On the Innate Savagery of Humankind

Transcription

1 On the Innate Savagery of Humankind Raymond Jimenez English 8 Fourth Quarter Mrs. Dretzka May 10, 2005

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3 Appendix C Contents Special Thanks Introduction v On this project, many people have participated. While yes, I, Raymond Jimenez did a large amount of work, this book would not have come to fruition without: Andrew Yu, for staying up at insane hours in the middle of the night, helping me reread and rework words and sentences that were more heavyhanded than a passage from Paradise Lost. My father, who managed to somehow bring me to the art store and back while absorbing information about IRAs and 401k s. Timothy Leary, for researching and publishing a good deal of information about hallucinogenic drugs and their ilk. 1 A Map of the Island 1 2 A Character Study 3 3 Symbols 7 4 The Immutable Human Condition 9 5 A Speech from Simon to the Crowd 13 6 Poem 17 7 Questions 21 A Chapter B The Oddball Appendix 27 B.1 Lord of the Shrooms? B.2 I am Jack s Medulla Oblongata C Special Thanks iii

4 Contents Contents B.2. I am Jack s Medulla Oblongata Appendix B. The Oddball Appendix iv 30

5 B.2. I am Jack s Medulla Oblongata Appendix B. The Oddball Appendix leader position; it makes me wonder how he grew up so fast. I m proud of Jack, I really am he s come to be all the leader I expect, and he wields that power well. My days recently have become hard work management s become so distracted to the point of where I have to keep Jack alive some how; I m already maintaining his basic metabolic functions, for heaven s sake! I think, though, that if upstairs management gets some more food, they might feel better. Maybe they d come back to their job. So that s what I ve been doing recently I ve been looking for food on this godforsaken island. Somehow, I don t really think all this work is worth it for only one pig; there s got to be a faster and easier way of doing it. Then again, faster and easier is definitely not my department I just get things done, and I get them done faster than management could even think of. I ve been talking to the boys other medulla oblongatas (there s this one who s really cool in Roger, he s probably my second best friend), and their management s been on break too. There s something up, and that s all I know, for sure. Something s distracting management they didn t leave a vacation sign like they usually do, though. Odd. Well, I ll be here all day and all night, so just drop me a line if you need to talk. Oh, and in case you need to know, I never have second views on things, though. Never. I have never, ever again gone to a restaurant that I thought was bad in my life. Never. Introduction To the reader: The book Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, has recieved numerous reviews of praise and recommendation. But what is the book truly about? This project attempts to delve into that question it attempts to find out what Golding was thinking, and attempts to seek the anwser to the question, Why was this book written? In the end, I think you will find that Lord of the Flies was meant to express humankind s predisposition in this case, Golding tells us that humans are predisposed to be mean and cruel, to be savage, and most of all, to have little regard for the rules. Of course, the book has more content than that it is a story of rescue and adventure, a story of an amazing hunt, a story of a nightmare that does not go away once one wakes up, and a story of intelligence presiding over irrationality. While certainly interesting, these topics are mere subplots, written to aid the book s main point of humankind s increasing despair. I believe what Golding wanted us to learn from this book was why civilization exists, and why without civilization, man is doomed. World War II had ended by the time this book was written (1954), but it was still a painfully fresh memory. Perhaps this book is a warning, a mini-world-war between its two covers, written to warn us of these things, written to warn us of what happens when civilization breaks down and mob rule with a clinically insane leader takes over. 1 Raymond Jimenez 1 On the other hand, Golding could have very well wanted us to learn that civilization is no fun and that hunting is all the rage. 29 v

