Lord of the Flies
Lord of the Flies Given the absence of authority, the boys on the island move backwards from a civilized state to a primitive almost cave-man like state. Golding allows us to see and understand this by writing about certain issues. Clothing and Physical conditions being one of the most important Golding does and excellent job of describing to how each boy begins to look. Clothes slowly become shredded, dirty and torn. There hair grows and is bleached from over exposure to the sun. Skin is burnt ruff and cut, thus leaving the boys looking like cavemen. Golding goes as far as describing to us how Ralph’s hair is filthy, his teeth are unbearable, and that he’s thinking of washing his now gray shirt. The boys also feel the effects of mal-nourishment. We see this when Golding writes, “They were used now to stomach aches and a sort of chronic diarrhea.” Certain attitudes towards symbols of law and order change as time passes. When the boys were first united by the sound of the conch blown by Ralph, it gave him that little bit of authority over the others. Having Ralph become chief only made sense seeing as how he was in possession of the conch. Throughout the story rules and tasks are assigned.