Savagery In Lord Of The Flies

The True Colours of a Savage: The Role of Savagery in Lord of the Flies Savagery and civilization are the two ends of a rope, yet, they are twined together to create a whole; they stick together eternally, until one starts to unravel and dominate. William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, demonstrates the breakdown of a fine line amongst two sisters, civilization and savagery. Born in every human, these two sisters unveil themselves in cases of desperation and in the everlasting feuds between life and death. Likewise, Ralph’s many brawls with the boys, his fatal attacks, and his substantial role in Simon’s death, all account to Ralph rupturing the slender line between civility and savagery, verifying that the two modes of living are not …show more content…
Simon plays a crucial role in the book and after his death, Golding refers to all the boys, with the exceptions of Ralph and Piggy, as savages or objects. This fact reveals that humans are not characterized by names, but by actions, similar to how Ralph maintains his identity, even though he should not have, in relation to the others who do not preserve it. Particularly, following Simon’s death, Piggy and Ralph converse about his death, where Ralph states, “You were outside. Outside the circle. You never really came in. Didn’t you see what we- what they did?” (Golding 173). This quote stresses on the fact that Ralph participated in the kill, while piggy solely observed the event. Ralph tries to accept the fact that he had a hand in the murder, however, he is unable to do so as he tries to alter this reality by using ‘they’ instead of ‘we’. Strictly speaking, he tries to remove the guilt from his life by changing words, even though words will not abolish his sin. Likewise, the use of the word ‘you’ indicates that only Piggy was not included in the circle of young criminals, while Ralph was a member of it. That is to say, when ‘you’ is replaced by the word ‘Piggy’ in the quote mentioned above, it conveys the same message as to what the author originally intended to communicate. Moreover, Ralph hems and haws when he uses ‘we’, and this reiterates his attempt to free himself from the cage of guilt. It is definite that words do not have the ability to exterminate remorse. Hence, Ralph, a so-called innocent child, was a part of Simon’s murder, and his struggle to free himself from the blame

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