Theme Of Cruelty In Lord Of The Flies

What can killing someone do to a person 's soul? Some think that death could have been avoided if the boys had just listened to what Jack had told them to do, but others think that death is inevitable. According to Webster Dictionary, savagery is described as “an act of cruelty and violence.” Ralph and Piggy had known from the start that Jack was going to cause trouble for everybody, and eventually lead the other boys to joining him in savagery. Ralph was the elected leader and told the boys that unless we stick together, nothing will go right on this island. None of the other boys, with the exception of Piggy, listened to what Ralph had to say which leads them to join Jack in the savage lifestyle which led to Robert almost dying, Simon getting murdered, and Piggy getting killed.

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.

In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, legality is often deemed less important than morality in terms of decision making. Multiple characters throughout the novel disregard the law in order to carry out their vision of justice. When Curley, the son of the ranch owner, discovers his wife’s body, he is furious. So furious that he plans to track Lennie, a new employee with an intellectual disability, down and murder him to get revenge for his mistake. Regardless of the law, Curley’s morals based on vengeance and masculinity drive him to kill Lennie.

Jack’s non-existent rules are a way for him and his tribe to pretend like they can hide behind a mask and take away the boys ability to function as members of a civil society. Towards the end of the story, the lack of laws take a toll on all the boys on the island: “The breaking of the conch and the deaths of Piggy and Simon lay over the island like vapor. These painted savages would go further and further” (236). The breaking of the conch and the loss of two boys are prime examples as to why a society cannot function without rules. The rule of the conch was the first rule established by the assembly.

“What I mean is…maybe it’s only us.” (Golding, 77). Although the boys laugh at Simon’s idea, his belief conforms Golding’s idea that inner evil exists. The boys develop into the beast when they kill Simon. Simon was desperate to explain the unidentified creature on the mountain but the boys weren’t in the mood for listening to him. With his brutal murder by the other boys, chaos takes over civilized order on the island.

In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, young boys get stranded on an island with no adults in the midst of a war. The boys were orderly and civilized in the beginning but then as they began killing pigs they slowly became savages and lost their civilization. The boys began turning on each other and the evil within them became present. Golding uses a variety of literary devices including personification, symbols, metaphors, and irony, to project the theme that pure and realistic people in the world can be unheard and destroyed by evil. Golding uses the conch shell as a symbol of order and civilization on the island of boys.

Mayella’s dad was mad at some of the events that happened during the trial because Atticus had chosen to represent Tom and certain questions that he had asked Mayella. Her father confronted Atticus in town, spit on him, and told him that he was going to kill him. Atticus did not care what was being said to him and chose to walk away. Even when Scout tells Atticus that kids have been bullying her because their dad is protecting people of color he tells them to ignore them because it should not matter what they are saying. He teaches his kids to have a strong sense of justice, to be open minded, and always do what is

Lord of the Flies follows the story of british boys stranded on an island trying to make a civilization and how it comes to fall at the hands of the boys. The novel focuses in on the ideas of innocence, fear, power and primitivity. Irony in the novel shows the reader that one’s primal nature and inner evil can affect society on a large scale. Goldings use of symbolism in relation to themes in the novel shows how people can have rules in civilization but the people rule civilization. In the beginning of the novel, the boys wanted rules and order but it later went to chaos.

He believed that not any situation should have violence. For example, he did not use violence even when the police arrested him for no reason. Also, when he was attacked by a mob of white people in Durban, he did not want to press charges against the mob of people. He said “it was one of his principles, not to seek redress the world no matter the risks and consequences of his actions”. Even though he had some injuries he still did not want to press charges, which revealed Gandhi really did not like violence and he would do anything to display to the people that you can solve differences without violence.

Lord of the Flies, a novel by William Golding, uses the pig’s head on a stick (Lord of the Flies) to symbolize the violent human nature that can be found buried in everyone, and how it can only be controlled if someone truly understands it. The Lord of the Flies itself stands as a symbol of the boys’ violent human nature. When this pig’s head is acquired, Jack’s tribe has already been separated. Their savage nature has already started to come out and by the time the sow is killed, their violence is in full swing. Golding uses imagery that makes the killing similar to a rape scene, such as when “Roger began to withdraw his spear and boys noticed it for the first time” and