It is said that most people if put in a particular situation they would not do things they would normally. In the novel Lord Of The Flies, by W.Golding, a group of young boys are stranded on an isolated island cut off from society, having no adults or figures of authority on the island, the boys become savage. Examples of such savagery would be the murders, the cruelty of Jack, and how even Ralph could succumb to it as well
Ralph, the voice of civilization throughout the novel even is able to succumb to the dark desires within him, similar to Jack. When Jack has one of his pig hunts Ralph joins in as well, and becomes quite engrossed with it,
I hit him, said Ralph again, and the spear stuck in a bit.
He felt the need of witnesses
Didn 't
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The first murder is of Simon, “a blue-white scar was constant, the noise was unbearable. Simon was crying out something about a dead man on a hill. ‘Kill the beast! Cut his Throat! Spill his blood!’” (168) Jack’s tribe, overcome by their inner savagery, without thinking kill Simon thinking he’s the beast, this shows that the boys on the island have lost the part of civilization inside them. Piggy 's murder was also unjustified but also done with intent, “Piggy fell forty feet and landed on his back across that square, red rock in the sea. His head open and stuff came out and turned red, piggy’s arms and legs twitched a bit, like a pig who had just been killed.”(201) This death is different than the other one, in that they were fully aware of what they were doing and killed piggy anyway with no remorse. Inhabiting the island for the amount of time the boys have been there has caused the boys to revert to savages who resort to …show more content…
One of these things is that he whips one of his tribe members, Wilfred, “The chief was sitting there, naked to the waist, his face blocked out in white and red. The tribe lay in a semicircle before him. The newly beaten and untied Wilfred was sniffing noisily in the background”(176) to ascertain that Jack has become savage, he has apparently beaten Wilfred for no reason and has taken to covering his face with paint. Another thing Jack does is lie to his tribe to keep them under control, “he came-disguised. He may come again even though we gave him the head of our kill to eat. So watch; and be careful” (177) Jack not even saying he was at fault in Simon’s death, instead says that Simon was actually the beast, to keep the boys under control with fear. Jack is a devious person who goes into the deep end of savagery after having no rules to follow and becomes a pseudo
This encounter with the “beast” was not a fight against a physical being, it was a manifestation of the boys’ savagery. As time passes and tension amongst the boys rises, the inner evil and savagery becomes more evident through the murders of Simon and Piggy. The true “beast”
Spill his blood!”. Jack himself never believed that there was a beast but he continued to support the idea of a beast. He knew what he was doing, he knew he could use the idea of the beast to his benefit by saying he could protect them. Simon was on his way to warn the other boys but instead got brutally murdered, he knew there wasn’t a beast but he still took part in the murder of Simon Smith II. Jack was charged with second degree murder which was that the murder was on the heat of passion but he was very aware of his actions and deserved more
They lost sight of what was important, which was not just living on the island nor leaving it but working together well enough to do so properly. Simon and Piggy died but unlike in modern 21st society, their murders were not punished since their society lacked basic laws. Without laws, the boys eventually could not tell right from wrong even if they could they didn't need to for there were no punishments for wrongdoing. When they were finally rescued ironically it was due to their savagery a large fire signaled a ship. The naval officer jokes “what's going on, are you guys having a war, any dead bodies?”
When the boys get stranded on this island they must take care of themselves and try to get rescued. As the boys climb this mountain to get home they face new challenges which resulted them to descend into savagery. With these new challenges of killing the pig for the first time, them breaking the conch, and deaths of Simon and Piggy they to descend into savagery causing them to lose their innocence. After the boys crash landed on the island it was only a matter of time before the boys descend into savagery because lack of leadership, need for survival and loss of innocence. Their first goal on the island was to have fun and get rescued but throughout their stay, they get further away from that.
He instills fear in the other boys and is now completely different than he was before. Jack is at the most savage and loses all civilization when he participates in the killing of Simon. He tells everyone to dance and then Simon comes in and then they “leapt onto the beast, screamed, struck, bit, and tore.” (153). Allowing someone to be murdered is the worst.
