"Lord of the Flies" Illusion and Reality Theme: Illusion Becomes Reality

What is illusion? What is reality? Illusions make reality and affect reality; therefore the illusion can become the reality that one perceives. This means that, if one keeps on telling oneself, one is "this", eventually, one will become this. There are at least three specific times in Lord of the Flies by William Golding that this can be observed. The illusions that become reality are: Jack the Choir Boy who becomes Jack the Hunter, Simon who becomes a horrible beast to the eys of the rebel tribe, and the conch, the shell at the bottom of a lagoon, which becomes the symbol of civilisation.

One example of how delusions make reality may be noticed in the following quotes. In the election meeting scene, when Ralph asks Jack: " 'Jack's in charge of the choir. They can be - what do you want them to be?' 'Hunters.' " (Golding 19). Jack has set his illusion; that he and his choir are hunters, when originally they were British choir boys. In the immediate future, Jack is incapable of putting a pig to death. On their hike to discover the peak of the mountain, they come upon a pig stuck in creepers:

"The three boys rushed forward and Jack drew his knife again with a flourish. He raised his arm into the air. There came a pause, a hiatus. [...] The pause was only long enough for them to understand what an enormity the downstroke would be. The piglet tore loose. [...] Jack's face was white under the freckles." (28)

One can easily see that Jack is embarrassed about what happened by the way his face turns white. Later in the story this delusion becomes reality. Jack slays a pig with his hunters, and comes back to tell the tale to Ralph: " 'We hit the pig-' '-I fell on top-' 'I cut the pig's throat,' said Jack proudly, and yet twitched as he said it" (73) Jack has finally become a hunter, as he desired. However, the pig can be seen as a metaphor of Jack the Choir Boy, and by butchering the pig, Jack has slaughtered off part of himself, or at least injured it. One can understand this by how he twitched when he stated that he slit the pig's throat. One can also understand the killing of Jack the Choir Boy because this is a moment where they let the fire out, which is their only real means of signaling their presence on the island.

A second example of how illusions make reality in Lord of the Flies may also be seen is the beast becoming Simon. This may be seen when they are having an assembly. Phil, a "littlun" remarks: " '[...]I saw something big and horrid moving in the trees.' [...] 'Did anyone go out?' [...] Then Simon stood up and Ralph looked up in astonishment." (91-92) Simon is already being associated as a beast by the "littluns" and this illusion of Simon being the beast becomes reality when they are all having the feast with the renegade tribe, and they are chanting:

" 'Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood! Do him in!' [...] the beast stumbled into the horseshoe. [...] Simon (the beast in the middle) was crying out something about a dead man on a 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 crowed surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt on the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore. [...] Simon's dead body moved out towards the open sea." (168-170)

In this significant scene of Lord of the Flies they think Simon is the beast, however they are blocked on the initial illusion of him being a beast. The beast becomes Simon. They hate him. They rip. They tear. They murder him. Even after, the renegade tribe still say he is the beast: "-and then; the beast might try to come in. You remember how he crawled [that night]-' " (177) Even after killing Simon, they still think that the Beast is Simon. For them this is now reality. This whole scene is flooded with irony. There are two different situations in which this irony is shown. The first situation is that Simon knows the real identity of "the beast", he is the "dead man on a hill". This is dramatic irony as the reader knows, from the start, that the beast is the pilot that parachuted down. The second situation is that they kill Simon. Once again this is dramatic irony, as one knows that it was really Simon who was coming to warn them about the beast.

Another example of how delusions make reality is the conch. This can be observed in three specific points. The first is when they are establishing their "government" or leader. " 'Vote for a chief!' 'Let's vote-' [...] 'Him with the shell' " (19). This shows how they affiliate the government with the conch. They have addressed their future leader as 'Him with the shell', and they are already developing the delusion that the shell is civilisation. One may believe that the authors has intentions of using the conch to represent civilisation by this scene in the beginning of the book at one of their meetings "Jack clamoured among them, the conch forgotten" (37). The author could be showing two things by this. Firstly, he is associating the one who causes the downfall of their established civilisation with the forgetting of the conch. Secondly, Golding formulated his sentence oddly, perhaps to make "the conch forgotten" stick out. He places the subject before the subject's attribute, when normally the attribute is before the subject. This could be a way for Golding to call the reader's attention to the fact that Jack is already breaking the rules, and causing anarchy. One could even think that Jack is ignoring the rule about only speaking with the conch, deliberately showing that he is not part of this civilisation. The third and last example of how the conch symbolises civilisation is seen at the end. When Ralph, Piggy, and Samneric attempt to talk sense into the tribe of savages, Piggy receives a boulder smashed into him and plummets to his death, with the conch in his hand. "Suddenly Jack bounded out from the tribe and began screaming wildly 'See? See? That's what you'll get! I meant that! There isn't a tribe for you [Ralph] any more! The conch is gone-' " (201) Jack feels like he has destroyed the only thing that Ralph has left: civilisation. Jack feels this by demolishing the conch. Ultimately, after this scene, the civilised tribe ceases to exist. Only Ralph, the commander of the civilised tribe, is left. Therefore, one can see that the illusion of the conch being civilisation becomes reality, as the civilisation disappears.

One can see how illusion becomes reality, and therefore the illusion that one perceives is reality. This is proven by many examples in Lord of the Flies. The illusion of Jack the Choir Boy who becomes Jack the Hunter, the Beast who becomes Simon through the eyes of the rebel tribe, and with the conch which becomes a symbol of the civilisation. One could ask himself, is it always true that illusion becomes reality?