Rhetorical Devices In Lord Of The Flies

William Golding’s Use of Rhetorical Strategies to Illustrate Society in “Lord of the Flies” Written in the 1950’s by William Golding, Lord of the Flies is a novel that follows a group of young boys,stranded on an island with no contact to an adult world. Throughout the novel Golding elicits how savage humans can be when there is no authority controlling them, and Golding’s use of thematic vocabulary conveys how power and corruption can lead to a dismantling of order. As a result, this disruption in society causes people to reveal their true savage human nature. In Chapter 9 of Lord of the Flies, William Golding employs repetition, diction and symbolism to convey the theme that civilization has become a shield that conceals humanity 's natural wildness and savagery. The repetition used throughout Chapter 9 of Lord of the Flies develops Golding’s theme of how savagery is shrouded within civilization by demonstrating the boy’s slow progression into monsters as they spend more time on the island. On page 118, the boys are dancing around in their hunting circle and repeatedly chanting “‘Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!’” (Golding 118).

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