6 Chapter 0. Introduction B.2. I am Jack s Medulla Oblongata Appendix B. The Oddball Appendix to eat some chemicals are known to collect in the body over time, never getting metabolized or purged chemicals such as dioxin and tetra-ethyl lead. The behavior of the tribe that hunts becomes exceedingly erratic and primative over time, corresponding to a slow addition of of a brain-slowing drug such as cocaine or ethanol to their food. The second to last scene has them hunting down Ralph as if he were any regular prey they feel no empathy; essentially, they have become non-human. In other words, there was not a single trace of clean food left on the island everything had the toxin that stemmed from the fruit. There was no way to survive without going insane, much like what people propose about the Salem Witch Trials and the outbreak of ergot fungus in the rye that coincided. Quite simply put, the boys landed on an island with a food source that would kill them. What to do? The only way to combat this poisoning would be to try and eat a balanced diet, which they obviously did not. If one gets enough water and nutrients during the day, the effects of a hallucinogenic drug or toxin can be sometimes reduced sometimes to the point of not existing at all. If their landing on the island was inevitable, one could say the same about their fate. They were placed on an island that was intent to kill them, loaded with poisonous fruit that made them see things. B.2 I am Jack s Medulla Oblongata Hello there. I am Jack s Medulla Oblongata. 2 I generally stay around Jack s spinal cord the two of us hang out a lot together. He s like my lackey, of sorts I tell him what to do, and he does it. Generally, though, I just take commands from higher up. But that doesn t prevent me from having some fun of my own I mean, being on this island sure has given me opportunities. Usually top command is on the lookout for any odd occurances they d notice if I changed a message right away. Recently, though, they ve become so distracted that it s almost like a joke I ve been able to even send some non-sanctioned messages of my own. I haven t had this much fun since Jack was a baby, and while that was fun and all, his body wasn t really capable of doing anything interesting. Now I ve lead Jack to a comfortable 2 While technically the medulla oblongata isn t anything more than an odd lump that passes information, this medulla oblongata consists of an entire sentinent brainstem. Let s not let semantics get in the way, shall we? vi 28

7 Appendix B The Oddball Appendix Chapter 1 A Map of the Island This chapter is entirely informative. In no way was it required for this project, but I did think it would be fun to include. 1 B.1 Lord of the Shrooms? When on the island, Simon sees the Lord of the Flies quite a horrendous hallucination that gives him an unpleasant wakeup call. One has to ask where did this hallucination come from? Was Simon simply mentally ill, or was there something more? As far as that goes, there is one theory I d like to present: the idea of hallucinogenic fruit. On the island, life is hard one needs to find as much food as they can and eat it, which typically ends up being fruit. In the opening scene, we see Piggy taken aback by diahrrea casude by the fruit only one of their numerous bad side-effects. One could postulate that these fruit also contain toxins of some sort or a hallucinogenic drug. If we account for this food source s poisoning, many possibilities open up, namely the explaination of Jack s tribe and its irrational behavior. They could have very well been driven insane by the fruit they were eating, and even if they had hunted down pig from the very beginning, the pigs meat could have been intoxicated from the start due to the fruit being the pigs mainstay. In fact, the pigs bodies may have been the most poisonous thing 1 Mrs. Dretzka, feel free to give me feedback on it, but I ask that you do not subtract points if you think it is a silly, baseless essay. Thanks. (On a side note, beef is delicious.) 27 1

8 Appendix A. Chapter 13 my parents died in the dark! I just want some light, even a little crack would do. By this time, Jack was sobbing. He curled up into the fetal position, shaking. You re not alone in here, you know, echoeed an eerie voice from the corner of the closet. It was the voice of an older man. You see, she locked me in here because she thought I was weird. Some people say I have weird habits. Others say that I m a sick person and deserve to die. But since you re in here, I think we could get along just you and me. We re both here for a reason; there s no reason we shouldn t. So maybe we should be friendly from the start... Jack cringed. This wasn t something he was comfortable with; he was in the dark, and now he found out that there was a strange person in the same cell. He tried to shut it all out, the darkness, that voice, the aura of evil he could feel, and he succeded. Only hours later, he found an odd prickly sensation in his thigh. Somehow, it hadn t been more than a second before it turned to pain, and then he realized that something was desperately wrong. Jack opened his eyes, only to find the entire place around him ablaze with fire. There wasn t a single person around except for the man he encountered earlier. He had been burnt to a crisp, looking more like a naked mummy. Jack screamed; he screamed for all his life, for all he was worth. And with that scream, Jack woke up. He always hated it when that dream invaded his sleep, always hated it when any rememberance of those events happened. And after that, I went to another orphanage, and it was better. Not terribly so, but I was able to go to school and I ended up in the choir... and then they began the evacuations, Jack reflected. That incident had changed him forever, and even mentions of it would start him shuddering. He had to be strong, to live through those memories, and to become stronger than everyone else and never have to be in that situation again. He had to be a leaader, whereever he went. 26

