Lord of the Flies

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Pure freedom can only lead to disaster. In Lord of the Flies, William Golding demonstrates that when civilisation falls away and individuals are left to their own immediate desires, anarchy ensues in its most savage form. Golding uses the character development of Jack from civilized to savage, and the events leading to the deaths of Simon and Piggy to emphasize this theme.
Jack, when first introduced is a nice choir boy, however throughout the novel after he the isolation from civilisation, progressively develops into an evil bloodthirsty savage while tending to his personal desires. After Jack’s failed attempt at leadership shortly after the arrival on the island, he becomes more and more obsessed with the desire of hunting and killing of pigs. However in instances where the pig is represented by Robert he still chants “Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Kill the pig! Bash him in!” and repeatedly jabs Robert (Golding 125). These actions by Jack lead the reader to believe that he has changed into a lustful bloodthirsty savage ready to harm humans just a short time after the fall of a peaceful society. The chanting indicates that Jack has fallen into a primitive state demonstrating the lack of civility When Jack manages to achieves a position of leadership in a rule less society, he becomes ruthless to the boys, “the newly beaten and untied Wilfred [is] sniffling” (176). Jack’s actions demonstrate how much he has changed, from civil choir boy to a reckless savage tying and beating boys at random. Jack has started solving his problems the only way a bloodthirsty savage does, by violence. As demonstrated, Jack, throughout the course of the novel succumbs to his own personal desires away from civilisation and becomes a primitive savage.
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...his weight on the lever” killing Piggy (200). Roger shows that he is indeed a wild savage hungry for blood. He shows that he enjoys releasing the rock that killed Piggy showing that indeed he had developed into an evil monster under the chaotic environment. The events of the death of Piggy clearly demonstrates that with the abandonment of civilisation the boys decent into anarchy.
In the end, Golding uses the dark and gruesome events leading to the death of Simon and Piggy as well as the savagery developing in the character of Jack to prove that when civilisation falls away and individuals are left to their own immediate desires, anarchy ensues in its most evil form. However, though Lord of the Flies displays the problems of humanity, there are plenty of pieces of literature that depicts the bright side of humanity, which hopefully outnumbers the negatives.

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