Tim Jiang English 2 H 20 October 2015 Period 2 Domination of Savagery over Civilization In the novel Lord of the Flies, a group of boys crash on an island and start a society themselves. They start with some order in the beginning, but eventually fall apart. The boys become increasingly savage-like as the novel progresses. Golding implies on the idea proposed by Thomas Hobbes, that humans are naturally evil. This novel uses psychological allegories as well as symbolism to prove Golding’s point: without well-designed rules and laws, savagery dominates over civilization in a society. One of the methods that Golding uses to express the theme is psychological allegories. Sigmund Freud, a famous philosopher, developed a theory in which the human mind is made up of three parts: id, superego, and ego, represented by Jack, Piggy, and Ralph in the novel, respectively. Id is the instinct or desire of mind. Jack always has a desire of power and hunting, and he refuses to listen to Ralph or Piggy. He is a violent character who represents the evil in people’s …show more content…
The conch symbolizes order and civilization. The boys form a society on the island by blowing the conch shell. When the society forms, the conch acts as a rule: only the person holding the conch is allowed to speak. However, as the novel progresses, Jack, with his strong id, starts to ignore this rule when the boys are having an assembly: “‘Conch! Conch!’ shouted Jack, ‘we don't need the conch any more. We know who ought to say things” (Jack 89). At this point, id in Jack is getting stronger over the superego the boys have. Jack does not even listen to Piggy, the superego. Eventually, this symbol of order is destroyed when Roger crushes it with a boulder, as well as with Piggy. Therefore the order on the island is gone. It shows how uncivilized the boys have become, and the fact that humans are naturally