Survival Instincts In Lord Of The Flies Analysis

Survival is the act of doing what you need to do to stay alive, however sometimes people go too far. In Lord of the Flies by William Golding the boy’s actions result in their loss of identity and could be argued that it was only because of their survival instincts. However some of the boys’ actions cannot be blamed on the harsh conditions and human survival instincts. Some of these include Rodger and his brutality to children and animals, Jack and obsession with becoming a leader, and the gruesome murder of Piggy. All of these events were unnecessary to the survival of the boys’ and actually resulted in unwanted deaths and situations. All of the boys decisions can’t be blamed on their own human instincts, they were choices they made on their own selfish accord. Rodger represents the class bully in Lord of the Flies. He abuses and torments the little kids on the island by exhibiting: Roger gathered a handful of stones and began to throw them. Yet there was a space round Henry, perhaps six yards in diameter, into which he dare not throw. Here, invisible yet

After Ralph tries to reason with Jacks group of incompetent idiots, Roger is commanded to release a bolder on top of castle rock which crushes Piggy and sends him airborne off the cliff and plummets to his death. “See? See? That’s what you’ll get! I meant that! There isn’t a tribe for you anymore! The conch is gone… I’m Chief!”(Golding 181) This death meant nothing to the power hungry Jack, all he cared about was being leader and in reality that would never happen. Piggy had done nothing wrong, all he wanted was peace and the unification of the tribes so they could have a better chance a rescue. Instead Jack killed him and would hurt their chance of survival even more. During this moment the boys don’t use their survival instincts, but instead lose their identity by murdering a helpless