9 Appendix A. Chapter 13 Chapter 1. A Map of the Island outside from any other factory s regular parts warehouse. The ceiling was still bare, and the plain corrugated metal walls that held up that ceiling were in plain sight nothing had been done to beutify the place, except for maybe one or two trinkets of sentimentality. This place was an orphanage, one deemed necessary by the wartime review board to give newly-orphaned children a place to stay, a place to sleep, and a place to eat. The war had killed many children s parents Jack s included. With this massive influx of newly orphaned children, a place needed to be set up for them to be put. Even without the war raging, social services such as this were extremely hard to setup and manage properly they were often corrupt and had worthless people heading them. With the war, the situation turned even worse, as the government began to hire anyone who was willing in order to protect these children. You re going to scrub these floors anyway until they re clean. You hear that? If you disobey, there s something coming to you. Besides, you wouldn t like all those icky germs crawling all over you in your sleep, would you? Maybe you ll even die... taunted the manager-lady, who seemed evil enough to get along with Cinderella s stepsisters. So Jack scrubbed. He scrubbed, and then he scrubbed more. He scrubbed until his hands were nearly raw from holding the scrubbing pad by then, he certainly couldn t feel his hands. The pad itself was worn away to something that was better classified as a piece of paper with a couple of metal hair sticking out, as opposed to a full fledged pad that could achieve something in any amount of time. Jack finally saw that his blood was staining anything he tried to clean. Upon this sight, he fainted. Waking up, he found himself in a closet of small dimensions a box that would be about the size of a freezer. The door was only open a peek, and he didn t know why he was here. Hello? Jack wondered. It was about bloody time you came to. You never finished scrubbing in fact, you dirtied the place even more with your blood. How filthy. How is one supposed to live in that place if it isn t even clean? replied a cruel voice the unmistakable reviling voice of the manager. In fact, I think I should just lock you in this closet so the place doesn t get dirty. It d be better that way, wouldn t it? Wouldn t it. The latch soon closed Jack into the box, without a single source of light. Let me out! Please! Please! I m begging of you, I m scared, I m scared

10 Appendix A. Chapter 13 Chapter 2 Who Are These People?: Looking Into the Persona of a Leader Ralph Ralph is one of the main protagonists of Lord of the Flies. He is chosen by the assembled boys to be their chief, due to the fact that he called them there and also due to the fact that he emitted an aura that commanded respect. But there was a stillness about Ralph as he sat that markede him out; there was his size, and his attractive appearance; and most obscureely, yet most powerfully, there was the conch, 1 Golding describes. He comes to have a long mess of tangled hairs that sits upon his head, a mop of hair that continually needs to be pushed out of his eyes. His nails, despite the remoteness of the location, manage to keep themselves trim he gains a habit of unconsciously biting them. His physique could be described as the prototype for a boxer, but his demeanor seemed to indicate that there was no ill will in him. Ralph s mentality, as his body would indicate, is not on par with that of the fat Piggy or the skinny Simon. However, he does know how to make decisions when needed. When it comes to organizing tasks, he does it efficiently and quickly, telling us of his managerial abilities. Early on in the story, Ralph realizes that the only way to survive and get rescued is to create 1 Golding, p The sunset finally came, colored a dark dusty grey as if viewed through an old, worn piece of glass. The smoke from the island had been following them ever since they left, almost an omen of bad dealings to come. The waves were calm, however no different, the Admiral thought, than any other sail in the Atlantic. The wind was proving to help them along on this trek back home, from the remote island 1000 kilometers away from civilization kilometers was all there was that separated the island from logic s reign, from the domain of rationality and rules kilometers such a small distance, yet such a large one. Ralph turned and tumbled in and out of consciousness, as he was having trouble getting used to the accomodations given to him. A real bed with sheets he had already forgotten thaat such things had existence in the world. The sole fragment of the modern world left in his mind was an obvious one, but one that could not help him any longer the word rescue. Yes, it had been accomplished, but what did it really mean? Ralph was left to ponder this for the duration of the night, through numerous splashing waves and swells, and on until morning. Jack, just meteres away in a comfortable bed of his own, was dreaming sleepily and soundly. Or rather, he wasn t dreaming he was experiencing a nightmare, one that he had experienced occasionally. Jack s friends (he had few) always noticed when he had these dreams he was always grumpy the morning after, to the state of near nuclear irritablility. It was a dream that he disliked, to say the least more properly, it was something that he preferred not to remember. Suddenly, he was transported to the past, into what one could call his only home. But ma am, we haven t any soap to scrub the floors with! There isn t any way that we can make it sparkling clean like you want it! exclaimed the little Jack. He was a small lad, about as tall as a regular countertop. His distinctive red bush of hair still adorned his head, and somehow, his voice had a shaking tone to it the very opposite of the Jack that existed 8 years from then. One could have called him slightly emaciated you could see quite plainly that he had not been getting enough food, or enough nutrition. The hall which he was in was, simply put, gigantic. It was something that resembled a gothic church s hall in concept, but in practice, it was a mere warehouse, full of glass windows that let the light stream in from the outside. Its upkeep was not stellar, but not so bad that it disintegrated if one had to say anything about it, one could say that it was entirely unremarkable. Nothing about this warehouse stood out, and nothing distinguished on the 24

