Lord Of The Flies Savagry

In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, Young British boys are stranded on a traopical islad. They elect Ralph to lead in an recreate the civilization they were lost from. Jack also wants to be leader but in a savage survivalist style like primeval hunters. Golding shows us that savagry lies within even the most civilized people. “‘I went on. I thought, by myself-’ The madness came into his eyes again. ‘I thought I might kill.’” (Golding 51). The average 12 year old would not feel that in the midst of a civilization. The children start out trying to create a semblance of civility. Throughout the book they lose that. In the very next chapter th same character is described as : “he [Jack]began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling” (64). When people are isolated from society, particularly they are young and impressionable, will lose or let go of what makes them civilized, becoming savage.

“‘Shut up,’ said Ralph absently. He lifted the conch. ‘Seems to me we ought to have a chief to decide things’” (22). They attempt order and even leadership. Everything they try to do to stay civilized eventually falls apart. “Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of a true, wise friend called Piggy”