Savagery In Lord Of The Flies

The standard thinking of humanity is that they are pure, intelligent, and rational beings. Contrary to that belief, William Golding writes Lord of the Flies from the opposite standpoint. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, several young boys are stranded on an island. During the time the boys are deserted, they start to lose their sanity, and reveal the evilness and savagery that hides beneath civilization and rules. Golding uses vivid imagery, expressive dialogue, and the boy's actions to display how humanity has an affinity for evilness. Golding uses vivid imagery to indicate how the boys’ morality fades and savagery unveils. Jack Merridew is just one example of how much evil humans are capable of possessing. He is noted for being the most brutal of the boys, and the first to let go of his civility. Golding uses Jack’s appearance to display how the boy's morals are starting to change, and implies that Jack is turning savage. Golding states, “His sandy hair, considerably longer than it

Jack is a prime example of this as he initially hesitated to kill a pig, but now laughs at the terror he inflicts. “There came a pause, a hiatus, the blade continued to flash at the end of a bony arm. The pause was only long enough for them to understand what an enormity the downward stroke would be,” (31) the pause Jack experienced was the civil morals he still had. Later in Lord of the Flies, after Jack’s tribe kills a pig it states, “He giggled and flicked them while the boys laughed at his reeking palms. Then Jack grabbed Maurice and rubbed the stuff over his cheeks,” (135). The contrast between Jack’s actions reveals that after a long period of time on the island, disconnected from civilization, Jack and his tribe of hunters no longer hesitate to kill. Whether it’s just a pig, or a human, they feel no remorse. Golding's use of Jack’s actions displays man’s more primitive