11 Chapter 2. A Character Study Appendix A A Rememberance of Things Past The boys were soon assembled, and had calmed down from their cathartic bout of crying. It was only now that the full impact of their actions hit them. Piggy is dead! Simon is dead! shouted Ralph, trying to honor his dead comrades bodies. There was nothing more that could be done about that, though, and the assembly proceeded to board the cruiser; they kept in silence to reflect upon the actual meaning of those words. Jack, I was thinking. Do you still hate me? questioned Ralph. No. Maybe not, anyway. I never hated you it was the fact that you had power. Now look at us; we re both the same on this ship, and neither of us have power. There s nothing that can be done about that. Ralph looked over in a stare of utter dissatisfaction. I was almost killed over power I didn t have, he thought. Silence pervaded the rest of the journey home. Many of the boys, upon feeling a real floor and real chairs, simply fell asleep in the spot they were standing hard concrete, to them, was more of a home that packed dirt had ever been. The crew of the ship seemed to be attacked by a massive block of foam, as they, too, felt it was their duty to take note of those who had died on the island but why had such a thing happened in the first place? Surely, Britsh boys could have fared better than that a real civil war could have never happened on that island, not without weapons, not without hate. One would think that the boys would unite in unison after finding that they were freed from their malicious parents domain. 23 rules and follow them, despite the fact that doing so would not be fun. It this aspect that differentiates him from many of the other children, namely those who join Jack s tribe he understands that life cannot be all fun and games, and that hardship will follow if one neglects their responsibilities. Ralph, as a leader, is also able to trust people, to the point where he is taking council from everyone and anyone; he realizes that he cannot rule alone, and relies on Piggy and Simon for advice. When times turn tough, Ralph is also able to act with authority when people were disregarding his rules on lavatory placement, the importance of the fire, and the responsibilities they were assigned, he calls for an assembly, not for fun.. but to put things straight, 2 in order to settle everything. One of the main forces that affects Ralph over the course of the story is his anti-thesis: Jack. Ralph is faced with a situation when Jack continuously challenges his rules and his words, time and time again. Eventually, Jack branches off and forms his own group Ralph takes no mind, saying that they can do perfectly with the people they have. Much to his dismay, however, the other group is a mob of savages, and they will settle at nothing to seize what little is left of Ralph s power. This culminates in Ralph going to Castle rock, facing the other tribe, and challenging Jack s tribe and Jack for everything they have done. Ralph becomes the last survivor of his kind, the only one left on the island who can think rationally and prioritize matters correctly, as Jack and his tribe is obsessed with bloodshed and hunting, lusting over the prospect of dead cow. Despite the enormous pressure to simply give up and die, Ralph does not. He wills up the strength to keep on living, as many correct leaders need to do during their time. At the end of the book, when the Admiral comes to rescue the boys, Ralph is faced with enormous guilt, such that he even breaks down in tears. He remembers and respects his former comrades Simon and Piggy and mourns their loss. It takes an emotionally strong person to remember friends who have been killed in combat; it takes an even stronger person to not seek sweet revenge. Without Ralph s traits of respect, courage, emotional sensitivity, and most of all, his humility, he would not have been able to resist the charges of irrationality that Jack s tribe tried to brainwash him with. He is a superb leader, and had it not been for Jack s intimidation tactics or the death of his two best friends, he would have been able to lead the boys on the island to a safe, civilized way of rescue. He changes for the better 2 Golding, p. 79 4

