Savages In William Golding's The Lord Of The Flies

“No arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear and danger of violent death; and the life of man solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” Thomas Hobbes, a great philosopher from the 17th century, could not more perfectly express the concept that William Golding portrays in his first novel, The Lord of the Flies. While some disagree with these men’s premises, one can note that even with society, with all of its morality and rules, over the past 3,400 years, humans have only been at peace for 268 of them, showing their true tendency for the utter obliteration of others and of themselves. Human beings need the restraints of a civilized society or they will eventually destroy themselves because of the enforcement of rules, the savagery it prevents, and the offering of superiority and authority. In a society, there are fundamental rules that cannot be broken without the promise of consequence. This fear of

The biggest fear of the boys on the island is the beast. Simon recognizes that the root of the fear is not an actual beast but, “maybe it’s only us,” (Golding ). In actuality, the boys are afraid of each other and what they are each capable of as individuals. While some could argue that it is the environment that eroded away the boys character, this thought is contradicted when Ralph says “this is a good island” (Golding ). This shows that the environment itself is not responsible for the boys behavior, but only acts as a revelation of who they really are under the masks that society gives them to hide behind. Jack is the best example of falling into savagery, which can be capitalized and displayed with his “bloodthirsty laugh” (Golding ). His bloodlust causes incredible sin, from the self gratification of hunting and eventually the murder of Simon and Piggy. Society is needed to keep people from their natural