imagery in Lord of the Flies Humans often think that they are civilized but they often forget the more savage nature of their ancestors. Sometimes humans start behaving in a primitive fashion when they find themselves in a new or uncomfortable environment and lose touch with civilization. In Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies, he shows how a fictional group of boys stranded on an island become progressively less civil and well-mannered. Golding’s use of imagery shows the boys as civilized, uncivilized, and savage beings throughout his novel Lord of the Flies. To begin, imagery is used to show the boys’ civilized nature. First, the choir is introduced to wearing neat, tidy uniforms. Golding wrote, “each boy wore a square black cap with

First, nakedness and paint are used to show their wildness. Jack is “stark naked save for paint and a belt” (201). The imagery of a naked boy wearing nothing except tribal war paint and a belt brings to mind wild natives living in a jungle far away from civilization. Second, the children ferociously attack Simon when he brings news that there is no beast. Simon stumbles into the dancing circle of boys and they attack him thinking he is the beast: “the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt on to the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore. There were no words, and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws" (219). Golding’s use of the words surged and poured depicting the boys not as separate people but as one being attacking the beast. The visual and auditory description of the boys screaming, biting, and tearing at the beast with teeth and claws frames the boys as though they are wild beasts acting out of a primal impulse. Lastly, Jack’s group of savages decide to hunt Ralph as though he is a pig. Samneric says, “they’re going to hunt you tomorrow. and we’ve got to be careful and throw our spears like a pig"