As the smoke approaches Ralph is forced into the open and a wild chase follows with Jacks tribe trying to catch Ralph. He cannot decide whether to hide or run and the island is being engulfed with flames, as he runs out into the open beach he falls at the feet of a Navy officer who was attracted by all the fire and smoke, and they are rescued.
The presentation of the novel involves a lot of symbolism. The book itself is symbolic of society, the island becomes a microcosm of the real world, and the boys isolated on the island represent society figurative to our own society. The hunt in the final chapter symbolises war.
A symbol Golding uses throughout the novel is the conch. It is delicate and fragile and represents order and rules, the destruction of it shows that all last traces of order have been lost and lawlessness and chaos have taken their place.
Furthermore it confirms any lingering sense of civilisation is completely ‘shattered’.
Another important symbol is Piggy’s glasses. They are symbolic of insight and intelligence. After the glasses are broken however, the group looses what little insight they had.
An example of this, is when Jack and his tribe set the island on fire at the end of the novel, for had they not been rescued they would have had nothing to eat and no shelter.
The style Golding has used in this novel is extremely effective in allowing the reader to see the wider picture that Golding is trying to show.
He uses a simple story line to convey a much deeper meaning and message.
Each of his characters symbolise an idea, or concept, as do the objects in the story. The symbolism he uses gives the story a new layer of meaning.
One of the main themes in this novel is Irony; there are several examples of this in the final chapter.
The fire is a considerably important one. It was started by Jack and his tribe of ‘savages’ to force Ralph out of his Hiding place so that they could capture and kill him, and it caused a lot of destruction however The fire and smoke is what attracted The Naval officer to the island and subsequently led to the boys being rescued.
Next, the statement the Navel officer makes when he sees the boys with their spears and painted faces, “Fun and games”.
He assumes that they have all been having fun together and enjoyed their time on the island, when actually it has been quite the opposite.
Furthermore he says, “I know. Jolly good show. Like the Coral Island.”
The coral island is a story written about a group of boys who are put in the same situation but react in completely the opposite way.
In his novel Golding has decided to personify innate evil in the form of some kind of beast or “Beastie” as the young boys call it in the novel.
However the ‘Creature’ the children fear and believe to be the beast is actually a dead parachutist who has drifted onto the island.
Thus This brings in the idea that in actual fact Golding may be trying to communicate a deeper meaning, and the evil that we should fear most is Innate evil and ourselves – humans.
Perhaps Golding is writing this to make us aware of the evil within us all, so that if we can identify it we can resist it. To support this idea we can look at one of the characters Golding has created in his novel –Simon.
“Maybe there is a beast…what I mean is maybe its only us.”
Simon is the only boy who recognizes the inherent evil in mankind, and does not externalise is, hence he is the only one who is able to resist it wholly.
Although, through the course of the novel Ralph does begin to recognize this evil in the others and the temptation in himself, when he is unable to resist the savage dance.
In this we can also assemble an idea that Golding may be trying to say that given the right conditions, and the abandonment of the delicate bonds of society man will inevitably return to their evil savage like ways.
However Ralph still attempts to cling on to the remnants of hope and civilisation and tries to talk himself out of believing that they are evil “No. They are not as bad as that. It was an accident.”
Golding’s use of language in this chapter allows us to sympathise with Ralph, as he switches from Third person to first person. This accordingly allows us to see things from Ralph’s point of view.
The final chapter is the climax of the novel, when all order is lost, and there is a sense of ‘hopelessness’ in the way Golding describes the events, which take place. The ‘hunt’, and the ominous threat of ‘a stick sharpened at both ends’ which allows the reader insight into what the savages plan on doing to Ralph when they capture him, and his panic and indecision of what to do “Break the line. A tree. Hide, and let them pass”, and his confused and terrified thoughts of what the savages were going to do to him.
Thus keeping the reader riveted to the story, and just as it seems like there is no hope left, the story is concluded with the boys rescue.
This may seem like a livelier ending to the novel then the cynical events which took place before, though looking at it from another point of view you can see that conceivably Golding is in actuality trying to show that they are just being rescued from the small island but are being taken back to the world in which a war is currently under way, and where the same destruction and disorder is taking place but on a much larger scale.
The last few lines Golding leaves the reader with effectively convey his message, “Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the true wise friend called piggy”.
‘The darkness of man’s heart’ is referring to the idea of innate evil, and original sin. The talk of Piggy’s death shows that Ralph is finally beginning to understand and realize Piggy’s true worth.
The end of innocence tells the reader that as a result of all that has taken place on the island the young boys have lost their innocence, and they are no longer children.
In conclusion, the language used in the last chapter and the string of events that take place effectively ties the entire story together, and is particularly significant because it
leaves the reader with Golding’s message, showing that the boys are being taken from one war into another, making life a vicious circle depicts Golding’s cynical and pessimistic outlook on life.
