Civility In William Golding's Lord Of The Flies

Later in time most of the boys find themselves struggling with maintaining their civility, this turns them into partial savages with painted faces running around almost nude. In a similar way, police officers act over confident when hiding behind their soldier-like uniforms. After losing all hope in rescue, Jack withdraws himself from the large group and forms his own. He becomes vicious thinking about hunting pigs for dinner. Wanting the element of surprise when attacking the sow, “[he] plan[s] his new face [making] one cheek and one eye socket white, then [rubbing] red over the other half of his face and slash[ing] a black bar of charcoal across from right ear to left jaw” (63). Finishing his own masterpiece, he “look[s] in astonishment,
no longer at himself but at an awesome stranger” (63). Jack has become divergent seeing that he is advancing his persona; whilst planning his new face his personality changes. He wants to hide his real identity behind a mask and kill innocent, harmless pigs. The feeling of savagery does not come naturally to Jack wherefore he must change his personality and act the role the mask provides him with-- which is freedom of self-consciousness and allowing him to act rebellious. The white side of Jack’s face illustrates the purity and half civility he has left while the red is his violent and dangerous person he will become. As the red paint spreads across Jack’s face quickly, more boys decide to follow his lead.
Majority of the group has red paint consuming their face leaving white paint behind. Later on, Ralph yells at the “boys [who are wearing] black caps [or are] … almost naked” because they let the rescue fire go out” (68.) The adolescent savages have started to leave their clothes behind as well as their civilization. Those who still wear their black caps have a bit of civility left in them. The partial nakedness demonstrates how the boys begin to disobey the rules that society has set for them. They have completely discarded the rules that they used to follow. According to Geordie McRuer in “Cops’ deadly identity problem” “When a person wears clothing that carries symbolic meaning, the clothing ‘primes’ people to act consistently with the way the person is dressed” (1). In other words, McRuer argues that different types of clothing can influence a change in behavior rather than allow someone to remain loyal to their own personality. The clothing a police officer wears can boost their confidence leading them to making rational decisions. Much like officials, Jack embraces hiding his identity behind a mask while adopting a savage
comportment.