Savagery In Lord Of The Flies Research Paper

With the absence of societal influences and access to civilization, we are left with only our human nature. William Golding’s Lord of the Flies explores the idea of what would happen if young British school boys were stranded on an island without adults. Savagery is portrayed throughout the novel as the boys are seen becoming violent, uncivilized, and inhumane. Without a connection to civilization, the darkness within all of us prevails. At the beginning of the novel, it’s clear the boys still hold the morals and rules from back home, but nonetheless, they fall deeper into savagery until their beast ultimately overtakes. Golding's Lord of the Flies is a reminder of the deep-rooted savagery that lies within human nature.

The boys did not

Humans? What is the difference between human and human? Or a snare of animals? Or savages?” (Golding 99). The democratic system the boys had set up quickly deteriorated as Jack began challenging the rules; later, he separated into a group of his own. Ralph said, “Didn’t you see what we did- what they did,” (Golding 173) as he acknowledged they were no longer a unit. Jack felt the need to separate because he wanted control, as Wani puts it, “Jack fights for power he did not care for the group to rescue and maintain order on [the] Island, [this] is completely opposite of Ralph’s civilization.” (Wani 5). Without a group or agreed upon rules, power struggles and violence quickly escalated. When faced with unfamiliar or threatening situations, humans tend to try to make sense of things by making up explanations and myths. In this case, the boys began speculating that there could be a beast on the island. Jack decides sacrificing an innocent living creature is worth his own protection from this possible threat: “This head is for the beast”. It's a gift.” (Gold 151). The fear of the unknown and the possibility of a monster sparked the boys to act irrationally and resort to violence. As the boys become more focused on survival and hunting, savagery causes them to lose sight of their moralities and the

The beast is believed to be a physical monster on the island, but in reality the beast is within us all as foreshadowed early on in the novel, “the creature was a party of boys, marching” (Golding 15). In the beginning, while things were still civilized, there was no fear of a beast. It was only as the boys became more savage that this belief gradually grew stronger. The beast was originally introduced by a little man during a meeting “He wants to know what you’re going to do about the snake-thing... Now he says it was a beastie.” (Golding 34). This occurred after Jack had attempted to kill the first pig, connecting the first sight of savagery and darkness on the island to the first suspicion of a beast. Although at first they laughed it off, the idea and fear of a beast fully spread to the rest of the group once they had fully fallen into savagery. As savagery and the beast arose, Simon began speculating that the beast was not what they believed “maybe there is a beast... what I mean is... maybe it’s only us.” (Golding 96). Though nobody believed him, this speculation was proven true when Simon investigated further on the mountain and was faced with the following hallucination, “There isn’t anyone to help you. Only for