Forgiveness In Lord Of The Flies

After the boys in Jack's tribe catch and kill the pig they thought was the beast, they put his head on a spear. "Jack held out the head and jammed the soft throat down on the pointed end of the stick which pierced through the mouth. He stood back and the head hung there, a little blood dribbling down the stick." (Golding, 136-137) This is an example of how Jack's tribe react violently towards what they perceive is the beast, this act of putting a pig's head on a spear is a very violent and cruel. In the beginning when they killed a pig they never displayed the head, but do to the savagery that the beast has caused them to take on they are more cruel and deadly.

The usage of the boys’ fright of the beast helps justify Jack’s oppressive rule of the boys and the savagery he makes. He makes the beast like a type of god in order to spark the groups’ bloodlust and form a cult like perspective regarding the hunt. The boys’ faith in the beast creates a religious undertone in Lord of the Flies, since the boys’ numerous nightmares on the beast ultimately undertakes the formation of a solitary creature that they all fear and believe. Jack’s group harness this faith of the nightmare, by leaving the pig’s head on a stick as a gift and an offering to the beast. The skull symbolizes a type of religious object with phenomenal intellectual power, urging the boys to forsake their need for civilization and structure and fall into their savage and ferocious impulses.

The text explains that the boys have became more vicious without adult supervision. At this point, the boys are embracing evil. For example, when Jack states “‘I’m chief!’ Viciously with full intentions, he hurled his spear into Ralph” (Golding 209). All control is lost and evil is expressed in the injuring of Ralph. The phrase displays a vicious intent and the thoughts of Jack being negative and violent.

Cut his throat! Spill his blood!”(P86) if they hunt the pig. The boys do their ceremonial dance for making fun with Robert as well after the rituals. Golding points out that the boy’s “desires to squeeze and hurt are over-mastering”(P142) while they do the dance. The ritual of hunting the pig can be seen as a destructive force, it helps the boys to be succeed in capturing the

I’m part of you” (Golding 147-148) This proves the beast which everyone is afraid of is just a disguise, and the boys should be afraid of each other, as man is inherently evil. The corruption and evil in the boys is shown by the Lord of the Flies. It shows us the boys savagery and their corruption by how brutally they killed the

… Before moving away, he looked at Cecil and raised his foot, kicking him several times in the head to release his hateful venom” (108). Boll weevil is similar to war, as they both typically harm people for a hateful cause. Boll weevil kicks Cecil several times after he kills him, to show his hate toward him for not giving the money. Likewise, war is hateful because many soliders go out to fight, filled with hate, to fight for a one-sided cause. Both reprocussions as a result of Boll weevil’s actions, and war,

Jack shows the essence of man is corrupt by his loss of innocence, his behavior like a dictator, and his uncivilized acts. One key trait that Jack shows is his loss of innocence. Jack is really caught up in hunting and killing animals; however, he sometimes forgets the main goal, which

In the end of the novel, Jack turns from hunting pigs to hunting Ralph. This futile pursuit exemplifies the double-sided spear of the id. Overall, the change in Jack’s character shows the never ending spiral of violence. In the beginning of the novel, Jack’s only goal is to hunt and kill a pig. He is “the most obvious leader”, and thrives on the need for violence(16).

Golding explores that Jack loves to hunt and kill pigs while on the island. Jack does this in a gruesome fashion and upon putting it to death ,“[Jack] began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling" (Golding 64). The use of imagery provides a sense of the harsh reality of what is happening to Jack as he is losing the civility he had arrived with every day. Throughout his evolution process, he has gotten to a point where Piggy claims,“I’m scared of him” (Golding 93) and that when he sees Jack, he feels that “it’s like asthma an’ you can’t breathe” (Golding 93). These words from a wise young boy, Piggy, are very concerning relating to the amount of civility Jack has left in him.

Things quickly start to fall apart on the island because of this, and eventually the once civil boys turn on each other leaving two dead and an island in flames. The beastie is a large symbol throughout the book and it can be used to showcase, as well as explain, the boy's descent into savagery. Although this brutal side is normally hidden from the world, it can be brought out when

Not till they flagged and the chant died away, did he speak. ‘I’m calling an assembly.” (p.75) Jack is so intent on killing this pig, he is leading a chant about how they’re going to kill it. He describing ways of over kill. He has no remorse and is starting to enjoy the killing of the pigs, that he doesn’t care about anything else going on on the island and with the other boys. The rumor about the beast has become more serious than it did before, and Jack is starting the believe in it too.

Spill his blood!’” (168) Jack’s tribe, overcome by their inner savagery, without thinking kill Simon thinking he’s the beast, this shows that the boys on the island have lost the part of civilization inside them. Piggy 's murder was also unjustified but also done with intent, “Piggy fell forty feet and landed on his back across that square, red rock in the sea. His head open and stuff came out and turned red, piggy’s arms and legs twitched a bit, like a pig who had just been killed.”(201) This death is different than the other one, in that they were fully aware of what they were doing and killed piggy anyway with no remorse. Inhabiting the island for the amount of time the boys have been there has caused the boys to revert to savages who resort to

This takes a turn for the worst when the boys end up killing Simon because they mistake him for the beast. Another symbol that Golding uses is a pig 's head. The pig 's head is symbolic of the inner beasts of men. As they (the boys) become more enthralled in the hunt and its bloodlust, they even begin to worship this beast, leaving it sacrifices, such as the sow 's head on a pike, as if it were a tribal god (Neighbors). This event occurred in front of Simon without the hunters ' knowledge.

Beast except for Simon who realizes that they fear the Beast because it exists in each of them. The growing of savagery becomes very clear when Jack and the hunters get a sick obsession with the hunting of the Beast, the boys and Jack even come up with a chant that is repeatedly said throughout the novel, “Kill the Beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood” (p.168). Golding is trying to show that the boys behaviour is what creates the Beast, the more savagely the boys act the more real the Beast becomes.

The beast is metaphoric of the crude feral nature within every human, though naturally more prominent in those who act on it willingly. Simon later encounters the Lord of the Flies (a pig’s head on a stick that Jack left as a sacrifice for the beast) who “speaks” to Simon while he is having a brain clot. The Lord of the Flies tells Simon that it is the beast, that it’s inside of everyone. “Fancy thinking the beast was something you could hunt and kill!” (Page 143) it tells him, reminding Simon that to defeat the “beast”, or evil, within a person is impossible to physically accomplish. It’s as if everyone has a ticking time bomb of malevolence that is kept in check by our moral values and societal standards.