As you brainstorm on this topic consider how once the
vestiges of society erode in Lord of the Flies the innate savagery
in the boys emerges. Golding writes of the hold on order that society has through
conditioning. In Chapter Four, for instance, Roger,
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a slight, furtive boy who keeps to himself with
an inner intensity of avoidance and
secrecy
kicks over the sand
castles and watches the little Henry as he plays by the shore. He waits behind a palm
tree until he can safely throw things at him. Then he picks up a stone, "that token of
preposterous time," and throws it just near Henry because the "taboo of the old life"
controls his arm. Golding writes that
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Roger's arm was conditioned by a civilization
that knew nothing of him and was in
ruins.
After this, Jack shows
Roger his mask behind which he hunts savagely. "Roger understood and nodded gravely."
When Jack sees his reflection, he dances, laughs a "bloodthirsty snarling" and he is
"liberated from shame and self-consciousness."
This chapter
demonstrates the dissolution of the vestiges of society and the beginning of the
barbarism of Jack and the hunters. Intuitively, Simon looks from Ralph to Jack--in a
symbolic motion--and "what he saw seemed to make him afraid." The head of the pig they
have killed hangs down from the stake and seems "to search for something on the
ground." The pig looks for the evil in the boys. At this point, Jack breaks Piggy's
glasses--a symbolic act. "Passions beat about Simon" as he senses the intrusion of the
inherent evil of the boys.
An examination of this chapter
will demonstrate the breakdown of the boys from being civilized to regressing to
savagery. This chapter is pivotal to the theme of the disintegration of civilized
behavior in the boys on the island. By the time that Piggy asks for the return of his
glasses in Chapter Eleven, "not as a favor...but because what's right's right," Jack and
the others are unable to recognize any longer a moral code that society has
established in which law and cooperation is best and killing is
wrong.
So, in order to support the solidifying effect of
society, perhaps you may wish to demonstrate by contrast, showing how anarchy and
cruelty result once the vestiges of society are removed. Be sure, too, to read the
critical essays, etc on this site.
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