Savagery In Lord Of The Flies Essay

In William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies, the motif of savagery emerges throughout the book in different forms. Although there are many forms of savagery in the book, masks play an integral role. Throughout the course of the book, a character’s savagery evolves when a mask is applied, and the boys that do not put on masks remain civilized. Masks have the ability to twist a civilized human into a wild savage. Jack, one of the main characters in the book, uses a mask throughout the story. He uses his mask to transform himself from the choirboy into his alter ego, the wild savage. When Jack first puts on the mask “He knelt, holding the shell of water. A rounded patch of sunlight fell on his face and a brightness appeared in the depths of the water. He looked in astonishment, no longer at himself but at an awesome stranger. He split the water and leapt to his feet, laughing excitedly. Beside the pool his sinewy body held up a mask that drew their eyes and appalled them. He began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling, He capered toward Bill, and the mask was a thing on its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness” (Golding 63-4). In
Jack makes the hunters put on masks, and forces them to hunt and kill, which turns them into savages. Conversely, Ralph never puts one on, and never becomes a savage. Ralph always rationally thinks about how the boys can get off the island, make shelter, and get food, but the boys who put on the masks just want to satisfy their insatiable urge to kill. The use of masks in the book symbolizes Freud’s theory that the ID needs to satisfy its demand for instant satisfaction, which for the hunters means killing the pig, and being able to do what they want. Golding includes this in his novel to show that succumbing to the ID leads to evil and savagery, which happens to be bad in