Civilization In William Golding's Lord Of The Flies

“Civilization begins with order, grows with liberty, and dies with chaos” -Will Durant. Every human has a basic instinct of survival lying within them. This instinct to survive can be tested when one is placed in a state of prolonged anguish and panic. In the right environment, this instinct to survive can turn any civilized being into a beastly savage. William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies explores this idea of a civilized human’s ability to become a savage, when put in the right circumstance. In the beginning of the book, Golding’s main protagonists, Ralph, Piggy and Jack are symbols of civilization, order and hope. Once they are stranded on a desert island and left to their own devices, fear, the pursuit of power and human corruption turns the three boys into savages. Golding’s novel clearly depicts how without the structure of civilization, it is human nature for a person to revert back to its innate savagery.

After potentially being evacuated from their home country to escape the possibility of atomic warfare, which Piggy hysterically mentions to Ralph at the beginning of the first chapter "Not them. Didn't you hear what the pilot said? About the atom bomb? They're all dead" (14). A plane crash leaves a group boys on a deserted island. Almost instantly Ralph, Piggy and Jack all understand and agree that structure and rules are needed to keep order and maintain a level of civilization on the island. Ralph begins by initiating routines and appointing the conch as the symbol of order. Only the person that is holding the conch may addressee the crowd at meetings around the campfire. All of the boys understand that order and respect is needed to ensure civilization. As the appointed leader, Ralph assigns tasks to all ...

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...ovel, Lord of the Flies explores this idea of a civilized human’s ability to become a savage, when put in the right circumstance. In the beginning of the book, Golding’s main protagonists, Ralph, Piggy and Jack are symbols of civilization, order and hope. Once they are stranded on a desert island and left to their own devices, fear, the pursuit of power and human corruption turns the three boys into savages. Golding’s novel clearly depicts how without the structure of civilization, it is human nature for a person to revert back to its innate savagery. The novel shows how different people react differently to the influences of civilization and savagery. Savagery is a much more essential to a human than civilization. The young boys who were stranded on the island showed how easily one can go from a proper boy to a absolute savage guided only by fear and desire.