Imagine being lost on an island with a couple of other people, with no rescue mission. The only goal is to survive. This is the plot of Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Chapter 8 of this story is very hard to understand for several reasons. The story starts with Jack and the others spotting a sow nursing her kids, and decide to kill her for food. They shoot her dead, leaving the babies all alone, with no mother. One of them suggests hanging the head for the ‘beast’ to see. Afterward, Simon feels kind of lightheaded, so he goes back into the forest, just to see the rotting head of the dead sow. Flies are swarming around it, and then suddenly, Simon sees the Lord of the Flies. He tells Simon that there is evil within everyone, and that he would have fun on the island. This ‘fun’ is a threat, and feeling fearful, Simon cannot talk back, and because of the overwhelming shock about everything he has been told, he fainted. In chapter 9, Simon goes to warn his friends, and they mistake him for the beast, so he was beaten to death. Many people suspect this has to do with what the Lord of the Flies said to Simon, and perhaps, they are right.
To survive on an island lacking resources, civilized decisions will be discarded like trash. Everyone is trying so hard to focus on not dying that they will forget all moral decisions. The best chance to survive in a group is if there is a leader. Ralph and Jack both want to lead the group, and they both have many leadership qualities, but in a flurry of panic, they forget that they are working together and fight for the leadership role. It’s controversial whether this behavior is excused by the will to survive, or it’s just childish behavior that doesn’t help anybody. Especially in chapter 8, when Jack leads the group to food, even though he is exhibiting inhuman behavior. Killing a mother feeding her babies, no matter if it’s a human or a cow, is simply unethical. However, because they need food to survive, the boys forget about their morality, and only thinks about how delicious the sow was going to be. They sacrificed the sow because of their fear of the beast, which actually didn’t exist. However, one person believing in a nonexistent beast can cause others to do so too, and because they are scared of it, they will worship it. Some people will do the same in their situation, but others will argue that no matter what, this behavior is unjustifiable. Simon’s encounter with the Lord of the Flies shows us that although they were just trying to survive, this kind of act is still somehow evil.
There is good and evil in everybody, but in the story, it’s hard to tell whether the boys’ decisions were with good or evil intention. We could always say that there are both, but it is quite clear, if we read thoroughly, that one overpowers the other. Many people will argue that they are just kids, while others will claim that it doesn’t justify what they did to an innocent animal. After killing the pig, the group only thought of the food, and to leave the head for the beast, showing that there was no remorse in their decision whatsoever. This brings us to whether remorse is actually worth it. After all, fear can make us all go a little insane, and the boys’ constant fear of the beast worsened the situation quite a lot. If we were to choose between survival and the wellbeing of others, which would we prefer? If we ask this question to a group of people, there will be different answers for sure. It depends on the person, and clearly, this group of boys care more about their own survival than anything. It may seem barbaric to kill a helpless mother while she is just trying to feed her children. They could’ve found other food, and even if they decided to kill the sow, leaving the head for the mysterious beast was absolutely cruel. It sounds like they are laughing at the death of a mother, and not even caring about what will happen to the sow’s babies, and how much they will grieve. Overall, the group’s decision was based on evil and greed.
In chapter 8 itself, there were many symbols that were also shown throughout the rest of the story. These symbols are what develops the story so that we can better understand it. The first symbol is obviously the Lord of the Flies. This character symbolizes the evil within everybody. It was because of him that Simon realized everyone has an inner evil, and he dies because of the others’ inner evil. Simon was already mentally unstable before, proven by his multiple seizures, but seeing the Lord of the Flies crossed his line of sanity. The second symbol is the sow’s head. It symbolizes destruction and greed. The boys killed an animal that was part of a family, and left the head as a display showing how they destroyed a family and proceeded to greedily try to earn something else from this situation. The third symbol is the sow’s children, who symbolize the innocence in society. Some people are just like these kids. They are relying on people, and don’t know what happens after these people suddenly leave, but they will soon find out the cruelty of the world we live in. The fourth and final symbol in the story is the boys. They symbolize sacrifice, as they had to sacrifice their innocence and morality in order to survive. This is backed up in chapter 8, when they killed the sow and left her head. All of these symbols connect with one another to make the story more interesting.
In conclusion, Lord of the Flies by William Golding talks about a group of boys trying to survive on an island, with few resources. This story has many messages and teaches us many things about just how far people would go to survive. We find out the origin of the title in chapter 8, and we learn that there is an evil in everyone. Although someone can be the kindest person in the world, they will still have an inner evil they cannot escape. Simon’s death shows the sacrifices we have to make as a society. Sometimes, to protect ourselves, we do terrible things to others, like the boys did to Simon and the Sow. Chapter 8 teaches us that in order to survive, we need to forget about other people and think about ourselves, but we shouldn’t take advantage of the chances we are given, like the group did with the innocent mother. Sometimes, unfair things can happen to us, like what happened to Simon. After all, he was only trying to help his friends, yet he was beaten to death by them. Other times, we will do unfair things to others, like the main characters did, and although we cannot change the past, we should aspire to be better people, unless it is a critical situation. Sometimes, we find ourselves through a challenging point in our lives, but we should stay positive and always try our best.
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