Normlife

Violence Clouds Reasoning in Lord of the Flies

“Reasoning with a drunkard is like going under water with a torch to seek for a drowning man” (Tiruvalluvar, 5th century Tamil sage). Violence is the drink of choice for the barbaric children in Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies. This viciousness, seemingly apparent in all the children on the doomed island, is the water that drowns reasoning. Golding illuminates this message through characterization, symbolism and setting.

Golding effectively employs characterization to establish this theme. Through out most of the book, Ralph uses good reasoning. For example, Ralph scolds the Hunters for abandoning their post at the fire, he tells them “the smoke is more important than the pig, however often you kill one” (page?). Here Ralph realizes that the fire is the primary task on the island, all other things come after tending the fire. The hunters, blinded by their hunger and desire to chase and murder the pig, forget about the fire and go off running into the forest. Eventually, Ralph exhibits more barbaric tendencies, as when he joins in the murder of Simon. Ralph was swept away by the group’s violent chantings and its savage undercurrent. He did not know who or what he was attacking, he just attacked. This clearly shows how violence can thwart reasoning. Jack is also victim to this concealment. For instance, Jack thinks there should be no rules as “[they’re] strong-[they] hunt! If there’s a beast [they’ll] hunt it down. [They’ll] close in and beat and beat-!” (83). A person with reasoning would think there should be rules, which would be a boon to the survival of the children on the island. Jack, overwhelmed with the human ability to hunt and kill other creatures, lacks any capacity to reason.

Symbolism also helps to manifest this theme. For instance, Jack and the other boys retreat to Castle Rock, away from Ralph and the signal fire. Jack’s tribe becomes violent, hunting often for food, this being expected as Castle Rock symbolizes a place of violence. Due to their relocation to this violent place, his tribe subsequently loses reasoning. The only fire they think is needed is one for cooking hunted meat; they have no desire for a signal fire. The signal fire is a symbol of civilization and hope as well as the only way to become rescued, something reasonable people would undoubtedly construct. Another use of symbolism by Golding to elucidate this theme is when he describes the destruction of Piggy and the conch:

The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist. Piggy, saying nothing, with no time for even a grunt, traveled through the air sideways from the rock, turning over as he went. The rock bounced twice and was lost in the forest. Piggy fell forty feet and landed on his back across the square red rock in the sea. … Piggy’s arms and legs twitched a bit, like a pig’s after it has been killed. (164-5)

Roger, the most violent bigun on the island, mutilated Piggy, and with absolutely no reason what-so-ever, other than to show that Jack’s tribe is more powerful and probably just for the fun of it. Piggy was the symbol of thinking and reason crushed by a rock, which was priorly likened to a bomb. The conch is symbolic of order, one of the key ingredients the inhabitants on the island must have to survive, was decimated by the attack on Piggy. Once reason is gone, authority and order both disappear as they are based on reason.

Lastly, Golding uses setting to establish this theme. For example, Castle Rock, which is surrounded by “pink tumbled boulders with guano layered on them like icing” and contains “a sort of half-cave that held nothing more … than … rotten eggs” (95-6). Castle Rock is a barren place that exists in an unprotected and violent environment. There is no fresh water around Castle Rock and any person with reason would not live at Castle Rock, for that reason and because it has an inhospitable atmosphere. However, Jack thinks it would be a great place to have a fort, as it is easily protected and has a cave. He is blinded to any other reasons that might be more intelligent. Another example is near the end of the book, the fire started by Jack to smoke out Ralph begins to cover the whole island threatening to destroy all food and shelter. Normally, a person would have thought that setting fire to an entire island, that could be your home forever, is not smart and reasonable at all. Jack, once again blinded by violence, torches the island with little care of the island itself, and is only concerned with the destruction of Ralph.

Golding uses characterization, symbolism and setting to establish that violence impairs reasoning. At an anti-war protest April 7th in Oakland, the police used unreasonable force against protesters who would not disperse. A small number of protesters threw small projectiles at police and then the police acted back shooting non-lethal, but painful projectiles at the crowd of protesters. They allegedly followed the protesters for a mile shooting at them. One crane operator reporting to a local port had his thumb fractured in cross-fire. The police allegedly did not try to arrest people before firing. The small provocation from the protesters caused the police to fight back violently. In conclusion, this theme is universal.