People all over the world have argued if humans are born savages, or are they created. My opinion on this issue is humans are born savages but due to society those instincts are suppressed. Since the day where born we are taught wrong from right. We follow the rules of both society and our parents. Initially our parents are the ones we learn from. The truth is nurturing plays a big role in humans been civilized. Like Schopenhauer states “Man is at the bottom a wild and terrible animal. We know him only as what we call civilization has tamed and trained him; hence we are alarmed by the occasional breaking out of his true nature.
But whenever the locks and chains of law and order are cast off, and anarchy comes in, he shows himself for what he really is. ” this quote basically states that with society people act civilized because that’s the norm but once those chains come of humans go to their natural born instinct which are animalistic. The perfect example is the book Lord of the flies written by William Golding in the back of the book it quotes without adult supervision, together these boys must now confront not only the defects of their society, but the defects of their own suppressed human nature.
In chapter 1 titled the sound of the shell the boys have just arrived on the island they attempt to make a government by electing a leader. Basically in chapter 1 they are still fairly civilized. But as you will soon find out they slowly but surely digress. Chapter two in my opinion are the first signs of them veering of society/civilization. It’s not anything dramatic but it surely isn’t something civilized kids would do. In chapter 2 page 41 it states the flames flapped higher and the boys broke out into a cheer.
The boys were dancing. Ralph said more wood! All of you get more wood. Think for a second is it normal to dance around fire? The only people I can recall that probably danced around fire are the Indian’s or cavemen and if you think about it they weren’t really civilized. These are English boys were talking about, they are currently civilized, but now there put in a predicament that test’s their civilization. Like any human being put in a situation like this they start to crumble. The boys will slowly go back to the roots of what humans nce were before society came and suppressed it. Chapter three starts of like this, Golding writes Jack was bent double. He was down like a sprinter, his nose only a few inches from the humid earth. He lowered his chin and stared at the traces as though he would force them to speak to him. Then dog like, uncomfortably on all fours yet unheeding his discomfort, he stole forward five yards and stopped. Think if we didn’t know this was a young boy we would assume just by reading that the thing Golding is describing is an animal.
Jack at this point all he wants is to achieve his goal which is to capture a pig. He has no concern for anyone else. Out of all the boys Jack might just be the perfect example for Schopenhauer quote. When he first arrived on the island he was dressed in a choir uniform and now he’s bent down on the ground with barley any clothes trying to hunt a pig. Anarchy is definitely playing a huge role in this book. Now in chapter four Golding in a way hints something to the reader. While in chapter three Jack wanted to hunt a pig.
But now in chapter four he wants to KILL a pig. There’s a big difference from hunt and kill. Hunting is something humans do to provide food for themselves and others. But killing is a really strong word, jack is no longer thinking of providing, he’s thinking of brutally killing this animal for his own pleasure. That right there is the tell tale signs of a soon to become savage. On page 69 Jake finally kills a pig and this is what he says proudly” I cut the pig’s throat”. “There were lashings of blood” said jack, laughing and shuddering, “you should have seen it”.
This doesn’t sound like something at 12 year old boy would say. But here comes the shocking part Jake and the hunters left the fire unattended to go hunt since the fire was left alone it burned out. This is what Ralph said to Jake “there was a ship. Out there. You said you’d keep the fire going and you left it out! ” “They might have seen us. We might have gone home”. This all comes back to Jake because of his obsession to kill he left the fire unattended and bottom line is that fire could have gotten the boys off the island.
The boy’s ticket back to society was ruined because Jake let the fire burn out. Why did Jake let the fire burn out? The answer is simple at that point he didn’t care about getting off the island the only thing he cared about was his animal instinct which kept telling him to kill the pig. It all comes back to that quote now that the boys don’t have anyone to nurture them they are slowly losing the sense of civilization. The chains have been broken and anarchy is coming in; the boys will now show their true nature.
