Imagine that you are in a gruesome crash and are stranded on an island with peers who have never seen before. No adults inhabit the island and you are unsure of what to do. How exactly do you make shelter, find food, or even let anyone know you’re stranded? This situation seems unfortunate right? This describes the novel Lord of the Flies written by William Golding. This intriguing novel consists of many hidden allegories and themes. One that emerges in the story, is a moral allegory. Being stranded on an island, brings Atavism to the boys. The boys recede from their taught morals and return to their primitive instincts. This is displayed many times throughout the book. The theme of Atavism supports Lord of the Flies as a moral allegory
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In the novel, a pig is decapitated. This really shows the amount of regression that has occurred. “During the first days the children, led by Jack, play at hunting. But eventually the circle of the playground extends to the circle of the hunted and squealing pig seeking refuge—and it is significant that the first animal slain for food is a nursing sow—which itself anticipates the circle of consecrated ground where the children perform the new rites of the kill.” (Rosenfield). This arrays the moral deterioration that each boy inhabited over the course of the book. They went from playing games to murder and ambush. The boys at this point are not only hunting for food, but for power and defeat of the sow. As stated in the book, “ Here, struck down by the heat, the sow fell and the hunters hurled themselves at her.” (120), the boys feel the need to overpower and place control on this sow. Here, the significance of killing the sow is really seen. They are no longer slaughtering for food but because they have the desire to kill as well. Animal decapitation is not the only example of moral atavism shown throughout the book. Human decapitation towards Ralph and unnecessary violence are also major themes shown throughout the …show more content…
“When the officer at the rescue jokingly says, “`What have you been doing? Having a war or something?'” this representative of the grown-up world does not understand that the games of the children, which result in two deaths, are a moral commentary upon the primitive nature of his own culture. The ultimate irrationality is war. Paradoxically, the children not only return to a primitive and infantile morality, but they also degenerate into adults. They prove that, indeed, “children are but men of a smaller growth” (Rosenfield). On the island, when control is lost, many destructive things begin to happen. “Soon the boys recover a conch from the lagoon. More than a plaything, the conch will become a means of communication, and ultimately a symbol of law and order. Instructed by the wise but ineffectual Piggy, Ralph blows on the conch, thereby summoning the scattered boys. Possession of the conch ensures Ralph's election as chief. Later the assembled boys agree that whoever wishes to speak must raise his hand and request the conch. Cradling the conch in one's hands not only confers instant personal authority but affirms the common desire for an orderly society” (Friedman). The conch at the beginning of Lord of the Flies is a symbol of law and order and helps keep things together. “The conch, which Ralph and Piggy discover in the lagoon and use to call the children to assemblies, is not
In the novel, a pig is decapitated. This really shows the amount of regression that has occurred. “During the first days the children, led by Jack, play at hunting. But eventually the circle of the playground extends to the circle of the hunted and squealing pig seeking refuge—and it is significant that the first animal slain for food is a nursing sow—which itself anticipates the circle of consecrated ground where the children perform the new rites of the kill.” (Rosenfield). This arrays the moral deterioration that each boy inhabited over the course of the book. They went from playing games to murder and ambush. The boys at this point are not only hunting for food, but for power and defeat of the sow. As stated in the book, “ Here, struck down by the heat, the sow fell and the hunters hurled themselves at her.” (120), the boys feel the need to overpower and place control on this sow. Here, the significance of killing the sow is really seen. They are no longer slaughtering for food but because they have the desire to kill as well. Animal decapitation is not the only example of moral atavism shown throughout the book. Human decapitation towards Ralph and unnecessary violence are also major themes shown throughout the …show more content…
“When the officer at the rescue jokingly says, “`What have you been doing? Having a war or something?'” this representative of the grown-up world does not understand that the games of the children, which result in two deaths, are a moral commentary upon the primitive nature of his own culture. The ultimate irrationality is war. Paradoxically, the children not only return to a primitive and infantile morality, but they also degenerate into adults. They prove that, indeed, “children are but men of a smaller growth” (Rosenfield). On the island, when control is lost, many destructive things begin to happen. “Soon the boys recover a conch from the lagoon. More than a plaything, the conch will become a means of communication, and ultimately a symbol of law and order. Instructed by the wise but ineffectual Piggy, Ralph blows on the conch, thereby summoning the scattered boys. Possession of the conch ensures Ralph's election as chief. Later the assembled boys agree that whoever wishes to speak must raise his hand and request the conch. Cradling the conch in one's hands not only confers instant personal authority but affirms the common desire for an orderly society” (Friedman). The conch at the beginning of Lord of the Flies is a symbol of law and order and helps keep things together. “The conch, which Ralph and Piggy discover in the lagoon and use to call the children to assemblies, is not