The boys fear the beast as an outside object or living thing, even though they are unsure of what the beast actually is. Samneric caught sight of the dead parachutist and ran away to tell the other boys that there is a beast on the island. In doing this it released fear and chaos on the island because they think they are in danger of a wild beast. Simon was the only one in the group who knew the truth about the beast but was unable to tell the other boys. “He crawled forward and soon understood….the wind’s indignity.”(162).
The author uses simon not being able to speak after he woke up from fainting and when Ralph and Piggy stay with Jack tribe instead of heading back to their tribe to symbolism the boys steps toward evil. “He mouthed words that did not reach the air” (Golding 146) and “Come away. There’s going to be trouble. And we’ve had our meat.” These quotes from the story show how characters who represent good nature and intellect are being ignored by the boys. These quotes connect to the theme because they show how innocence and reason have officially been abandoned by the group of boys.
In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, a group of British schoolchildren are marooned on an isolated island, but the story soon takes a dark turn when the boys realize that there may be a beast on the island with them. The novel illustrates the need for civilization and the innate evil in humans; however, Simon is seemingly an exception to all of the rules that the author has set. He is in no way evil, and the purity of his soul is unparalleled in any other. Simon appears as a biblical, almost Christ-like figure among the savage and flawed population. His characterization has a immense impact on the story’s overall meaning and purpose, demonstrating many interesting themes that warrant further scrutiny.
When visited by the lord of the flies, Simon hears voices telling him about the beast within all of us and then proceeds to faint. Simon is the embodiment of forethought and vision in the novel. This can be inferred as he relays to the boys, the message from the pig’s head on a stick. Simon’s death symbolizes the loss of conscience and the beginning of depersonalization, “The beast was on its knees in the center, its arms folded over its face. It was crying out against the abominable noise something about a body on the hill.
Golding uses a group of boys to show that even in, children, the thing society sees as the most innocent can still become corrupted by an environment full of evil. Golding creates the character, Jack, the tough hunter but it takes Jack a little while to completely take on this role. In the quote, “‘I was going to,’ said Jack. He was ahead of them, and they could not see his face” (Golding 31), Readers can see Jack fail to kill a pig, Jack makes excuses as to why he did not kill it, however the reader can infer Jack did not have the heart to kill it because of his morals. Jack still has his initial innocence but later Golding shows how Jack will break his morals.
Another example of this symbol is in the last chapter, when Ralph is being chased by the hunters, and he runs across the pig 's head again. He is driven to rage just by looking at it- he feels like it is laughing at him and even comments that it gleams white like the conch had. His rage in front of the Lord of the Flies symbolizes the evil within him. Golding also purposely compares the skull to the conch to show that savagery has replaced the civilization the conch
Though this fulfilled the boys’ need to eat, they completely neglected their other duties to ensure survival. The boys might have been cultivated people as individuals. But, they acted like complete savages as a group. “Groups can generate a sense of emotional excitement, which can lead to the provocation of behaviors that a person would not typically engage in if alone.” (Examining the Mob Mentality). Under Jack’s rule, the boys’ behavior was appalling.
The hidden savagery of humans that is dormant because of civilization is presented in Lord of the Flies through its symbolism, repetition and diction. The struggle for power and control on the island led to the exposure of savage nature that is present in the boys who were forced into a lawless place. Throughout the novel reason and logic are abandoned, causing the boys to act on whims and be controlled by their instincts rather than control themselves. Civilization has dampened human’s savage ways, but believing that there are no consequences could lead to the downfall of humanity and the return of the primitive ways society believes it has abandoned. Golding wrote Lord of the Flies to expose the hidden savagery that humans possess and how if humans aren’t careful they will become the savages they all so deeply
Manly Hall once said, “Symbolism is the language of the mysteries. By symbols men have sought to communicate to each other those thoughts which transcend the limitations of language.” In the movie, Lord of the Flies, a plane carrying a group of boys heading home crashes down over the ocean. The pilot of the plane is unconscious, but the boys survive the crash and find themselves deserted on an uninhabited island. The children were then alone without any adult supervision where the good turns evil, and there were no consequences for their savage actions. Two boys try to govern the children maturely to keep everyone sane, but the others turn to their evil ways.
The deep emotional struggle bullies face is evident in Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Without adult supervision on the island, the boys must guide themselves through their weaknesses. They act out as uncontrolled, dangerous boys to cover up their insecurities. By acting as strong, ruthless killers, the boys look stable and invincible to the others. In order to appear strong, boys in Lord of the Flies exploit the weaker boys and conceal their own insecurities.