Lord Of The Flies Chapter 12 Analysis

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1. Both of these quotes are desperate attempts to deny the truth, refusals to recognize the horrible reality of the depths of the boys' descent into savagery. In Chapter 10, when Piggy insists that Simon's death was an accident, he is ironically trying to comfort Ralph, who at that point is hit with full awareness of what is happening. When Ralph repeats the words in Chapter 12, he is trying to reason his own way out of his awareness that the boys really have crossed the line into a state of evil he had not known even existed - "he argued unconvincingly...(but) the final unreasoning knowledge came to him...the breaking of the conch and the deaths of Piggy and Simon lay over the island like a vapor...these painted savages would go further and further". Although in Chapter 12 Ralph is speaking specifically about the deaths of Piggy and Simon, in a larger sense he is addressing the whole phenomenon of the tribes total degeneration. He had not meant for it to happen and had in fact tried to prevent it from happening, but it happened anyway - "It was…show more content…
Ralph, unlike Simon, has not figured out that he is fighting not only Jack, but the evil inside all mankind. Simon had figured that out when he had his "conversation" with the pig's head. The head told Simon "I'm part of you." Since Simon's conversation was part of an epileptic hallucination, the realization that the evil is inside of man must have come from Simon himself. Unfortunately Ralph, has been so focused on trying to lead the boys, thinking they would follow him simply because he was chief. He never quite realizes that there is an evil in the boys, as well as himself, that must be overcome with strong government and laws. Ralph's leadership, based simply on one vote and no real authoritative actions, has not been strong enough to lead the boys or to get the head to tell him the answers. Ironically, Simon, who did know the answers, is dead, killed when Ralph himself was taking part in the ritual

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