Monday, June 25, 2012

In the last chapter how is Percival's name, an "incantation" indicative of the boys' resulting loss of identity?William Golding's Lord of the Flies

After the arrival of the naval officer who rescues the boys from
the island, Percival Wemys Madison "sought in his head for an incantation that had faded clean
away." Like his namesake, who was a knight of King Arthur's court who sought the Holy Grail, the
boy searches for the recitation of his identity--now as unattainable as the grail--which he
repeated in the beginning chapters. Percival has lost this identity since his address no longer
has any meaning. Like the others, with all traces of civilization gone from them, Percival is
simply a member of one of the tribes, Ralph's or Jack's. He merely follows the leadership of one
of the boys, having no individual identity of his own, reduced to merely a savage who eats and
sleeps. The beautiful island, a metaphor for society, burns behind them erasing all
identity.

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