Brutality In Lord Of The Flies
Humans are known for being brutal and vicious. Even as a kid when you take great pleasure in smashing and killing the bugs in your back yard, to when you turn 18 and join the army to be trained to kill. These kinds of things happen every day but rarely do you see them portrayed to the extent of what is really happening, in writing. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, Golding uses characters like Jack Merridew and events like the pig kills to perpetuate the concept of fear and show the more brutal side of human nature. Although Jack takes charge of awkward situations, Jack uses fear to gain power and control people weaker than him. There are many times when Jack threatens the other boys physically because he has done something
regretful or embarrassing. On one of these occasions Jack, Ralph, and Simon are exploring the mountain and find a pig caught in the creepers. Jack immediately draws his knife to kill but is unable to take its life. When Ralph tries to question Jack about this Jack, “snatched his knife…and slammed it into a tree trunk…daring [Ralph and Simon] to contradict” which shows that to hide his embarrassment he must intimidate the boys(31). Even more he puts the boys in a position where challenging him wouldn’t be a smart option or choice. In the novel Jack degrades and take advantage of the smaller boys or littluns many times. At some point Jack becomes mad and decides to take it out on a littlun so he makes the boys “tie Wilfred up” and “beat Wilfred “ which shows he has quite a big capacity for brutality (159). This also connects to the thematic idea that “a society can often be judged by the way it treats its most vulnerable citizens” because the tribe has become brutal and savage and now hurt the littluns who cant even protect themselves. From each of these events Jack uses his power and control over others to put the boys in horrible or difficult situations proving how Jack perpetuates the concept of fear. Although the pig kills provide food, along with how Jack uses brutality to gain power and control, the way the boys almost violate the pigs shows their capacity for brutality and shows how badly the most vulnerable creatures and people are treated. In the pig kill where the sow is killed, the boys or hunters are chasing her and are " wedded to her in lust,” which shows how obsessed they are with killing her (134). It makes the hunters seem really brutal and merciless. As they are killing the sow no hunter stops to think about how illogical this is. They are killing the sow that has” a row of piglets” to raise so they are killing the food that they could be eating in the future because without their mother the piglets will probably die (134). This connects to the idea of how we treat our most vulnerable citizens because the sow and piglets are most vulnerable after pregnancy. It also shows they are no longer hunting for food but for the pleasure they get out of it. After the sow is killed Jack has “reeking palms” of blood and “rubbed the stuff over” Maurice’s cheeks which shows how capable they are of doing anything now (135). They aren’t grossed out or scared of what they’ve done, not only does that show their capacity for brutality but how they’ve completely lost their innocence. Through the whole sow kill the hunters violate and kill the sow in a brutal shameless way, which shows how the sow kill perpetuates the concept of fear. Through the whole novel Jack uses intimidation and fear to gain power and control just as the brutal pig kills show the hunter’s brutality and loss of innocence. Both perpetuate fear well because it shows how civilization and logic is being lost and how that generally affects the brutal actions and loss of innocence of a person.
regretful or embarrassing. On one of these occasions Jack, Ralph, and Simon are exploring the mountain and find a pig caught in the creepers. Jack immediately draws his knife to kill but is unable to take its life. When Ralph tries to question Jack about this Jack, “snatched his knife…and slammed it into a tree trunk…daring [Ralph and Simon] to contradict” which shows that to hide his embarrassment he must intimidate the boys(31). Even more he puts the boys in a position where challenging him wouldn’t be a smart option or choice. In the novel Jack degrades and take advantage of the smaller boys or littluns many times. At some point Jack becomes mad and decides to take it out on a littlun so he makes the boys “tie Wilfred up” and “beat Wilfred “ which shows he has quite a big capacity for brutality (159). This also connects to the thematic idea that “a society can often be judged by the way it treats its most vulnerable citizens” because the tribe has become brutal and savage and now hurt the littluns who cant even protect themselves. From each of these events Jack uses his power and control over others to put the boys in horrible or difficult situations proving how Jack perpetuates the concept of fear. Although the pig kills provide food, along with how Jack uses brutality to gain power and control, the way the boys almost violate the pigs shows their capacity for brutality and shows how badly the most vulnerable creatures and people are treated. In the pig kill where the sow is killed, the boys or hunters are chasing her and are " wedded to her in lust,” which shows how obsessed they are with killing her (134). It makes the hunters seem really brutal and merciless. As they are killing the sow no hunter stops to think about how illogical this is. They are killing the sow that has” a row of piglets” to raise so they are killing the food that they could be eating in the future because without their mother the piglets will probably die (134). This connects to the idea of how we treat our most vulnerable citizens because the sow and piglets are most vulnerable after pregnancy. It also shows they are no longer hunting for food but for the pleasure they get out of it. After the sow is killed Jack has “reeking palms” of blood and “rubbed the stuff over” Maurice’s cheeks which shows how capable they are of doing anything now (135). They aren’t grossed out or scared of what they’ve done, not only does that show their capacity for brutality but how they’ve completely lost their innocence. Through the whole sow kill the hunters violate and kill the sow in a brutal shameless way, which shows how the sow kill perpetuates the concept of fear. Through the whole novel Jack uses intimidation and fear to gain power and control just as the brutal pig kills show the hunter’s brutality and loss of innocence. Both perpetuate fear well because it shows how civilization and logic is being lost and how that generally affects the brutal actions and loss of innocence of a person.