Lord Of The Flies Identity Analysis

In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a devastating plane crash strands a group of British schoolboys on a remote tropical island with no authority figures present to look over them. The boys’ perceptions of their previous identities act as their only remaining link to their past lives. Some of the younger boys cling to their past, such as Percival Wemys Madison, of the Vicarage, Harcourt St. Anthony who constantly repeats his full name as a way of preserving his identity. However, others embrace the new wild way of life that confronts them. A boy named Jack leads a savage, primitive group of boys that represents the “id”, a Freudian concept that describes the part of human nature where impulse runs rampant and logic cannot be found. His tribe stands in

The conflict between the two groups reaches a climax when Ralph’s group meets Jack’s on the neck of the island. Here, William Golding uses opposing statements to paint a picture that accurately portrays the divide between the tribes:

‘You can see who I am!’ [Ralph] shouted. ‘Stop being silly!’

He put the conch to his lips and began to blow. Savages appeared, painted out of recognition, edging round the ledge toward the neck. (Golding 272 iBook)

Ralph believes the carnal boys led by Jack should recognize him, but he cannot pick out a single savage as an individual due to their tribal facepaint. Facepaint is used as the key symbol of savagery and lack of personal identity in the novel. When the boys begin to hunt for pigs, they paint their faces as a way of masking their shame by separating their pig-hunting selves from their “normal selves”. As they grow more accustomed to the savage and carnal nature of their lives on the island, the boys now fully embrace facepaint because it sunders them from their past and allows them to confidently embrace new evils like murder and lust.