Lord of the Flies

‘Lord of the flies’ a novel by William Golding explores the fragility of civilisation and charts the deterioration order on the island. The novel is based on a group of abandoned school boys who are left on a deserted island. They have to establish a sense of democracy but the democratic approach deteriorates and chaos breaks out. The main theme is the struggle between savagery and civilisation. The boys lose the hope of getting rescued and everyday activities slip away into oblivion.
In the beginning Piggy and Ralph explore the island. They realise they have to establish a sense of order, a leader to follow and guide them. They call the survivors together by using a conch shell. The conch becomes the symbol of democracy and order among the boys. Just like in school, to speak they have to put their hands up, on the island they hold the conch. “We can’t have everyone talking at once. We will just have to have ‘hands up’ like at school’ he held up the conch before his face ‘Then I will give him the conch.” This shows the sense of order the group has achieved. However from this point on Jack and Ralph’s views clash and the cracks in the foundations of their civilisation start to show. After the boys are all accounted for Ralph decides that there should be a chief. The boys decide between Ralph and Jack. “Him with the shell’ ‘Ralph! Ralph!’ ‘Let him be it with the trumpet-thing.” The boys want Ralph as chief even though mortification shows on Jack’s face. “Ralph counted. “I’m chief then.” The circle of boys broke into applause. Even the choir applauded and the freckles on Jack’s face disappeared under a blush of mortification.” This indicates Jack’s malevolence from the onset. Once Ralph is chief he thinks the best way to get rescued is to have a signal fire on the mountain top so passing ships can see the smoke. A great fire is built upon the mountainside but, once the fire is lit by Piggy’s glasses, it rears out of control and the boy with the mulberry birthmark disappears. This foreshadows the events later and indicates the naivety of the boys. The signal fire soon becomes the symbol of hope getting rescued and going home, yet it also monitors the descent into savagery. Piggy’s glasses were used to light the fire and are representation of the power of science and human endeavour. These both serve to mark the order and sense is deteriorating.
The boys’ relationships start to crack and Golding uses a technique called foreshadowing to hint at forthcoming events. The boys discuss the fear of the ‘snake’ thing. The beast symbolises the primal instinct of savagery that exits in all of us. Simon is the only boy who doesn’t develop into a savage. He realises that the fear isn’t a beast it is the boys. As the inner savage grows belief in the beast grows. When morning dawns on the island Jack leads his hunters on a hunt. Jack couldn’t face to kill a pig as he was bound by the rules of home that killing wrong. In order to get them ready Jack paints their faces. “He turned a half-concealed face up to Roger and answered the incomprehension of his gaze. “For hunting. Like in the war. You know—dazzle paint. Like things trying to look like something else—.” The paint acts like a mask, masking him from the world he has come from. This mask allows him to have the power to kill the pig. After Jack makes his kill he gradually becomes obsessed with hunting.
Whist Jack and his hunters are hunting, Ralph notices that there is no smoke coming from the mountain top. When the rest of the boys arrive they notice that Jack has let the fire go out. When the hunters return, Ralph confronts Jack about the fire. Jack pleads his case saying that he got them meat as they were sick of fruit, whilst Ralph states if they want rescuing then the fire is the only option. Jack slowly starts to get annoyed with Ralph and when Piggy speaks his mind Jack retaliates and pushes Piggy smashing one of the lenses in his glasses. This shows the graving loss of order and Golding is foreshadowing future events. The inner savage in Jack shows more quickly than the other boys. Jack later decides to leave and create his own tribe which involves hunting and feasting and most of the many boys join. As the boys leave Ralph’s tribe and his half of the island the conch continues to stand for fairness and order here. On Jack’s side of the island order and democracy stand for nothing leaving Jack’s tribe to become dark and erratic. “Bollocks to the rules!” shows he has turned his back on hope of rescue and the civilisation they had attempted to create.
Simon, a minor character but one who is symbolically important he hallucinates and hears the sow’s head left for sacrifice. “Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!” said the head. For a moment or two the forest and all the other dimly appreciated places echoed with the parody of laughter. “You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you?” With Simon now knowing this new information he takes it to the boys saying a storm is coming. The boys get carried away in their tribal dance and they savagely kill Simon. “The sticks fell and the mouth of the new circle crunched and screamed. The beast was on its knees in the center, its arms folded over its face. It was crying out against the abominable noise something about a body on the hill. The beast struggled forward, broke the ring and fell over the steep edge of the rock to the sand by the water. At once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt on to the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore. There were no words, and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws.” With no-one knowing the truth order begins to collapse and savagery takes over the whole island. With Ralph’s small tribe left, there still is hope of making a signal fire however Jack’s tribe know that they can’t cook their kill unless they have a fire and subsequently Jack steals Piggy’s glasses. When Ralph goes to retrieve the glasses, Piggy is killed in cold blood by a boulder. “The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist. Piggy, saying nothing, with no time for even a grunt, travelled through the air sideways from the rock, turning over as he went. The rock bounded twice and was lost in the forest. Piggy fell forty feet and landed on his back across the square red rock in the sea. His head opened and stuff came out and turned red. Piggy’s arms and legs twitched a bit, like a pig’s after it has been killed.” The conch is smashed to pieces which symbolises the end of order, the memories of adult life have gone with Piggy. With Ralph all alone he is hunted like a pig. The naval officer intervenes preventing savagery taking over and the complete collapse of order.
Initially the boys try to achieve a sense of order and construct a society as they have grown up with however, due to their inexperience of leadership and partly because of Jack’s malevolent spirit, their efforts fail to succeed. Jack and his savages are the main force over the island and savagery takes over. In the end they are ready to kill Ralph – the main founder of order from the beginning – it is only stopped by the intervention of the naval officer who prevents the complete collapse of order.