Deep inside every person lurks a savage and dark side. However, if never pushed to the brink of mental capacity and catastrophe, this darkness might never be seen. In William Golding’s Lord Of the Flies, the reader witnesses young boys brought to an untamed island, and they soon become very untamed themselves. Proof of this is found when the more fearful the boys become of the beast, the more savage they become. Also, they turn off their emotions, allowing them to kill their old friends and acquaintances.
The head of the pig was on a spear as an “offering” to the beast. Close the end of the novel, it is obvious that there is no hope for the boys to be innocent again. They were trying to kill each and also, some got killed. In chapter 11, Roger rolled a boulder down a hill during a feud and killed piggy. In chapter 10, Simon tries to tell the other boys that the real beast is their own selves, while at the same time they are screaming, "Kill the beast!
There is tension that is built up during the survival of the boys on the island: tension between social responsibility and individual needs, tension between rational and emotional reactions and tension between mortality and immortality. These tensions contribute to the disintegration of order as the boys begin to lose control because Golding shows that the savagery inside them is instinct and everyone is born with evil inside them. Golding uses a variety of techniques to portray the disintegration of order. In the novel, he uses hunting and violence as one of the main themes to convey the boys as savages. There are six main hunts shown and as the hunting proceeds the boys lose their identity as the little children in England.
I fear Samneric, being littluns, will go with their short-term instincts and join Jack. All the littluns will probably go, leaving me, Ralph and Simon. I’m still concerned with him, he spends so much time alone in the forest. He’s cracked, something is eating at him. And the fire can’t go in the best location, it’s down here.
Jack is constantly challenging Ralph’s authority throughout the novel and wanting a position of power. When he first discovered the thrill of killing during his hunt for pig, he became addicted and couldn’t stop. “While the boys were making huts for shelter, Jack was off hunting instead of helping with the huts. All he cared about was that the boys needed meat” (55). Unlike most of the other boys, not only did Jack become a savage, but also he became a murderer.
Wider Reading: the Written Assignment-‘The Lord of the Flies’ and ‘The Day of the Triffids’ Both Golding and Wyndham write about groups of people trying to hold onto civilization after a disaster. What is each writer showing us about human beings by putting his character in this situation? Each writer shows us aspects of human beings largely through putting their groups of people in extreme conditions as they hold onto civilization revealing their true personalities such as fear. However, there are large differences as Golding shows group of young boys stranded on an island, Wyndham using groups of sighted people of various ages sometimes with the blind as well. This is carried on further by the different views of human beings as each writer observes different experiences during the Cold War, the time when the book was written.
He attempts to kill it with his knife, but he resisted and the pig got away. Jack vows to kill without a doubt next time. Chapter 2: Ralph and the group return and hold another meeting. They announce that there are no grown-ups to be seen and they need hunters to find meat. As the meeting continue, Piggy raises concerns about not going to be rescued.
Rainsford chased by General Zaroff, using his experience and wits to cunningly escape from the hunter and even wounding him with traps. He eventually kills Zaroff as a result; Rainsford becomes the most dangerous game on Zaroff’s island. The most dangerous game as General Zaroff suggests, appears on his island, even though he may be referring to Rainsford because of his hunting experience and only says sailors are in his basement as to disguise this. {x}Stopped{x} General Zaroff, a Cossack, has hunted game for many years and he has grown weary of hunting them for it has become too predictable and no longer amusing, so he looks for alternate forms of entertainment. Retaining his position of control he makes the ship wrecked play a game of hunted and hunter.
Loss of identity is a predominant theme of the novel. In the beginning of the novel Lord of the Flies, the most important/significant character is Ralph ,an innocent young boy who is focused on being a motivating leader, but he didn't know what he was in for. At times he was over ruled by Jack and the other boys on the island who all became savages and uncontrollable. Ralph starts out as the calm, mellow protagonist who organizes the boys by setting rules such as the conch. He starts to take part and witness violent acts such as the boys on the island hunting pigs.
Jack becomes successful in gaining power because he rules by fear and with intimidation and brute force. Even the army of hunters fear Jack when he “beat Wilfred”(176) for no apparent reason. Although Jack’s irrational decisions appease the little ones, his actions hurt the boys’ chance of rescue. As time passes on the island, Jack’s own bloodlust prioritizes itself before the need to be rescued. In order to protect the little ones from the beast, he makes an offering “for the beast.”(151), creating the basis of a religion.