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Civilization And Savagery In Lord Of The Flies By William Golding

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It 's easy to say that if stranded on an island with other people, humans would work together to survive and be rescued. However, William Golding has a different opinion.
In Lord of the Flies, a large group of boys are stuck on an island from a plane crash. At first it seems like paradise, and the boys agree to make rules and work together until they are rescued. As time goes on, though, most of the boys revert to their primal instinct and become savages.
To develop this theme of the battle between civilization and savagery, Golding uses symbols, including the conch shell, painted faces, and the Lord of the Flies to represent authority and order, hiding one 's self, and evil and destruction. Each lends to and develops the meaning of the …show more content…

Finally, as the title of the book would suggest, the Lord of the Flies plays a huge part in the development of the theme. It represents the evil in all people and the boys’ descent, or decay, into savages. It first appears in chapter eight, when Simon enters his little clearing and sees the decomposing pig head surrounded by flies. He imagines a voice, intended to be the voice of the devil, talking to him. At one point, the Lord of the Flies says, " 'This is ridiculous. You know perfectly well you 'll only meet me down there- so don 't try to escape! '" (130). He is confirming what Simon knows: the boys’ behavior was not influenced by something external, their savagery came from the inside, and if Simon leaves the Lord of the Flies, he will just find the same evil. 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

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