Savagery In William Golding's 'Lord Of The Flies'

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Lake Bruner
21-November-2013
Professor Smith
English 102-015
Civilization vs. Savagery In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, there is a huge clash between civilization and savagery. Golding shows this clash through many symbols. Most people might think that civilization would be key in a group’s survival, but a human’s natural desire to be savage can overpower being civilized. In the novel, a group of well-mannered, English schoolboys crash-land a plane on an abandoned island in the middle of the ocean. The boys have no clue where they are or how they got there. All they no is that there are no “grown-ups” on the island and that they need to find someway to survive together. The protagonist, Ralph, is the best
representation of a civilized person on the island. Once he realizes that the kids are the only ones on the island, he tries to take charge and organize a plan to survive. In chapter one, his friend Piggy and he suggests things like, “we should have a meeting” and they could have “hands up like at school” (Golding 13). This shows the need to be
Bruner 2 civilized like they were home. Ralph and Piggy find a conch shell on the island when they first land, and it is very important to the boys in the novel. Ralph uses the conch to call meetings, and no one is allowed to speak unless he is holding it. The discovery of the conch enables Ralph to be elected leader of the kids on the island. It takes time for the boys to start to break away from their civilized state because they are so used to having authorities around them. Towards the beginning of the novel, one of the boys
Roger, throws a rock at another boy named Henry. “There was a space round Henry, perhaps six yards in diameter, into which [Roger] dare not throw. Here, invisible yet strong, was the taboo of the old life” (Golding 31).
The antagonist, Jack, would best represent the savagery in humans when it comes down to it. He somewhat enjoys the time that the boys are stranded on the island. He likes to swear, hunt, play rough, and do pretty much anything that he couldn’t do with his parents or teachers around. Jack and Ralph are the two oldest boys and like Ralph, Jack is a powerful
leader.
Unlike Ralph, Jack is abusive with his power. He doesn’t want civilization and order. He wants to hunt pigs and be savage. He breaks off from Ralph’s leadership and forms his own
“tribe” because he cannot stand to be ruled by an equal. He is the best hunter in the tribe, and most of the boys on the island end up going to Jack tribe. All the boys realize that savagery
Bruner 3 might be better than civilization on a deserted island. Once Jack kills his first pig on the island, he becomes obsessed with killing and power. “[Jack] began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling” (Golding 66) The boys become better and better at killing pigs and adapting to the mountain. It seems that the boys start killing for fun rather than for the meat.
“Behind them on the grass the headless and paunched body of a sow lay where they had dropped it” (Golding 146). The savagery becomes so extreme within some of the boys, that two of the nicest boys in the story, Simon and Piggy, get murdered by Jack and his tribe. In conclusion, humans natural impulse is to be savage, and it is society and civilization that contains this impulse. People would think that being civilized would always be the
best solution, but the situation like the one in Lord of the Flies is a great example of how the impulse of savagery is brought out of humans. When it comes down to survival, humans will do anything that they can to survive.

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Work Cited
Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. Chicago: Tate, 1954. 201. Print.