Posted: September 3rd, 2022

Savagery vs civilization in Lord Of The Flies

Savagery vs civilization in Lord Of The Flies
Authored by William Golding, Lord of the Flies is a novel that talks about a group of young boys in an isolated island due to plane crashes. The boys comprised Jack, Ralph, Piggy, Simon, and Roger. Initially, the boys were civilized. However, with time they began to portray aspects of savagery.
In the novel, Golding depicts a conflict between savagery and civilization; he shows the latter as a form of orderliness and abiding by rules, and savagery as lawlessness and lack of order. Golding perceives humans as having two competing impulses. The instinct to be morally upright, abide by rules and respect the needs of a group, and the other one that seeks supremacy through violence and enforcing one’s will.
Golding portrays savagery as evil and civilization as good. He proceeds to show the difference between the two main characters; Ralph and Jack. Jack was the antagonist who represented savagery. Ralph was the protagonist who stood for civilization. According to Golding, savagery is fundamental in the human psyche.
Civilization tries to mitigate savagery by enforcing moral behavior, but it cannot eradicate it. Apart from Jack, Roger also was full of savagery. Simon is the only person who seems to possess goodness naturally. Piggy and Ralph represented civilization. As the boys continued living on the island, they began losing their innocence. They transformed from seeking rescue to bloody hunters. Initially, it was a place full of orderliness and beauty. However, when Simon returned, he saw a pierced sow on a stake in the middle of a clearing.
There was a struggle as the boys tried to build civilization. Ralph proposed orderliness, rules, and maintaining a signal of fire, while Jack cherished hunting, violence, and fun. The process was slow and challenging. Instead of building shelters, maintaining signal fires, and taking care of littluns, the boys preferred hunting, chanting, and dancing around the fire.
At first, Jack had agreed to abide by Ralph’s rules; however, afterward, his yearning for violence suppressed empathy and civilization. At some point, Ralph also abided by Jack’s rules and forgot that he was aiming to achieve humanity. Piggy and Ralph, together with Roger and Jack, participated in the mass murdering of Simon. Although Piggy ignored his participation, Ralph could not come into terms with the fact that he also has some form of evil inside him. Golding shows that even small children can have inherent evil.

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