Piggy's Savagery

On their way back home to London, a group of schoolboys’ aircraft was shot down from an ongoing war, and they find themselves deserted on a tropical, inhabited peninsula. Evidently, at first, the youngsters are unused to the natural aspect of the environment on the island. Before the horrific plane crash, we can assume that the children went to school on a daily basis and sat down throughout the entire day in a nice room with a cool temperature flow. You can only imagine what shock and confusion the boys were in. Various boys had different first instincts while initially stepping on this island. For example, Piggy was upset and concerned about how they were going to survive without an adult figure by their side. However, Ralph was delighted
and passionate that he was about to have what he thought was the adventure of his lifetime. Nonetheless, while primarily discovering the island, the boys are all fairly innocent and very unaware of the upcoming dangers of it. As they start becoming familiar with different areas of the island, we start noticing many changes in their behavior, mainly the development of savagery. Throughout the novel, the symbolism of the literal location reflects the evolution of the boys and highlights the differences between the characters. At the very start of the novel, William Golding emphasizes a joyous tone in the small details in the novel such as weather to demonstrate that there is no savage aspect in the story yet. In chapter two, we find a phrase like “little breeze” while later in the story, for instance the killing of Simon, we find brutal storms that Golding placed perfectly into the novel to create a great deal of tension. At the beginning of the book, they even attempt putting in place some laws and rules in order to remain civilized. They innocently have an election to determine a leader, which can symbolize a president in our society. Later, we see that everything changes, the island starts to “mess with their brains”. A shortage of food, the heat, and Jack and Ralph’s different political views all lead the boys to becoming legitimate savages. The concept of savagery generally signifies their enjoyment of killing living creatures, such as boys and pigs. At one point in the novel, Ralph retreats into the security of childhood. He remembers the “cotton on the edge of the moors” and the security of living at home with his parents, safe from stress or danger. Ralph longs to enter into these memories where, “everything was all right, everything good-humored and friendly” (p 116). He does this because it is the beginning of desperation for him; it is the point in the novel where Ralph starts to realize that perhaps the island is his new home. As the boys hopes for getting saved fades away, they all start enveloping their inner savagery. In this novel, there is a major significance in the division of the island.
The different aspects of the island represent various things. Every area has significance. Starting with the mountain, the fire is kindled at the top of the mountain because the mountain represents the peak of the boys hopes. Naturally, the fire represents life and survival. We see later that when the beast’s presence contaminates the mountain with fear, the very thought of rescue is dissolved from a majority of the boy’s minds as they accept and start displaying their inner savagery. The Pig run is a representation of savagery because it is where Jack and the hunters come up with most of their meat. It is also one of the many paths a man can walk in the jungle. This particular path is the one Jack takes and it leads to destruction. A quote establishing how Golding demonstrates the value of the wild, savage aspect of the pig track is: “boys flung themselves wildly from the pig track and scrabbled in the creepers, screaming” (113). His word choice demonstrates the tone when describing the pig run. He employs words like “wildly”, “screaming” and “scrabbled” which define the savage mood of this passage. On the other hand, the beach is a place where the boys feel the most comfortable, even slightly relaxed. The boys have a platform on the beach for all their “political discussions”. They even moved the fire here after a scare with the beast on the mountain. We see that Golding’s writing is different than when he is narrating the pig track: “Ralph trotted down the pale beach and jumped onto the platform. The conch still glimmered by the chief’s seat.” (p 168). The tone is more joyous and cheerful as we find words like “glimmered” or “trotted”, which for the most part are lively words. In this novel, the boys who are still civilized go to clean off in the bathing pool. In this bathing pool, signs of savagery are removed. Last but not least, the island as a whole represents the
world but on a smaller scale. It is also a reminder of the original garden of Eden. While thought to be a paradise, evil was lurking. In this book, nature seems to reflect the personalities of people. An example of this would be the jungle. When we are in a scene with Simon in the book, the jungle seems to be a wonderful place but when we find ourselves with Jack, it is a muggy, harsh environment that is dangerous and dark. For Simon, in the jungle, we see him picking fruit and observing the candle buds (a flower that he named). This combination makes the scene very jubilant. However, when we find ourselves in the jungle with Jack all we see is pure savagery and the killing of pigs. Another example of nature having an important role in the book is the contrast between Castle Rock and the jungle. Ralph chooses to live in a jungle because they are leafier, marshy and represent life. The jungle is also more resourceful. On the other hand, Jack choses to live in Castle Rock. Rocks are harsh, hard and brutal. They are hard set and rigid; uncompromising. Rocks are bone dry and can represent death in this case. Castle Rock is a place that reeks with the signs of brutality and is where Jack and the hunters reside. It is also at the opposite end of the island which shows how incompatible Ralph and Jack are. Both Ralph and Jack have a passion for leadership. They both want all the power and they want to be accepted. Their envy for being the chief of the group is what I think leads the whole group of kids to pure savagery, the fact that they have to pick a side to destroy the other “team”. Throughout the novel, we see that the role of physical space is key for the development of the boys. Their development doesn’t mean that they evolve in a good way, quite the contrary, the boys precisely become savage. Also, a few natural aspects of the island such as the jungle, Castle Rock and other areas of the island reflect the boy’s personalities in different ways. For many, the book has long been viewed as highlighting what people today call “toxic masculinity,” the idea that, if left unchecked, all men, of any age, will fall back on violence and aggression. I feel that the book really does demonstrate this concept of masculinity and I feel that there must have been some intention of this from William Golding.