When the boys apply paint to their faces there is a clear indication of how the boys have gone errant from the path of civilization and onto the path of savagery. When Jack is preparing for a hunt, he puts on paint. His companion Roger does not understand why he is doing this, Jack explains “For hunting. Like in the war. You know—dazzle paint. Like things trying to look like something else—” (63). One of the first boys to apply paint to his swarthy face is Jack, he is also the first to leave the civilized group and become a savage later on in the novel. He tries to mask the application as an innocent camouflage for the hunt, when truly Jack’s covered face is the outer reflection of his growing savagery. Castle Rock’s group of boys festoon themselves
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Simon goes to his previously undisturbed serene haven away from all the others, there is the pig head the hunters have put out as a sacrifice to the “beast” Simon then begins to have a hallucination and the mutilated pig head on a stick speaks, one of the things the head says is, ”You knew, didn’t you? I’m a part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s not so? Why things are what they are” (143). He is a physical manifestation of the beast - savagery - that is inside all of the boys, as is reflected in Jack’s tribe when they begin to kill out of a strange primal bloodlust, which is made apparent on the beach when they “lept onto [Simon] screamed, struck, bit, tore” (153) and kill Simon for no real reason. The savagery begins to loom over all the boys, driving them to do appalling things. Events like this occur only after the pig head is placed on the stake; the head is the mark of the end of society on the island. Later in the novel, the head is completely decayed with nothing left but the skull and the stick to hold him up, and when Ralph comes across the decayed sow he has a “sick fear and rage” (185) and hits the smiling head. All the Lord of the Flies does is bring out the savagery in the boys - even the seemingly civil Ralph - as is portrayed when the tribe blatantly goes after Ralph, he grabs the spear and hides as his primal instincts drive him to do. As the Lord of the Flies decays, the boys’ civilization fades and allows more savagery to seep in; he is the catalyst for their chaotic
Simon goes to his previously undisturbed serene haven away from all the others, there is the pig head the hunters have put out as a sacrifice to the “beast” Simon then begins to have a hallucination and the mutilated pig head on a stick speaks, one of the things the head says is, ”You knew, didn’t you? I’m a part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s not so? Why things are what they are” (143). He is a physical manifestation of the beast - savagery - that is inside all of the boys, as is reflected in Jack’s tribe when they begin to kill out of a strange primal bloodlust, which is made apparent on the beach when they “lept onto [Simon] screamed, struck, bit, tore” (153) and kill Simon for no real reason. The savagery begins to loom over all the boys, driving them to do appalling things. Events like this occur only after the pig head is placed on the stake; the head is the mark of the end of society on the island. Later in the novel, the head is completely decayed with nothing left but the skull and the stick to hold him up, and when Ralph comes across the decayed sow he has a “sick fear and rage” (185) and hits the smiling head. All the Lord of the Flies does is bring out the savagery in the boys - even the seemingly civil Ralph - as is portrayed when the tribe blatantly goes after Ralph, he grabs the spear and hides as his primal instincts drive him to do. As the Lord of the Flies decays, the boys’ civilization fades and allows more savagery to seep in; he is the catalyst for their chaotic