12 Chapter 2. A Character Study Chapter 7. Questions throughout the book facing his adversaries proves to him how hard it is to really survive when all civilization is gone. For the theme song, my choice would most likely be Suppurationcore-, as performed by KOTOKO. (While not a popular song in the American sense, it does have its place in the Japanese fandom culture, as well as being a relatively well-known thanks to its placement on the Kannaduki no Miko opening/ending single.) This song has a lovely balance of rough, grungy sound, combined with a lighter vocal part. The overall mood of the song is one of tension. While the choice of a Japanese song for an otherwise American-produced movie makes for a bizzare combination, it represents just that the irrationality of their new world and its unfamiliarity. 5. What did you think when you began reading this book? I thought that it would end happily, to be honest. I had seen several storylines that were based off of this very book and they all had happy, full-fledged resolutions that never had any dark undertones. I expected it to be a quick and easy read. 6. What did you think when you finished reading the book? I was blown away. While yes, this book s basic premise has been copied before, Golding puts a very different spin on the plot, focusing more on the characters development than the actual events that happen. It was a book that used a hypothetical situation to explore what the innate state of humans is and the experiment was a complete success. 5 22

13 Chapter 2. A Character Study Chapter 7 Questions The following could be considered a mini-interview of sorts, staged on May 8, 2005, between a fictional reporter and me. 1. If you could re-name this book, what would you name it? I would rename it The Brittle Conch, named after the symbol of order and rationality the conch. The brittle part signifies how easily that government broke down Jack was able to easily seize control from that democratic government and institute a mob rule of his own. 2. If you could eliminate one character from the book, who would it be? If I had to eliminate one character, I would most likely eliminate the admiral that comes to be their savior. By not letting the boys be saved, the true nature of humankind is revealed as it plays through a much more fulfilling resolution, I believe. 3. If you were make this book into a movie, who would you cast? I would cast Joshua Oreman as Piggy his complexion is perfect for the job. He would simply need a pair of glasses. For Ralph, I can see Sean York playing that role, due to the fact that he can act well, and would most likely be able to represent Ralph s persona very well a person who is able to make decisions, but remains quiet when there is nothing to be said. 4. What song would you choose to be the movie s theme? 21 6

14 Chapter 6. Poem Chapter 3 Symbols Throughout the book, William Golding uses many symbols take, for instance, the conch. It is found by Ralph, and it leads to the eventual assembly of all the survivors on the island. With that assembly, order comes forth, and a rudimentary government is put in place, with democracy, logic, and reason. Ralph, in this new enviroment, also gains power from the conch the others elect him chief because he is holding it, and because he is the one who called them using it. Later on, we see that Jack s tribe (or more specifically, Roger) destroys the conch, symbolizing the triumph of Jack s tribe, which represents savagery and madness, over Ralph s former tribe, which upheld the free world s ideals of prim and proper government. Jack is so proud of this that he exclaims in Ralph s face, See? See? That s what you ll get! I meant that! There isn t a tribe for you any more! The conch is gone 1. One could say, then, that the conch represents the elements that the boys have brought from their home country a democratic government with elections and a single seat of power, something very similar to the British constitutional monarchy. Another symbol that William Golding uses is Piggy s glasses, which, upon plain sight, appear to represent intelligence and rhyme and reason, but really carry a more significant meaning. They, too, are a symbol of power Jack lusts after it for the ability to give his hunters the power of fire. It is the only method of creating fire available on the island, and with fire, one can do many things. Fire can protect a tribe, it can cook food, and most of all, it can produce smoke which leads to rescue. Jack, wanting this power, 1 Golding, pg the heart is a small miracle, a truly wonderous example of what can happen when conditions are right. The discovery of this light is more wonderful than all of the other natural occurances in the world, more so than the Danube, flowing its blue soul into Europe, 1 or the sacred peak of Mount Fuji 2. Lord of the Flies is reflected by this poem in many ways. Whose hands can strike with abandon, 3 decidedly refers to Jack s tribe and their savage ways their lust for blood, for the hunt, and for murderous death. Angelou also provides a more optimistic lookout for the nature of humankind: We are the miraculous, the true wonder of this world That is when, and only when We come to it. 4 In other words, Angelou believes that the Beast and the Lord of the Flies as introduced by Golding are merely a dark, eerie shield surrounding the true light of the human heart much like a closet enclosing a magnificent treasure of gold. This treasure could have been revealed had Jack gone through with his actions at the end of the book after killing Ralph, perhaps he would have learned the value of human life, and carried on Ralph s legacy; at the very least, he would have been a changed person. We are small miracles set upon this earth, but only if we discover the secrets of peace and tolerance without this, we are savages, much like the boys. 1 Angelou, stanza 7, line 1 2 Angelou, stanza 7, line 2 3 Angelou, stanza 9, line 2 4 Angelou, stanza 11 20

