The novel "Lord Of The Flies" bases itself on civilized and savage behaviour. Civilized behaviour means to be aware of our surroundings and to care for them and to sacrifice certain pleasures to attain them, and to help others. When hearing the word 'savage' one thinks of cavemen squatting and gnawing at raw meat right off of the bone. In a way that stereotype was satisfied in this novel. Savage behaviour might be best described as the act of living like primitive animals who don't care for others and expect 'instant gratification' from almost everything they do. Instant gratification can be best described by the following: to do something and expecting immediate results. The result for savage behaviour is that it leads to distractions from what is important (in this novels case, getting rescued) and disregard of others. When the characters in "Lord Of The Flies" begin acting savage they go so far that it results in the destruction of their environment as well as the destruction of their civilized minds. On the other hand, civilization is the partial suppression of a human's natural thoughts and movements. Civilization is the ability to take all force associated with savagery and to use it to create and maintain a certain order.
At the beginning of this novel, the boys make an attempt at order and civilized behaviour but they fail to the uncooperative nature of the 'little-uns'. The boys elect a leader and make different groups, each with a purpose of accomplishing something constructive: The Hunters, Water-fetchers and Fire-tenders. The boys find a conch and view it as a symbol of order. This shell grants any one person power, as long as they have it in their possession.
The boys in the novel begin as civilized children who obey the laws they were taught their whole lives. Upon first arriving the island, it was fresh in their young minds, so it took some time for them to forget it. The boys appoint a conch as the centrepiece of law and order in their community. This shows that the boys remembered how to stay in order. Supporting this is the suggestion from a boy named Roger, that a 'cheif' should be elected. The boys chose Ralph as their leader, because they were naturally attracted to his attitude.
In Lord of the Flies, William Golding created a picturesque society that was doomed for disaster. However, not all of the children on the island had the same savage attributes as some of the others, mostly hunters. This created a stark difference in characteristic traits on the island.we were left with the good versus the bad, or the Civilized versus the Savage. From this, I concluded that the main theme in Lord of the Flies is Civilization vs. Savagery. Throughout the novel, there are many examples that support this and many quotes that exemplify this idea as well. Ralph, the elected leader on the island leads the pack as far as the Civilized ones go. On the other hand, Jack leads the way for the Savage children, as he was elected head of the hunters. It is safe to say that in Lord of the Flies, William Golding intended to give readers a taste of what can happen when societies clash, as the children did on the island. When the novel first begins all seems well with just Ralph and Piggy
Jack represented the savage and Ralph represented the civilized. In Lord of the Flies author William Golding sets out to show what can happen when good meets evil, or in this case the Civilized versus the Savage. In response to this, when the fire had originally gone Jack replied by saying "We can relight the fire again, you should have been with us, Ralph. In literature, authors will often create a theme in their pieces of work, either to teach the reader something, or perhaps even prove a point. "Hasn"tmt anyone got any sense We"tmve got to relight that fire" (102). For the first time, we can now see the clash of Civilization in Ralph versus the Savagery in Jack, and how it progresses into the main theme in the novel. Ralph had always stressed importance on this fire because if there was one thing that would save them this was it. This example proves that Ralph feels the need for an orderly way of doing things. exploring the island, making sense of what they could. "Seems we ought to have a chief to decide things" (22). As the novel progressed their priorities became clearer. The next time in the novel when the clash of Civilization in Ralph versus the Savagery in Jack is again clearly illustrated is when Jack and his hunters let the signal fire on the top of the mountain go out. After everyone gathers together Ralph thinks it would make sense to elect a leader, and there are no real objections to this. He picked two individuals to represent each group.
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