Violent youth
Violent youthThroughout history, mankind has always had a sick sense of violence and a thirst for blood dating from the Romans and their gladiator fights to Hitler and his guile regime. Both of theses cultures started of with good ideas and left many innovations, but in their advancements in technologies and civics the society they built collapsed beneath them because of their own hunger for evil. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies the montage of a morbid blood thirst and a violent society become a mixing pot for a great evil which is evident in the degeneration of the boys. The erosion of these lost boys does not take place over night, but over the course of weeks and months. This collapse of the boys not only consumes all portion of civilization in them but it also takes away all of their natural innocence and goodness, leaving them as savages.
As all failed attempts do, the boys start off with a good idea: unification for the preservation of civilization. The boys know they need a government, one they can trust and one that will unify them who is speaking? Jack stated that “ ‘ We’ve got to have rules and obey them. After all, we’re not savages. We’re English, and the English are best at everything. So we’ve got to do the right things ’” (Golding 42). The group not only knows its need for leadership, but it also possesses a basic sense of right and wrong. This basic instinct even shows up in Jack’s inert ability to kill the first pig. “ They knew very well why he hadn’t (killed the pig) the enormity of the knife descending and cutting into living flesh; because of the unbearable blood ” (Golding 31). The boys not only have a sense of right and wrong and a democratic government, but they also have a symbol for law and order in the conch. Ralph sets the rules regarding the conch so everyone has the respect he deserves, and there won’t be chaos at the gatherings (Golding 33). They begin their own degeneration as normal citizens in a civilization, with basic values, thoughts, and institutions at the core.
The degeneration of the boys between the civilized young men who land on the island compared to the brute savages who are rescued from the island starts with a simple thirst for blood and violence, and a fear of the darkness, which lurks inside of them. The one of the first signs of any degeneration comes from the despicable murder of the pig sow and her piglets. This repulsive act demonstrates the group’s “…compulsion to track down and kill that was swallowing him (Jack) up” (Golding 51). Even though this statement is addressing Jack, the same attitudes soon spread to the rest of the community. There is an old adage that states men hide behind masks they make to conceal any flaws they have. The idea of a mask is true in Lord of the Flies because the boys hide behind the fictional beast, which represents their fear of evil with in them. “ ‘What I mean is…maybe it’s only us…’ Simon became inarticulate in his efforts to express mankind’s essential illness” (Golding 89). The boy’s fears are feeding their own degeneration “ ‘Things are breaking up. I don’t understand why. We began well; we were happy. And then…Then people started getting frightened.’” (Golding 82). The overall thirst for blood and violence is fueled by a fear of humanity which brings the boys down to a lower level of civilization “ Lord of the Flies becomes a tale of the emergence to the conscious level of modern man’s carnivorous nature and the catastrophe that must accompany this emergence.” (Stanford Sternlicht). The Lord of the Flies shows how as civilization advances so will it sinful and violent nature. Through mere simplistic fears and an overall violent nature the boys disintegrate into savage, ashes of the innocent boys they once were.
The Final stage in the boys’ degeneration into pure savage beasts is their ability to destroy order and innocence. One of the first steps toward this destruction is the peak of violence when they kill Simon, which simultaneously destroys the only goodness and innocence on the island. Ralph knows it is murder and Simon has no reason to die; Golding points out that the boys know what they are doing and have no problems with it (Golding 156). With innocence destroyed the only thing left to turn evil is order. The boys destroy order through the cold-blooded murder of Piggy (who holds the conch). After the sudden death of Piggy Jack challenges the remainders of Ralph’s group to not join his tribe, “ ‘See? See? That’s what you’ll get! I meant that! There isn’t a tribe for you any more! The conch is gone’ ” (Golding 181). Jack is so caught up in destroying Ralph and taking the fire that he kills Piggy using him to try to scar the others into joining his group. The violence finally peaks when the boys try to kill Ralph; by then all hope of compassion and innocence is gone from the tribe. As the soldier arrives and Ralph breaksdown before him he realizes the horror the boys are causing. “…Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of true, wise friend called Piggy.” (Golding 202). Ralph now realizes what true friendship and having a high standard of values is and now its too late to tell Piggy what he meant to him. The rise of violence and anti-humanity actions is evendent in the novel while the degeneration of morals, civilized living, and innocence prevails. These actions are thrown into the mixing pot of denigration with the thirst for blood and a violent nature and boil over when the group is found on the beach.
The degeneration of the group strips them of all goodness and innocence in life. These boys start off on the island as young men, but soon they are caught up in the fear posses the hunger of violence, and turn into savage beasts. The savages destroy all that is good on the island (innocence, insight, humanity, compassion, and order). The degeneration of the boys is well documented and shows the tried and true colors of mankind; who has a dark need for violence and a thirst for blood and is will to sacrifice innocence and goodness for it.