15 Chapter 6. Poem Chapter 3. Symbols Come songs of such exquisite sweetness That the heart falters in its labor And the body is quieted into awe We, this people, on this small and drifting planet Whose hands can strike with such abandon That in a twinkling, life is sapped from the living Yet those same hands can touch with such healing, irresistible tenderness That the haughty neck is happy to bow And the proud back is glad to bend Out of such chaos, of such contradiction We learn that we are neither devils nor divines When we come to it We, this people, on this wayward, floating body Created on this earth, of this earth Have the power to fashion for this earth A climate where every man and every woman Can live freely without sanctimonious piety Without crippling fear When we come to it We are the miraculous, the true wonder of this world That is when, and only when We come to it. A Brave and Startling Truth, by Maya Angelou This poem, A Brave and Startling Truth, by Maya Angelou, was written for the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations. It talks about the peace and violence in the world, which seem to paradoxically coexist. While a majority of the poem describes the atrocities and hardships that humankind has inflicted upon itself, horrible things like church bombings and land mine fields that blow children s limbs off, it also addresses the purity and kindness of the human heart, the other innate desire of man, to do good, as a treasure that must be discovered before it can be appreciated. This kindness of 19 goes so far as to steal the glasses in the night from Piggy he does not even bother requesting them kindly (Ralph would have gladly obliged). Indeed, stealing the glasses cements Jack s authority as a leader, as asking for them would have indicated submissiveness on his part. Golding reflects on this The chief [Jack] led then, trotting steadily, exhaaulting in his achievement. He was a chief now in truth; and he made stabbing motions with his spear. From his left hand dangled Piggy s broken glasses. 2 Much like the conch, the glasses are there to symbolize power the power over the reign of fire. Finally, in The Lord of the Flies, Golding touches on the concept of human fear as being man s critical underpinning. To do this, he brings in the hallucination of the book s namesake, the Lord of the Flies. It presents itself to Simon, one of the island s only thinkers other than Piggy, masquerading as devilsh fly-infested sow s head, and speaks to him about the island s current situation and its hopelessness. I m warning you. I m going to get angry. D you see? You re not wanted. Understand? We are going to have fun on this island. Understand? We are going to have fun on this island! So don t try it on, my poor misguided boy, or else Simon found he was looking into a vast mouth. There was blackness within, a blackness that spread. Or else, said the Lord of the Flies, we shall do you? See? jack and Roger and Maurice and Robert and Bill and Piggy and Ralph. Do you. See? Simon was inside the mouth. He fell down and lost consciousness. 3 This very scene represents the crux of the book the issue of mankind s willingness to be rational and work. The Lord of the Flies represents the chaotic, irrational side of the matter it wants Simon to quit this thinking business, and it wants him to simply go on and have fun, in other words, to join the mob rule that is already beginning to manifest. Simon, unable to resist the brain s inner urge to disassemble itself and become one with the Lord of the Flies, gives away he passes out. Quite literally, the Lord of the Flies is mankind s innate nature, humankind s desposition to be savage, uncivilized, and murderous. 2 Golding, pg Golding, pg

16 Chapter 6. Poem Stoutly in the good, clean breeze Chapter 4 The Immutable Human Condition Once Abraham Lincoln said, Human nature can be modified to some extent, but human nature cannot be changed. In William Golding s Lord of the Flies, we see an hypothetical playground where this theory can be tested where it can be proven, an uninhabeted island that finds that its only occupants are a menagerie of British school boys, the most prim and proper children in the world. The characters in the book find themselves faced with one of mankind s most common, yet most incapacitating emotions: fear, something that lurks beneath their thin veil of assured logic that protects them from the dark and the unknown. They also find themselves faced with addiction to one of the most darkest deeds, murder; they find out that killing is an insatiable desire once you pop, you just can t stop. One also finds that the rules of social karma and playing nice have been broken they no longer hold true, and indeed, the first casualty of this effect is Piggy; no longer can he function in this society normally, unaided by adults. The island presents a shocking revelation to them: they cannot, no matter how hard they try, get rid of these feelings and habits; they are simply human nature. The feeling of fear is a consistent reminder to them of how vulnerable they are in this newfound enviroment; none of them have been to the jungle before, and they know nothing of what is in the jungle, waiting to eat them. This fear turns awry, and soon they find themselves fearing everything, unable to trust one another and imagining ferocious things in the jungle to fear. What 9 When we come to it When we let the rifles fall from our shoulders And children dress their dolls in flags of truce When land mines of death have been removed And the aged can walk into evenings of peace When religious ritual is not perfumed By the incense of burning flesh And childhood dreams are not kicked awake By nightmares of abuse When we come to it Then we will confess that not the Pyramids With their stones set in mysterious perfection Nor the Gardens of Babylon Hanging as eternal beauty In our collective memory Not the Grand Canyon Kindled into delicious color By Western sunsets Nor the Danube, flowing its blue soul into Europe Not the sacred peak of Mount Fuji Stretching to the Rising Sun Neither Father Amazon nor Mother Mississippi who, without favor, Nurture all creatures in the depths and on the shores These are not the only wonders of the world When we come to it We, this people, on this minuscule and kithless globe Who reach daily for the bomb, the blade and the dagger Yet who petition in the dark for tokens of peace We, this people on this mote of matter In whose mouths abide cankerous words Which challenge our very existence Yet out of those same mouths 18

