Lord of the Flies Analysis
Chris Sani
Alexopoulos
English 2 7th period
October 2, 2012
Study of savagery through the novel Lord of the Flies
“Isolation is a dream killer” (Barbara Sher). In the novel Lord of the Flies written by William Golding, kids stranded on an island must figure out how to survive. By hunting pigs and building shelters the kids tried to subsist on the island. Through the process of hunting, the kids became cruel, evolving to the point of being barbaric. Thus, through the barbaric actions of the boys and the outside world, Golding shows that savagery exists in all people.
To begin, the barbaric actions of the boys, shows that savagery exists in all people. After the first successful hunt, the mock ceremony of Robert playing the pig starts as a game, with Robert “squealing in mock terror,” but then things start to get out of hand as Jack grabs “[Robert] by the hair, [while] brandishing his knife”(Golding 114). The fact that the kids’ evil acts extend this far just after the first pig shows the savagery evolving rapidly from their inner selves. At this rate, if the kids thought of killing pigs as normal, there could be severe devastation if the savagery evolves in them, and even critic L.L Dickson acknowledges the fact that“[this scene could] sinisterly foreshadow the transition from nonhuman to human prey”(L.L Dickson). This savagery appears from kids who play in the sand every day, wishing for adults to control them. These couple of kids that show their savagery unknowingly foreshadows the future of many of the boys as savages. Furthermore, Golding shows more evidence of savagery as “Jack find[s] the throat of the sow,…blood sprout[ing] over his hand” as he cuts it with his knife, and, then, astoundingly “st[ands] up, hold[ing] out his hands to his clan”(Golding 135). Jack that once could not force a knife down to kill piglet, now quickly slices the throat of a sow, proving that the kids who were once weak and fragile, now have grown into brute boys capable of
Alexopoulos
English 2 7th period
October 2, 2012
Study of savagery through the novel Lord of the Flies
“Isolation is a dream killer” (Barbara Sher). In the novel Lord of the Flies written by William Golding, kids stranded on an island must figure out how to survive. By hunting pigs and building shelters the kids tried to subsist on the island. Through the process of hunting, the kids became cruel, evolving to the point of being barbaric. Thus, through the barbaric actions of the boys and the outside world, Golding shows that savagery exists in all people.
To begin, the barbaric actions of the boys, shows that savagery exists in all people. After the first successful hunt, the mock ceremony of Robert playing the pig starts as a game, with Robert “squealing in mock terror,” but then things start to get out of hand as Jack grabs “[Robert] by the hair, [while] brandishing his knife”(Golding 114). The fact that the kids’ evil acts extend this far just after the first pig shows the savagery evolving rapidly from their inner selves. At this rate, if the kids thought of killing pigs as normal, there could be severe devastation if the savagery evolves in them, and even critic L.L Dickson acknowledges the fact that“[this scene could] sinisterly foreshadow the transition from nonhuman to human prey”(L.L Dickson). This savagery appears from kids who play in the sand every day, wishing for adults to control them. These couple of kids that show their savagery unknowingly foreshadows the future of many of the boys as savages. Furthermore, Golding shows more evidence of savagery as “Jack find[s] the throat of the sow,…blood sprout[ing] over his hand” as he cuts it with his knife, and, then, astoundingly “st[ands] up, hold[ing] out his hands to his clan”(Golding 135). Jack that once could not force a knife down to kill piglet, now quickly slices the throat of a sow, proving that the kids who were once weak and fragile, now have grown into brute boys capable of