The themes of the Lord of the flies
...ed here clearly contrasts with the images of civility, order common sense of the opening chapters demonstrated by quotes such as "There’s another thing. We can help them to find us. If a ship comes near the island they may not notice us. So we must make smoke on top of the mountain. We must make a fire."- Ralph and "We've got to have rules and obey them. After all we're not savages. We're English, and the English are the best at everything"- Jack. The imagery created by the phrase “with filthy body, matted hair and unwiped nose” portrays Ralph’s physical “decent into savagery” and infers the mental “decent into savagery” that grips all of the boys on the island, except a “true, wise friend called Piggy”. This quote hence depicts the central theme of Savagery in the book. The theme of “the decent into savagery is also linked with the themes of “human instinct” and “the inherent darkness of man’s heart”, both of which are demonstrated by this quote. In Lord of the Flies, Golding explores this theme of the conflict between human impulses and instincts that are between living within the constraints and rules of society as they are the beginning of the novel, or acting upon their instinct to gratify their immediate desires leading to their descent into savagery. This conflict is portrayed symbolically between the novel’s two main characters: Ralph who represents order, civility and common sense and Jack who represents savagery and the desire for power. As the novel progresses, Golding shows portrays the influences of the instincts of civilization and savagery to different degrees. However, Golding implies that the instinct of savagery ultimately overshadows the human instinct of civilisation. This concept is demonstrated by the quote “And in the middle of them, with filthy body, matted hair and unwiped nose, Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy” as it puts forward the idea that with the exception of Piggy, that all of the boys, and even Ralph who once was a symbol of civility, order and commonsense on the island had eventually succumbed to the more dominant instincts of savagery. This demonstrates the idea “of the darkness of man’s heart and innate human evil. The idea that of savage instincts lurking within all human beings, even in children, young and innocent such as Ralph is demonstrated highly effectively by this quote and linked to many of the main themes of the novel. This quote is also linked to the theme of “Loss of innocence”, as it demonstrates that Ralph does not have the same child like emotions that he had at the beginning of the novel “This is our island. It is a good island until the grownups come to fetch us we’ll have fun” which contrasts starkly to “Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy”. As the boys on the island progress from well-behaved, orderly children longing for rescue to cruel, bloodthir...