17 Chapter 4. The Immutable Human Condition Chapter 6 Poem We, this people, on a small and lonely planet Traveling through casual space Past aloof stars, across the way of indifferent suns To a destination where all signs tell us It is possible and imperative that we learn A brave and startling truth And when we come to it To the day of peacemaking When we release our fingers From fists of hostility And allow the pure air to cool our palms When we come to it When the curtain falls on the minstrel show of hate And faces sooted with scorn are scrubbed clean When battlefields and coliseum No longer rake our unique and particular sons and daughters Up with the bruised and bloody grass To lie in identical plots in foreign soil When the rapacious storming of the churches The screaming racket in the temples have ceased When the pennants are waving gaily When the banners of the world tremble 17 I mean is... maybe it s only us, 1 reflects Simon he can see how people are beginning to doubt one another, and how their fear is manifesting itself as an imaginary beastie that can take any form. Piggy, too, realizes this he speaks to them at an assembly, carrying this message: Life is scientific, that s what it is. In a year or two when the war s over, they ll be traveling to Mars and back. I know there isn t no beast not with claws and all that, I mean but I know there isn t no fear, either. Unless unless we get frightened of people. Jack s addiction to hunting reveals the almost inhuman lust for blood and murder that posseses his very soul indeed, it had been lying there, dormant, simply kept in check by the constrains of society. Without society, those restrictions no longer help him; without someone to keep him in check, his obsession takes over his every waking moment. He went so far as to neglect his assigned responsibilities for this newfound obsession You and your blood, Jack Merridew! You and your hunting! We might have gone home comments Ralph, once he finds that the fire has been let to wither and that a potential chance of rescue escaped their hands. I went on. I thought, by myself The madness came into his eyes again. I thought I might kill. 2 With this, Jack tries to defend himself against Ralph s charges that Jack s hunting is useless, and that the fire is the foremost priority. One can already see the sinister hold that hunting has taken over Jack. Later on, we find that Jack s inner nature reveals itself even more he has been obsessed with death to the point of not feeling empathy when he views Piggy s death; his immediate words after that event are, See? See? That s what you get! That s what I meant! There isn t a tribe for you anymore! 3. He has been turned into a savage, a pure blooded hunter by his brain stem, which represents the longing for survival. Jack s coldblooded nature has always lied underneath the guise of a human, and when he arrived on the island, it just became uncovered. The last facet of human nature that becomes uncovered is that of the human tendancy to reject those who are different in this case, it is Piggy 1 Golding, p Golding, p Golding, p

18 Chapter 4. The Immutable Human Condition Chapter 5. A Speech from Simon to the Crowd who suffers from this most. He is unrespected by most of the children on the island his name becomes a euphimism for all that is adult-like and unliked. He s like Piggy. He acts like Piggy. He isn t a proper chief, 4 utters Jack as he tries to undermine Ralph s leadership. Piggy even comes to be hated by some, namely Jack and his tribe. Needless to say, Piggy never gets much respect, and whenever he tries to speak in assemblies, he always has to fight for attention. Jack pushes Piggy further out of the boys social circle when he proposes that the assemblies be closed, and only authoritative sources of knowledge can speak. Simon, too, is a prime victim of this tendancy to ostracize. When he crawls out of the shadows from his meeting with the Lord of the Flies, he is mistaken for a beast, and attacked as such because he is not accepted by any of the groups, they do not take note of his existence, and beecause of this, he is killed. In the end, the boys realize how trecherous their deeds are when they are rescued and sense is snapped back into them once under the influence of culture, they could look back and realize that they were under the control of human instinct. They discovered, first-hand, how dark and deceiving the human heart can be, how merciless it can be, and how all of these things came out of them, without them even trying. Had they not arrived on the island, Jack s killing instincts would have never flared up, and Piggy and Simon would not have been rejected so. It is this unchangable human nature that governs people when there is no government to shape those innate reflexes, those innate desires of murder. Human nature will always stay the same a government is just a way to bind it to a post and prevent it from misbehaving. 4 Golding, p

