In the Novel Lord Of The Flies a young boy named Simon is brutally murdered after he “…struggled forward, broke the ring, and fell over the steep edge of the rock to the sand by the water. At once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt onto the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore. There were no words, no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws” (Golding,153). In the novel William Golding proves how animalistic and uncivilized the boys have become as he describes them biting and tearing into young Simons skin. In Golding’s Lord Of The Flies the characters Jack and Roger demonstrate how the abuse of power leads to savagery and uncivilization.
Savagery can destroy civilization it takes one person to become uncivilized until others start to slowly follow. In Golding’s Lord Of The Flies “she squealed and bucked and the air was full of sweat and noise and blood and terror. Roger ran round the heap, prodding with his spear whenever pig flesh appeared. Jack was on top of the sow, stabbing downward with his knife. Roger found a lodgment for his point and began to push till he was leaning with his whole weight” (Golding, 135). The significance of this quote is to show how savage and uncivilized these two boys were as they hunted the pig. Golding describes how Roger pushes until he was leaning all his weight on the pig and how Jack was on top of the sow. They aggressively hunt the pig instead of doing it in a more civilized manner.
Another demonstration of savagery and uncivilization is when Jack makes his hunters tie up Wilfred so he can beat him. “Were going to beat Wilfred…he got angry and made us tie Wilfred up. He’s been-he giggled excitedly-he’s been tied for hours, waiting- (Golding, 159) This quote not only demonstrates savagery and uncivilization but it shows you what kind of leadership Jack has and how he finds excitement in other people’s pain. Jack is not really as much a leader as he is a dictator. He gets excited while he inflicts pain among people he is supposed to be surviving with.
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This idea can also be terminated by fear, throughout the novel fear is used in many ways. When Golding used fear he made one child picks on another one. Jack hated Ralph for having the power on the island and his hatred for Ralph grows as they are on the island. At the end of the novel Ralph fears for his life as Jack and his hunters try killing him. “Ralph screamed a scream of fright and anger and desperation…He shot forward, burst the thicket, was in open, screaming, snarling, bloody. He he swung the stake and the savage tumbled over; but there were others coming toward him”(Golding, 199). This quote is a perfect example of the thesis statement. Golding describes the boy attacking Ralph as a savage, and he uses words such as bloody, screaming, fright. All these words describe how Ralph must be feeling in this moment as he fears for his life.
The novel Lord Of The Flies demonstes many ways that the boys on the island especially Jack and Roger abuse power and lead some of the other boys on the island to turn to savagery and act in an uncivilized manner. We see this through the killing of young Simon, The hunt and killing of the pig and The hunt to kill Ralph. Each of these examples would not have happened if the boys were civilized and if everyone did not abuse Ralph’s leadership.
