How civilization turns into savagery?

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How civilization turns into savagery?

 Analysis of the main characters and the primal symbols in

William Golding’s ‘The Lord of The Flies’

The novel ‘The Lord of The flies’ was written by William Golding in the early 1950s in Salisbury, England and it was published first in 1954. The story is told in third-person by an anonymous narrator who conveys the events without commenting the happenings but gives us access to the characters' inner thoughts. The story is told in a dark, pessimistic tone for it is a castaway story and a loss-of-innoncent fiction.

‘The Lord of The Flies’ presents us a group of English boys who planecrashed on a deserted island – like some brunch of modern Robinsons. They are left outside alone and forced to survive and create themselves a civilised society – obeying their own instincts, which are mostly based upon their education. The newly formed group needed a leader which leads to the first conflicts: the choirboys voted for Jack, but everybody else voted for Ralph, so he won the election although Jack wanted the position. This first conflict appears between the two applicants Ralph and Jack.

The new leader Ralph is the athletic, charismatic protagonist of the novel. Ralph represents the order, civilization and productive leadership in the novel. While most of the boys were concerned with avoiding work, playing and having fun, Ralph decided to build huts and thinking of plans to maximize their possibilities of being rescued. This is why Ralph's power and positive effect for the boys were certain at the beginning of the novel. He seemed to be the person who feels responsibility for the whole of the group. Later as the boys gradually got influenced by savage instincts, Ralph's position declined while Jack's power rose. Most of the boys except Piggy left Ralph's group for Jack's, and Ralph was to be hunted by Jack's tribe. Ralph was strongly committed to civilization and morality. He wished to be rescued and returned to the society of adults and this strength gave him a moral victory at the end of the novel.

In the earlier parts of the novel Ralph was not able to understand why the other boys gave way to basic instincts of barbarism and thirst for blood. As the novel progresses Ralph understands that savagery exists within every boy. Ralph tried not to let this savagery overwhelm him. When he hunted a boar for the first time he experienced the thrill of bloodlust and the taste of violence. However, on another occasion he did no refuse Piggy’s mockery, so we can see that he was not flawless. Eventually, when he attended Jack's feast participated in the killing of Simon. Recognizing the fact that evil exists within him and every human being is tragic for Ralph. But this knowledge also enabled him to cast down the Lord of the Flies at the end of the novel. His story has a semi-tragic end: he was rescued and returned to civilization, when he saw the naval officer, he cried over his new knowledge about the human responsiveness for evil.

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When we examine Ralph’s opponent we can see that the strong-willed, egomaniacal Jack is the novel's primary model of the instinct of savagery, violence, and the desire for power —the antithesis of Ralph. From the beginning of the novel he desired the power above all other things. When he lost the election to Ralph he got pretty furious and did not want to accept subordinate role in the group. Earlier Jack retained the moral behaviour that society implanted in him — actually, back in school he was the leader of the choirboys. The first time when he encountered a pig ...

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