Civilisation vs Savagery

• "The skull regarded Ralph like one who knows all the answers and won't tell." --> Captures a sense of eerie wisdom and silent mockery emanating from the skull. The skull- a symbol of the primal evil and savagery, seems to hold the key to understanding the darkness within human nature and the events that have transpired on the island

  However it remains silent, offering no insight to Ralph, who is desperately trying to make sense of the chaos around him The skull's gaze symbolises a deep, omniscient understanding of thee intrinsic capacity for evil. Underscores theme of lost innocence.
• "Lying there in the darkness, he knew he was an outcast." --> "darkness" = the inherent evil and savagery that has consumed the island. Ralph's awareness of this evil surrounding him underscores his alienation from the others who have embraced their primal instincts.

  Ralph retains his connection to civility, which further isolates him in a world now dominated by chaos and brutality.

  "darkness" = profound sense of isolation and despair --> clear understanding of his predicament

  also represents the loss of innocence: Ralph is an outcast where innocence has been overshadowed by evil.
• Golding creates a setting- a deserted island- which is free of any markers of civilisation. Since there is no existing civilisation on the island, the boys are liberated from the trappings and social conditioning of civilisation, such as laws and rules and existing social and ethical codes of conduct.

  In creating this setting, Golding presents the island as being a tabula rasa

  Golding deliberately chooses children as they are the embodiment of innocence, and have the least social conditioning
• Ralph and Piggy's role in maintaining civilisation:

  -establishing meetings, setting rules

  -giving the conch authority so that is represents democracy and free speech

  -they initiate a leadership vote, representing democratic elections

  -they create a rota in tending the signal fire

  -they assign roles to different members of the group, including water collectors, hut builders and hunters --> represents government
• Savagery:

  -Golding suggests the boys find their assigned roles/ responsibilities as arduous --> so later abandon their duties

  -the choir hunt instead of tending the signal fire, the older boys do little work building the huts, the littluns do no work

  Throughout the novel, the rules established are adhered to less and less

  E.g. Chapter 5: "Bollocks to the rules!" (Jack)

  This culminates in chapter 11 where the conch is shattered: "the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist"
• Savagery:

  -Golding suggests the boys find their responsibilities as arduous --> later abandon their duties

  -the choir hunt instead of tending the signal fire, the older boys do little work building the huts, the littluns do no work

  
  

  Later the rules established are adhered to less and less

  E.g. Chapter 5: "Bollocks to the rules!" (Jack)

  This culminates in chapter 11: "the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist"

  Suggests it's human nature to act naturally on our own impulses: issue is that in in rejecting collective responsibility humans turn to barbarism
• Over the course of the novel, the boys become increasingly savage:

  -their hair grows longer

  -they become increasingly naked

  -they begin painting their faces

  -they commence ritualistic dances and sacrifices

  
  

  This may be seen as rejections of the customs of civilised society

  
  

  Simon is killed when he is presumed to be the beast, during his murder the boys are described as attacking him with "claws" and "teeth"
• "We can't have everyone talking at once. We'll have to have 'Hands up' like at school." Ralph, chapter 2

  The boys are presented as unruly and excitable, full of nervous energy.

  First attempt at establishing order; meetings and rules symbolise society.
• "Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood" -Chapter 4

  Jack's hunters chant as a group after their first successful hunt, and shows that they prefer to enact violence as a mob, rather than as individuals. Their chanting shows their cohesion, and their delight over killing becomes ritualistic.

  They become more primal, and their chant is monosyllabic: suggesting their own language is less civilised.

  It is also vicseral (e.g "throat" and "blood"), and violent- suggesting savagery
• "The mask was a thing on its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness." Chapter 4
• "The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist." Chapter 11

  Golding deliberately kills of Piggy and the conch at the same time: as both represent a symbolic death

  Piggy is the island's intellectual and always urges Ralph to think logically: therefore his death represents the death of a chance of reconciliation between the factions

  This represents a victory of autocracy over democracy which has "ceased to exist"
• "there was a mildness about his mouth and eyes that proclaimed no devil" --> inherent goodness and purity to his character

  Also aligns with the his initial portrayal of Ralph as a character untouched by darker instincts: symbolises his pure intentions and genuine desire to maintain order and civilisation on the island

  emphasises the absence of evil and malevolent intentions; contrasts him against other characters

  however could also serve as a form of foreshadowing, and opens a theme of evil

  
  

  acts as a manifestation of his moral compass, and desire to maintain principles of order
• "The creature was a party of boys" (chapter 1) --> the first description of Jack's choir as seen by Ralph and Piggy

  Throughout the novel, Golding suggests that any evil that exists on the island comes not from any external monster, rather from the boys themselves

  This metaphor foreshadows the impending evil, and also alerts readers to the fact that there is no external monster at all
• "What I mean is... maybe it's only us." (Simon, chapter 5)

  When the boys are discussing the possibility that a beast exists on the island --> Simon suggests the boys are creating the monster in their own heads

  However, it could also suggest that all evil is perpetrated by "only" the boys themselves, and that the boys are a danger to each other