Civilization Vs Savagery Essay

While overseas, mankind faces one of its greater conflicts of unbelievably inhumane feats, A small island populated by young school boys and the sums of their imagination presents its own inconceivable set of events. William Golding carves a window into the human psyche, allowing readers to witness the rivalry between forces of civility and savagery present in the absence of the structured support of society and the resulting collapse and ultimate plunge of civility into chaos.To depict these interworking of the internal conflict between savagery and civilization, Golding presents numerous characters and objects that, through symbolism, bear aspects of larger themes. The two large competing forces are civility and savagery and each is an overarching function comprised of several essential components, all of which Golding denotes a symbol. The three stressed elements of civilization are science and reason, order and lawfulness, and selflessness and moral command. The loss of these fundamentals results in the total collapse of civilization; As the objects of symbolic significance that pertain of each …show more content…
As reason, order, and morality combine to construct a refined society, impulse, chaos, and lust for power are the key components that drive savagery. All but the last of these instances are less denoted by symbolism but rather observed; the exercise of impulse is present throughout the novel, even the very first few days on the island where the boys began playing rather than assisting in building shelters and maintaining the signal fire. They would rather engage in activities that are immediately rewarding than those that require future planning. These impulsive actions would develop and eventually result in the death of Simon, suddenly amplifying the augmenting chaos. The chaotic component is also apparent in the bizarre ritualistic trends and the spread of the fire that claimed the life of one of the younger