In the novel Lord of the Flies, how do the boys transform from civilians to savages?Explain in terms of their appearance and their act of savagery

1 Answer | Add Yours

mizzwillie's profile pic

mizzwillie | Middle School Teacher | (Level 1) Senior Educator

Posted on

In the novel, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the boys begin the novel as civilized British school boys and end the novel as savages.  The novel is set in the future and the boys are fleeing the war when they end up on the island with no adults.  Ralph tries to keep the meetings democratic by using the conch for those who speak and setting up the signal  fire to signal anyone looking for them.  The descent begins when Jack and the hunters start hunting and enjoy the killing.  They begin to dress as hunters by painting their faces with mud, think as hunters, and convince many of the others to follow them.  The conflict between Ralph and Jack adds to the tension as Jack advocates hunting as the solution to their problems and lets the signal fire go out. They kill a pig in a very savage way, cut off the head and put it on a stick.  Eventually, the hunting of animals becomes the hunting of humans with the death of Piggy  so that at the end of the book, Ralph is saved from death only by the arrival of the naval officer from the outside world of war.


We’ve answered 318,958 questions. We can answer yours, too.

Ask a question