Savagery in Lord of the Flies and City of God

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Recommended: Sociology of Lord of the flies

Evil in the world is represented by savageness, ignorance, and animal instincts, in contrast to the good influences of a mindful civilization. People created civilized society, but savageness will always exist, because it is part of human nature. Far from the decent communities, savageness always works to overcome good. William Golding and Fernando Meirelles present these ideas in their works, the novel Lord of the Flies and the film City of God. They tell the stories of two places with no rational legal authorities, where savageness is way of life. In these stories, Piggy and Rocket are similar in that they become outsiders in their communities because of their mindfulness and empathy to savagery.

In his novel, Lord of the Flies, Golding uses Piggy's character to show how intelligence cannot survive in a savage society. The author gives Piggy's full physical and intellectual description in order to present the reasons of Piggy's alienation. Piggy is a fat boy with pink skin, proud that he "was the only boy in our school what had asthma" (Golding 9), and that he has been wearing glasses since he was three years old. The fat boy is an orphan living with his aunt who owns a candy shop. Piggy explains, " I used to get ever so many candies. As many as I liked" (13). Piggy's aunt is the reason for his weight, which along with his asthma keeps him isolated from the other boys at his school. Piggy's aunt becomes his only friend, his higher authority. This leads to Piggy's belonging to the world of the grownups. According to one of the theories of childhood, Age of Reason, children are born evil and egoistic until the society cultivates them. Piggy spent most ...

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... even though Piggy and Rocket?s stories happen in different places and time periods, the message that they broadcast is the same: The world is full of savageness. The brutal animal instincts are still part of human nature, no matter how high civilization has reached. Reason and intelligence cannot be useful unless they are received by the savages and used for the good of the society. If the savages are allowed to run free, then people like Piggy and Rocket, who are intelligent people, cannot survive to do the work that their intelligence entitles them.

Work Cited

City of God. Dir. Fernando Meirelles. Perf. Alexandre Rodrigues, Leonardo Firmino Da Hoga, Jonathan Haagense, Phellioe Haagensen, and Douglas Silva. DVD. Miramax, 2002

Golding, William. Lord of The Flies. New York: Penguin Putnam Inc.

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