Savagery In Lord Of The Flies

The Fall of Civilization to Savagery According to the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes, life without society would be “nasty, brutish, and short”. This natural state of human nature is portrayed in William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, where a group of boys are no longer restricted by rules after crashing on an uncharted island. They attempt to construct a government of their own, but it quickly falls apart as they fall victim to their inner savagery that is conceived as a “beast.” Golding uses the character Simon, the island, and the beast to symbolize how the innate savagery of human nature corrupts civilization. In his novel, William Golding uses Simon to symbolize a “prophet figure,” being the purity and truth that is overcome by man’s evil

He is the only one who does not participate in any violent acts and displays hopeful optimism throughout the novel. For instance, in chapter seven, he reassures Ralph, “You’ll get back to where you came from” (111). This displays Simon’s hope and focus on bringing everyone back to society literally and figuratively; not only does he want to help them get rescued, but he wants to prevent them from morally turning against civilization. Regardless of his efforts, the boys’ fear progressively grows as they ignore Simon’s warnings about the beast, resulting in them regressing further into a primitive and animalistic state. His proposal of the beast actually being within them is rejected, as shown in chapter five when “Simon [becomes] inarticulate in his effort to express mankind’s essential illness… [His] effort [falls] about him in ruins; the laughter [beats] him cruelly and he [shrinks] away defenseless to his seat” (89) Simon is the only