Intro Authors often use symbolism in their writings, with some being more influential than others. In the book, Lord of the Flies, the author, William Golding, follows this pattern with many key symbols in the book. The pigs are all over the island and are mostly in the background, but they come out in many key moments throughout the story to help show the boys descent into savagery. In the novel the pigs on the island are used as a key symbol throughout the story that gains significance over time to show how the boys become more savage and less civilized. Body 1 At the beginning of the story, the pigs are merely a resource to be collected. Jack struggles to obtain his first kill as he is still civilized and has second thoughts. Jack misses the first kill with Golding writing, “‘Why didn’t you—?’ They knew very well why he hadn’t; because of the enormity of the knife descending and cutting into living flesh; because of the unbearable blood. …show more content…
‘Next time—!’” (Golding 33). This shows that in the beginning Jack isn’t able to kill a pig, he struggles with killing something and although he pretends to be tough he can’t bring himself to abandon his civil side to take a creature's life. Jack isn’t ready to change and the pig to him is a living creature that he can’t bring himself to kill, even for survival. Body 2 As the boys begin to realize they may not be rescued, they start to turn to a more savage side in order to gain order and hope. Jack and his hunters begin to chant after killing the pig. They begin yelling, “Then Maurice pretended to be the pig and ran squealing into the center, and the hunters, circling still, pretended to beat him. As they danced, they sang. Kill the