Lord of Flies - Literary Analysis Essay

Introduction

The story "Lord of the Flies" is a literary work that brings out key underlying themes that are fundamental and are universal ideas. The story depicts real-life situations and highlights two key themes, among others, which are civilization and savagery. The story focusses mainly on the battle that exists internally among human beings regarding the desire for civilization and the other side of the coin, which is a drive towards savagery.

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Topic: Lord of Flies: Civilization Vs., Savagery

Position 1: Civilization

Position 2: Savagery

Civilization Savagery

Civilization entails the need or strong desire to stay in an ordered life that is guided by the basic need to adhere to rules and have respect for others in society. Here, individuals compromise their desire for the sake of others in society, and they tend to care for the position of others as well.

Civilized people involve others in discussing pertinent issues affecting them where everybody has a chance of contributing to development. In the novel, Ralph organizes regular meetings that are attended by everyone, and this leads to the introduction of rules that enhances order within the island.

The protagonist, Ralph, calls for leadership as the ideal way to govern the island and ensure people operate under the direction of a leader. This movie depicts order and harmony and encourages moral behavior on the island.

Civilization advocates for peaceful means of ending conflict or achieving the ultimate individual's desire in society (AMELIA & Moerdiyanto, 2014). Here, rule and order govern the procedures of conflict resolution. In addition, civilized individuals are sober when it comes to decision making, as the reasoning is governed by the need to uphold humanity.

Savagery tends to be only interest the self-fulfillment of an individual's basic needs without necessarily thinking of others in society. Individuals leaning towards savagery intend to apply any available means to reach their desired goals. They can deploy force and violence in order to achieve their desired objectives.

The individuals who are advocating for savagery prefer dictating people and forcing people to adopt already made decisions without being involved in such decisions. In the novel, Jack advocates for this as an ideal way of living and co-existing on the island. Here, a decision by one individual is abiding by all the inhabitants, and no opposition should be made.

The antagonist, Jack, represents the desire to stick to power and control others. The dictators have a say, and their voices are heard. This leaves people to become cruel, barbaric, and savages as they lack the leader to harmonize their desires.

The savagery approach advocates for force and rebellious actions in order to achieve individual objectives. People here do not apply rational thinking when making a decision, but instead, they prefer having their ways in each and every aspect (AMELIA & Moerdiyanto, 2014)

From the above, it is clear that different kind of people exists within society. Civilization is the right way to follow as it encourages productivity through joint effort in society rather than scrambling for power and dictating others as advocated for by savagery individuals. Civilization brings peaceful co-existence and the need to uphold equality when it comes to decisions on matters affecting society. The antagonist, however, can be allowed the opportunity to change their ways of operating by slowly incorporating them into the system by advocating the importance of being civilized and accommodative.

Reference

AMELIA, F., & Moerdiyanto, D. (2014). Civilization versus Savagery in William Golding's Lord of the Flies (Doctoral dissertation, Universitas Gadjah Mada).