When Piggy discovers the conch, he decides to get Ralph to use it, to call an assembly if there are any more survivors on the island. As the “littluns”, Jack and his choir arrive at the assembly, their initial decision is to make someone a chief, and they do this by having a vote, as in a civilized society. After this Jack and his choir are given the role of hunters, which gives him purpose, to do something beneficial and constructive to the rest of the group. Ralph gave him this role to keep him occupied from the want of becoming chief.
There are certain symbols in this fable which represent civilization, such as the fire, which is important as it represents the glimmer of hope, of being rescued from the island, the conch is also very important as it possesses the power of assembly, Ralphs leadership and can give the right of one person to speak, which was one of Ralphs rules. Piggy’s glasses are also very important in their civilization as these are used to light the fire, but they are very important to Piggy as he is almost blind without them.
As the group of boys were on top of the mountain, they decided to light a fire, so any passing ships would see the signal and they would be rescued, but according to Jack “the conch doesn’t count on top of the mountain”, this is the start of the breakdown of civilization, soon after this Ralph reminds them that “We’ve got to have rules and obey them. After all, we’re not savages. We’re English”. Golding adds to the destruction by the fire raging out of control which leads to the death of the boy with the birthmark. Also fear and “the beast” leads the boys to savagery, the beast represents fear and Jack’s reaction to this is to kill it.
Jack gradually starts to turn savage as Golding compares him to animals, he describes him as “dog-like” and “ape like”. Golding uses an important image of Jack “he passed like a shadow under the darkness of the tree”, this is to show Jack turning savage and hunting for meat. When Jack had his first opportunity to kill a pig, he couldn’t, then he tried to hunt again and went on ahead of his group of hunters, he was determined to kill, so he could compete against Ralph, so he would have purpose in the group and so he would prove to be more powerful as he was doing something that the other boys needed, to eat. The hunters are essential for their survival. Golding tells the reader about the physical appearance of the boys, throughout the novel as they regress to savages, as their uniforms and their clothes turn into tatters, and they are filthy with mud and dirt. At this point in the novel “they obeyed the summons of the conch partly because Ralph blew it, and he was big enough to be a link with the adult world of authority”, they still go to the sound of the conch because they still have hope of being rescued, even though they had little to do with the “biguns”.
Jack decides to paint his face with mud; he uses this as a mask, when he has his face painted he feels powerful, brave and almost fearless. When Jack has his new mask, he has the strength to kill his first pig, after this he describes his first kill; Golding depicts Jack as both “laughing and shuddering” as he described his triumph. When he is cutting up the pig to give some to everyone Jack felt guilty. As most of the littluns followed Jack to help Jack, in the excitement of the hunt, they completely forget about their rescue and let the fire go out. As there was a ship that passed Ralph was very frustrated and “his voice was loud and savage”, this was the one thing he was enthusiastic about, their rescue from the dark and fearful island. When Jack is talked down to by Ralph he is completely humiliated in front of the littluns and decides to hit Piggy which breaks his glasses.
Ralph decides to call another assembly to discuss the fundamentals that they need for their survival, at this assembly everyone tries to articulate their idea of fear and the beast, the thing which is driving the group apart, and the thing which is also turning the group savage “things are breaking up”. Suddenly after this assembly the rules meant absolutely nothing to Jack “the world, that understandable and lawful world, was slipping away”. The only thing that was important to Jack was to hunt and if he saw the beast he would also hunt and kill it. As Jack and the rest of the littluns went with him, this is a turning point in the novel as Ralph responds to this “If I blow the conch and they don’t come back; then we’ve had it. We shan’t keep the fire going. We’ll be like animals. We’ll never be rescued”.
Savagery is symbolised by Jack cutting the head off a pig and putting in on a spear as a gift to the beast, he than puts the head on top of the mountain, where it gathers flies and becomes “the lord of the flies”, and fear itself. Simon, a god-like character in the fable, went up to the head and heard a voice from it, he came to a conclusion that “the beast was harmless and horrible; and the news must reach the others”. As Simon is running down the mountain to bring the good news Jack and the rest of the group are dancing and chanting, they accidently kill Simon as they were scared. Towards the end of the novel when there are few littluns with Ralph and Piggy, Jack decides to go to their camp and steals Piggy’s glasses so he can take responsibility for the fire in his camp. Ralph and Piggy then decide to go to the others camp to civilly ask for Piggy’s glasses back. The littluns who have turned savage decide to knock down a boulder which kills Piggy.
Golding conveys his ideas of, when people are left to their own devices; they will naturally revert to cruelty, barbarism and ultimately savagery. This idea of the evil in humanity is central to “Lord of the Flies”. That civilization will be replaced savagery in extreme circumstances in order to survive.
