civilisation & savagery

• "The rules are the only thing we've got" vs "Bollocks to the rules!"


  juxtaposition - conflict between Jack and Ralph
 represents the clash between civilization and savagery, order and chaos
• "round the squatting child was the protection of parents and school and policemen and the law"


  syndetic listing - Roger acknowledges the taboo of violence, throwing stones at Henry ultimately escalates into crushing Piggy with a boulder
• "that understandable and lawful world was slipping away"


  metaphor - lamentation at the loss of civilisation
• "Roger's arm was conditioned by a society in ruins."


  societal expectations haunt Roger, before he is the first to let his facade of civility slip
• "the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist"


  the conch, which is symbolic of civilisation, is destroyed alongside Piggy
• "demoniac faces" , "fiery eyes" , "solid mass of menace"


  semantic field of inhumanity - boys as a homogeneous group devoid of individualism, unifying the boys and creating mob mentality
• "let's have a vote" vs "painted and garlanded, sat there like an idol"


  erosion of democratic leadership echoes the erosion of civilisation
• "ape-like" "uncomfortably, on all fours"


  animalistic lexis elucidates the boys' loss of humanity
• "he began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling"


  shift in imagery from innocence "dance", "laughter" to primitivity "bloodthirsty snarling" echoes the boys' descent of Maslow's hierarchy of need, which Jack's regression acts as the catalyst for.
• "screamed, struck, bit, tore... tearing of teeth and claws"


  animalistic language - barbaric sparagmos of Simon symbolises the boys' completion of their degeneration from civilisation to societal breakdown
• "Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood"


  monosyllabic chant reveals that the boys are a homogenous group devoid of individualism - the devolution of language mirrors their regression