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Dehumanization In Lord Of The Flies

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The Lord of the Flies by William Golding connects to the quotation “Make people take a small first step toward a harmful act with a minor, trivial action and then gradually increase those small actions.” from the article What makes good people do bad things? This quote deepens my understanding of the novel because it accurately represents how Jack and his tribe turned savage from the first killing of the pig to the hunts of the humans. Jack’s hunting progressively grew more violent because trivial steps made him feel powerful. At first, Jack was unable to kill a pig, symbolizing that he is still an innocent child. “They knew very well why he hadn’t [killed the pig]: because of the enormity of the knife descending and cutting into living flesh.” …show more content…

A moment of true uncivilization is when Jack gets truly excited to kill the “Beast.” “Jack leapt on to the sand. ‘Do our dance! Come on! Dance!’” (Golding 151) Jack’s excitement shows us how the power is controlling him. He feels the need to kill and the other boys are catching onto the unfortunate “trend.” Even though Jack and the boys weren’t aware that the beast was actually Simon, the way they were killing him was brutal and inhumane. Although not everyone was as wild as Jack, they all participated in the murder of Simon. Everyone participating in the circle is becoming savage because they are murdering an innocent boy. They had the opportunity to stop, especially once the beast was portraying human-like traits, but no, the boys felt so powerful and uncontrollable, so they continued the monstrous actions. Unlike the first hunt where the boys kill Simon on accident because they thought it was the beast, they plan a second hunt for Ralph, but this hunt is completely intentional. “‘They hate you, Ralph. They’re going to do you.’ ‘They’re going to hunt you tomorrow.’” (Golding 188) The boys are planning a hunt to Ralph, so that way Jack can be the sole leader. This is the biggest step that relates to the original quote about the inconsequential first harmful steps and how they increase and turn violent and ugly. The twins Samneric tell Ralph about how they are going to hunt him, and they say that Roger has a stick with both ends sharpened, showing not only that Jack enjoys having power, his beliefs have spread to the rest of the tribe. Therefore, the boys on the island in Lord of the Flies are uncontrollably savage and past the point of no

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