The boys bit and clawed at the lifeless body. A fellow human, a former friend, dead at the hands of savage-turned, viscous beings. With no one to reprimand horrendous behavior, one must wonder what becomes of once well-mannered boys. When free from rules, constraints, and guidance, the innate human urge to reject civilization and exert brutality is undeniable, as demonstrated in William Goldings Lord of the Flies through the symbolism of inner savagery, imagery representing inhuman behavior, and foreshadowing. In Lord of the Flies, the imaginary beast is a symbolic figure that displays the change in humans as they stray farther away from civilization. The young boys suppose there is a beast that lives on the island, most of the boys believe …show more content…
Jack Merridew shows us from early on that he has moral sense and civilization ideas embedded in him. “We’ve got to have rules and obey them. After all, we’re not savages.” (42). Throughout the book, Jack’s ideals change significantly. It begins when Jack was hunting for his first pig. Jack was “bent double” and his nose was “only a few inches from the humid earth” Jack was described as “dog-like, uncomfortably on all fours” (48). The descriptive words and effect of Jack portraying animalistic actions tells us he is losing the idea of what a civilized mannered human is. After Jack rises to chieftainship and forms his tribe, the description of the murder of Simon confirms the turning of humans into savages. The crowd of boys “surged” after Simon, before they “leapt on to the beast, struck, bit, and tore” (153). Not only did the boys brutally murder Simon, but they also rid themselves of spears and used their inherited weapons, such as teeth and hands, to rip Simon apart. There were no words and only movements of “the tearing of teeth and claws” (153). Golding paints vicious scenes in the reader’s mind to give an effect of bloodthirsty, ferocious individuals instead of little boys which displays the boy's development into