19 Chapter 5. A Speech from Simon to the Crowd Chapter 4. The Immutable Human Condition rocks at him! Bring him down here! We shall have ourselves a hunt! Rocks proceeded to pelt Simon, as in a hailstorm without any end. He succumbed to the forces of gravity and slid down the hill, allowing the entranced dancers to take hold of him

20 Chapter 5. A Speech from Simon to the Crowd Chapter 5 A Speech from Simon to the Crowd Limping down from the mountain, Simon saw the wonderous fire and the people dancing around it or what seemed to be people, at the moment. He crawled down slowly, gathering his strength. He would not let them see him until he was reading to make his point. And then suddenly, as if a soldier going into action, he stood up from his position on the mountain and yelled to them. Listen! Listen! I m speaking! I m Simon! I had a dream or something while I was out in the forest. I saw the sow s head that Jack s tribe so proudly pointed into the ground who would ve ever known that our deepest fear was of that thing? It talked to me. Really, it did. It told me a whole bunch of things, some of them being the fact that this island is meant for all fun and games, and nothing more. But I think that beast is wrong it must be wrong, or else it wouldn t have shown itself, shown itself to me to try and trick us into the wrong directions. Things need to get done. Jack, I m begging. I really am. Please come back to our tribe it s the only way for us to survive. I m scared out of my wits from this thing, but that doesn t mean that we should run away the only way to survive it is to band together and to defeat whatever it is in unison. We can t go anywhere with groups like this, not with these two groups fighting. It just doesn t work. While I side with Ralph, I hope that you d still like to join our tribe, Jack. Even though your tribe means so much to you I think we could work something out. Maybe a side-byside government of sorts, where you get to rule and do what you want within 13 reason, and we get to mind our own business with the signal fire and shelters. But when its time for us to team together to defeat a common enemy, we will, and our lives depend on it. And Ralph, about the signal fire I m sorry about it, I really am. Maybe I could tend to it permanently or something so that the other people would be free to do as they please right now, nobody wants to do it because it s so time consuming and boring. I like to be alone; I wouldn t mind the job in the least. There has to be some way of keeping the fire going that we haven t discovered yet, and maybe it s as simple as using a different kind of wood or leaves or something of that sort. We should experiment and find it out; we haven t taken nearly enough time for us to find out what we can do with the fire! We could even create better weapons for the hunters so that they wouldn t need to cause so much unneccessary pain to the pray maybe something like a bow, something that could go swoosh and kill the pig in an instant, sparing it from a long miserable death. All I want after experiencing that scary nightmare is for peace if we continue down this road of quarrels and strife, I m sure something bad will happen. Jack needs to know how to calm his people and himself down, and by that I mean ask nicely for things perhaps we can share resources as well as people? Listen, there s just got to be some sort of order accomplished. We won t survive as we are right now, and after seeing the beast on the head, I can be absolutely sure of that. There isn t anything else we can do to survive hunting won t help, making a signal fire won t help, and exploring the island won t help. We need to fix what s inside us first, as that s the most important thing that affects everything we say and do. If we re afraid of each other, and afraid to join forces, imagine what could happen if a small think sets us up against each other. It ll be a massacre, a horrible, horrible massacre that nobody would expect. So please, I ask you not for my sake, but for yours let s all join forces and have fun once more, have fun adhering to rules and following commands, have fun thinking up ideas for survival and things to do but let s do this all together. If we don t do that, we re most likely going to die on this island before any sort of rescue. Every single one of us. There isn t a moment to spare. Silence brought familiar deafness to Simon s ears, and only the crackle of the embers could be heard. Then, there was a voice, a solitary voice: it was Jack s. We don t need that! There is a beastie, and I m going to kill it. And nonsense Ralph is a foolish leader, and he doesn t deserve to lead us. I m better than him, yelled Jack as he voiced his hate and distrust. Throw 14