After a pig run with the hunters and Ralph, things seemed to fall apart quickly. Jack and Ralph have an argument which makes the kids choose between Ralph being leader and Jack being leader. This is where the strict bold lines of civility and savagery appear. The kids in Jack’s tribe were chanting and making a dance around the fire, they accidentally kill Simon thinking he was the beast. Ironically, Simon was going over to them to tell them there is no beast, since he just finished having a hallucination of the pig head speaking to him naming himself ‘The Lord Of The Flies’.
On an Island of twelve boys, two were found dead, and one almost dead. Now it's time to find out who should be charged with murder with the attention on Jack Merridew. Simon was brutally murdered, Piggy was hit with a rock causing his head contents to explode, and Ralph was almost killed. All of the boys should be charged with the murder of Simon. Rodger should be charged with the murder of Piggy.
Although the boys are stuck on the island for weeks and begin to turn to savagery, one boy, Simon, makes an observation that no one else makes yet. Simon, who is an intuitive and sensitive individual eventually recognizes the darkness that hides within the human heart. When the boys argue about there being a beast on the island, Simon proposes the idea to the group that “maybe it’s only us that we’re afraid of” (Golding 195). Simon tries to suggest that the beast may be something within the boys themselves but to the boys, it’s just easier to fear the beast than to face the reality that they are actually afraid of each other. Towards the end of the novel when Simon and Piggy face death, and Jack’s savage group is about to kill Ralph, a naval officer shows up at the same time Ralph was about to give up and let himself die.
This gets him nowhere among the boys, and he stays a follower. Since the boys are split up, Simon is the only one to believe there is no beast, and he dies attempting to preach there is no beast. Jack’s ruthless hunters attacked him when he was “crying out something about a dead man on a hill” (Golding 152). This shows Simon is a smart guy, but his lackadaisical attitude leads him to his demise, which ends up being his most significant failure, costing him his
Lastly, Jack is known as the rebel of the story who disagrees with the leaders, and is pure evil from middle to end. Although Jack is evil, his bad character trait ensures his survival and alliance with the boys. The first example of when Jack’s evilness is shown in the story is when Jack hunts the pig and puts its head on a stick, the line says “ Jack held the head up and jammed the soft throat down on the pointed end of the stick which pierced through into the mouth. He stood back and the head hung there, a little blood dribbling down the stick” ( Golding, 150). This shows Jack’s evilness because instead of fearing the beast he is offering him the head of the pig that he just brutally murdered.
Jack was directly involved in Simon’s death, and was completely aware that he and the boys were killing something when they were in the circle. Jack had rallied the boys in a savage way at the feast, singing their chant, and dancing:“Do our dance! Come on! Dance!” (151, Golding).
Savagery Creates Beasts Jack became a savage, murderer and dictator within the short span of time he was on the island. Jack has changed greatly, over the course of William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies. Crashing onto an island without adults and having to survive put a strain on all of the boys, but Jack’s personality altered the most due to this experience. He went from living as an ambitious choirboy to being a vicious, brutal, beast. He ruined the childhood of many boys, abused people, and went crazy.
Although Ralph may be a good leader and Piggy may be smart, they both have evil inside of them and want to be a part of Simon’s murder. Ralph and Piggy are nowhere near being savages at this point, but their love of death still shows, even if they regret it later. Their savagery is just the result of the evil human nature inside of them that is left unchecked by civil society. On the island, the boys do not have the benefit of civilization, so they revert to human nature and instinct for survival.
The boys interaction with the sow demonstrates their loss of morality through Jack's actions. “Jack held up the head and jammed the soft throat down on the pointed end of the stick … a little blood dribbling down the stick” (Golding 136-137). There was a major use of imagery, which helped to set an ominous mood, in Golding's description of the sow's head being mounted for the beast. Jack uses this act to to his advantage, scaring the boys even further into the places of his devoted savage-servants. Simon's death was one of the boys ultimate losses of morality.
Jack’s manipulation even is used to justify the death of Simon later. Simon is brutally murdered but Jack claims that the beast is just taking a different form rather than acknowledging the group’s wrong. The book suggests that Jack knows of the murder of Simon“This head is for the beast. It's a gift. ”(146)