Lord of the flies

A detailed Summary of Lord of the flies


The Lord of the Flies shows that, in the absence of civilization, people lose the sense of being civilized and the dark and savage side of themselves surfaces out. This happens to a group of kids stuck on an island. William Golding, the author of the novel, expresses his opinion on savagery, an act of cruelty or violence, in this book. He makes it quite clear that savagery is an essential character of man and that it exists in all of all, but civilization keeps it under control. This has been shown in history numerous times, some cases have shown the opposite; that civilization cannot control them, or it can keep them in control only to an extent.

We all have the capability of savagery inside of us. Everyone has gotten in a physical fight before or hit his brother of sister, haven't you? That is an act of violence. So then, you are savage, and so am I, and everyone else in this world, but civilization keeps us under control but, only to an extent. If it maintained total control, one wouldn't get in a fight without something terrible happening to him/her as a punishment. The world would have total peace. But then, how could we have peace without war? We just wouldn't know what it is.


Civilization does maintain control over man but only up to a certain point. We all have capability for savagery in us although some of us might not show it

So, civilization can't maintain maximum control over us.

I actually think that Golding believes that civilization maintains control over man up to a magnitude. All of the boys show a sign of savagery except for a few. They all become savage all of a sudden, although when they got there they all felt that civilization still surrounded them, telling them what to do and what not to do. After a while, that sense or feeling of civilization was not grasped anymore and most of the boys turned into savages. Still, some of the boys did have that sense of civilization, so that's why I think Golding might have that opinion as he shows it in the book.

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 novel "Lord Of The Flies" bases itself on civilized and savage behaviour. Civilized behaviour means to be aware of your 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 !

Ralph is? Which is better- to have rul

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Approximate Word count = 1543
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

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