Monique Martinet
Mr. Stamos
English 4
20 April 2009
Lord of the Flies
There was in time in history when, for the most part, there was a shift from savagery to
civility. This shift brought people out of the darkness of evil, ignorance, and animal instincts
into the good influences of a intellectual and decent civilization. People created civilized
societies but the savageness in a person will always exist because it is human nature. In most
societies savageness always tries to overcome the good. In the book, Lord of the Flies, a group
of young civil boys are put to the test of surviving on an island. They soon discover that the
savagery deep down within is stronger than the good and they must act quick. Golding uses
many symbols to represent this savagery but the three that are most important are the conch, the
signal fire, and the beast itself. These three show how a group of young civil boys can rapidly
turn into the savage man that so many fear.
The first symbol in Lord of the Flies is the conch shell. This shell symbolizes order, civility, and
political power. When Piggy says, "We can use this to call the others. Have a meeting. They’ll
come when they hear us—”, the conch is seen as a way to summon the rest of the boys on the
island for the various assemblies. In these assemblies, order begins, as the boys start voting such
as a democracy does today to maintain order and justice. The symbol of the conch itself changes
when Ralph states, “If you hadn’t called it I should have. You just blew the conch,” and by
stating this the conch has now become a symbol of power and lust to lead as the boys grow more
savage with each other. The conch is not only used to call assemblies, but to also show which of
the boys is talking and taking power. This act of holding the conch represents a civil political
power but also a tyrannical power. Not only does the conch show this decent into savagery but
also the burning of fire. This burning fire shows the everlasting bright light of civility but as it is
extinguished the fine line between civility and savagery is extinguished along with it.
The burning of the signal fire represents the high level of civility but also the mad decent into a
savage lifestyle. The signal fire is first built as a sign for passing ships such as when Ralph says,
“If a ship comes near the island they may not notice us. So we must make smoke on top of the
mountain." This first act of fire burning does lead one to believe they do want to be rescued, but
as the novel progresses it becomes much more. As the boys keep the fire burning, their civility is
still holding on and they are thinking intellectually instead of accepting savagery. This
knowledge of fire allowed to boys to have hope in being rescued but when Ralph states,“We’d
have given them the fire if they asked. But they stole it and the signal’s out and we can’t ever be
rescued.” it shows that the line between civility and savagery has now been crossed. When Jack
and his tribe of hunters steal the fire, they become consumed with power and ignorance in a
desperate measure to surpass the other boys. As the signal fire slowly extinguishes, Jack's tribe
has accepted this savage being and no longer want to be rescued by the civil and just men that
could be looking for them. The fire that consumes the boy's hearts is not a fire of knowledge and
civil power but a fire of deceit and savagery. As a result of this burning passion to be savage an
image of inner turmoil and darkness appears in the boys and becomes the beast that haunts them
all.
Some say the beast is only a figment of the imagination but in reality it is the inner turmoil and
struggle of two conditions of human nature. The beast becomes more feared and unknown to the
boys as the savage lifestyle consumes them. The boys believe that this beast is an animal of
some sort and the confusion of the unknown can be seen when a young boy says, “you couldn’t
have a beastie, a snake-thing, on an island this size.” At first, Ralph and many of the older boys
do not believe in the beastie they just assume that the young boys are scared and it is just in their
heads. These boys have not yet accepted savagery, and are still very civilized and know better
than to believe in such a ridiculous thing. Jack and his tribes have been corrupted and this
corruption has turned them into savages especially when they chant, “kill the beast! Cut his
throat! Spill his blood! Do him in!” The tribe of savage choir boys has accepted that the beast is
alive and assumes that they are indeed killing it. What the young boys do not realize is that the
beast has actually consumed them and killed their civility and intellectual prowess. The fact that
the boys have now accepted the beast proves that savagery can strike even the unlikely people
and that even a civil society can fall into a corrupted savage wasteland.
Civilizations are an advanced state of human development and are constructed out of a sort of
savage waste. These boys being lost on an island proves that civility can only last when one is
immersed within it. Without others being civil in the environment around one's self, the savage
fire slowly consumes the heart and mind but only because it is part of human nature. The conch
shows power within the boys and the fire shows knowledge but the beast is the corruption that
creeps up in the darkness to take the unsuspecting victim. This knowledge the boys have result
in power over others and the power over others corrupts some of the boys. Knowledge has now
become the corrupting force turning these once intellectual civil boys into the savage deceitful
beasts that so many have come to fear.
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