Lord Of The Flies Civilization Vs Savagery Essay

In the book, Lord of the Flies, William Golding used each character appears as a personified aspect of humanity. Ralph, arguably the protagonist, primarily represents civilization. His opposite or rival, through the book and through what he represents, is Jack. Savagery is what came before civilization, as evidenced by human history, and Jack in the end succeeded in destroying it. Both characters were able to gain a following, but the way Ralph achieved this was extremely different from Jack. Ralph’s power struggle with Jack represents the difference of how civilizations control and how tyrants control.

When first arriving on the island, some sort of leadership is needed, and is where the reader first sees the difference of civilization and savagery in choosing a leader and decision making. Prior to being stranded on the island, Jack was in charge of the chorus boys; he was elected not by the students, but by the teachers. Ralph, however, had no authority before, but it is not

Representing savagery, Jack fights against authority and actively tries to confront Ralph who represents order, and thus it is little to the reader’s surprise when Jack lashes out at Ralph for being elected. “‘And you shut up! Who are you, anyway? Sitting there telling people what to do. You can’t hunt, you can’t sing-’ ‘I’m chief. I was chosen.’ ‘Why should choosing make any difference?...’” (Golding 91). Jack attempts to disrupt authority and cause chaos in this quotation; he wants to be in power because he was at school. He doesn’t believe that people should be voted into power, he believes power should be seized. This mentality is greatly associated with savagery and being uncivilized. Another aspect of the quote is Jack associates arbitrary skills and abilities to leadership, and back before civilized society hunting would have been important, but that was before