Savagery In Lord Of The Flies

Lord of the Flies written by William Golding is a novel about a group of young British boys who are stranded on an island after their plane is shot down. Within the story, William Golding explores what the results would be if he takes a group of young boys and places them on a deserted island and asks what will the result be, a utopia or a dystopia. As the boys live on the island their morals begin to change and they transform into savages. William Golding reveals how when left to its own devices and given the opportunity, human nature will revert back to the inherent savagery that lies within everyone using symbols such as the conch, the fire and the mask. The first symbol that conveys the theme of the savagery within the boys as they lose …show more content…
Ralph and Piggy discover the conch shell on the beach at the start of the novel and use it to find the other boys after the crash separates them. The conch shell becomes a powerful symbol of civilization, law and order in the novel. In the novel it says, "'And another thing. We can't have everybody talking at once. We'll have to have 'Hands up' like at school.' He held the conch before his face and glanced round the mouth. 'Then I'll give him the conch.' 'Conch?' 'That's what this thing is called. I'll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he's speaking'". Ralph shows the boys how to use the conch to take turns in their meetings. Ralph uses the conch as a symbol of law and order with the boys in their second meeting. The conch begins to represent civilization and order in this quote by the way the group begins to use it. As the story …show more content…
The fire the boys build is a signal fire that burns on the mountain, and later on the beach. It is used to attract the notice of any passing planes or ships that might be able to rescue the boys. As a result, the signal fire is the boys’ connection to civilization. In the novel it says, "There's another thing. We can help them to find us. If a ship comes near the island they may not notice us. So we must make smoke on top of the mountain. We must make a fire. ‘A fire! Make a fire!’". The fire becomes a symbol of hope for the boys to return to civilization. The fact that the boys maintain the fire is a sign that they want to be rescued and return to society. They work in a civilized manner and set up times so that the fire is always watched and maintained. Throughout the novel though Jack’s group forgets about the fire and end up letting it go out. In the novel it says, “The fire was dead. They saw that straight away; saw what they had really known down on the beach when the smoke of home had beckoned. The fire was out, smokeless and dead; the watchers were gone. A pile of unused fuel lay ready”. Instead of watching and maintaining the fire, Jack and his group went hunting for pigs. Within this part of the novel Jack and his hunters had been overcome with the urge to kill especially Jack after he missed his chance earlier when they found a pig. Because of their actions the fire the have burning is put out and a