How Golding Presents the Decline from Civilisation to Savagery in Lord

How Golding Presents the Decline from Civilisation to Savagery in Lord of the FliesLord of the Flies is the name given to the upcountry beast, to which onlySimon ever actu on the wholey speaks. As Simons waits for the beasts arrivalnear the bloody sows head on the stake (buzzing with flies), The Lordof the Flies speaks to him, warning him not to proceed in its way or elsehe shall be killed by the boys. The Lord of the Flies name comes fromthe sows head and the countless flies buzzing about it, which curtlymove from the sows head to swarm around the head of Simon as the Lordof the Flies tells him, Im a part of you. In biblical texts, theLord of the Flies is the style of Beelzebub (a direct translation ofhis name), a demon of Hell. There is a clear distinction between thisbook and The Coral Island. There is no insularity between boys andsavages, good and evil, Christianity and cannibalism, British andsavages in this book, where as in the Coral island this distinctioncomes out many times.Jack is the novels primary representative of the understandings ofsavagery, violence, and the desire for power, which is shown from thebeginning. When the image of having a Chief is menti whizd, Jack speaksout immediately. I ought to be chief, Jack says with simplearrogance, because Im chapter chorister and head boy. He is furiouswhen he loses the election to Ralph, which subtly begins theirconflict, and continually pushes the boundaries of his subordinaterole in the group. Jack and his compatriots are portrayed asmilitaristic and aggressive, with Jacks bold manner and the choirmarching in step with one another. They are the first concreteentrance of elaboration onto the island and a decidedly negative one... ... is the conflictbetween two competing impulses that exist within all human beings theinstinct to live by rules, act peacefully, follow moral commands, andvalue the good of the group on the one hand and the instinct to featherbed ones immediate desires, act violentl y to obtain supremacyover others, and enforce ones will on the other. These two instinctsmay be called the instinct of civilization and the instinct ofsavagery, as one is devoted to values that promote ordered societyand the other is devoted to values that threaten ordered society.Throughout the novel, the instinct of civilization is associated withgoodness, while the instinct of savagery is associated with evil, andthe latter prevails. It is only at the very end of the book that thegroup is drained of savagery, as the captain pictures these small,ragged, confused weeny boys.