Savagery In William Golding's Of Mice And Men

After the boys split into groups leaving Ralph by himself, they turn into full-blown savages and set the whole island on fire to try and catch Ralph; and only when they are rescued do they realize the extent of their savagery. In prisons, the guards commit atrocious actions to prisoners due to rules of society not being enforced, and only when they are caught do they understand the savageness behind what they are doing. Ralph is all by himself against the rest of the savage boys who are trying to hunt and kill him. They set the island on fire trying to smoke Ralph out, just because Ralph disagreed with their opinions. As Ralph runs away from the boys, “the fire became nearer; those volleying shots were great limbs, trunks even, bursting. The …show more content…
Just like the boys, Karpinski is “extremely emotional” because she, and the other guards, were finally caught for torturing the prisoners. The “indignity” she had to face is similar to the embarrassment the boys faced when the naval officer saw how savage a group of schoolboys had become. While they were committing the irrational and savage torture, they never thought of the consequences, but now they are emotional and lose their ranking. This is similar to how the boys, except Ralph and Piggy, never really thought of the consequences of letting the smoke signal go out, and then burning down the forest. However, once they realized what they did they were surprised by their savagery, and started crying. The boys burned down the island, thus completely succumbing to savagery and losing their rationality, however they were still emotional when they finally came to their senses. Likewise, the Abu Ghraib prison guards were emotional when they were finally caught for their savage behavior and lack of reasoning in handling the