Dehumanization In Lord Of The Flies

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In William Golding's Lord of the Flies, Golding shows his readers that humans are evil by nature, and without strong moral conduct, humans will be tempted to let go of their civilized self. The book tells about a group of English boys who are stranded on an island while war is happening in the outside world. The boys make rules, and are happy with the island. Soon, things start to go wrong. The island starts to wear on some of the boys, and the temptations for power rise. Both the coincidental and deliberate dehumanization that takes place on the island is important because had it not been for this process of dehumanization, the boys would neither have descended into "savagery" nor followed Jack.

Being on the island is slowly dehumanizing …show more content…
Jack knows that they killed Simon, not the beast, yet he tells the tribe that the beast still lives: "He came - disguised. He may come again even though we gave him the head of our kill to eat. So watch; and be careful." (Golding 160) One of the main enforcers that Jack uses to dehumanize is fear. Fear is the reason for Simon's death. Jack makes the tribe dance and chant to make them fear the Beast, and that is dehumanizing them and turning them into bloodthirsty animals with a desire to eat and kill. In the same manner, Jack has changed the boy's appearance to change their personalities: "He stood halfway along the neck and gazed at the savages intently. Freed by paint, they had tied their hair back and were more comfortable than he was." (Golding 175) The savages appearance plays a big role in their dehumanization. Ever since Jack put on the paint, he acted as if he was freed from his civilized self. Now, Jack has forced all of the savages to wear the paint. All of the savages are now freed from their insecurities and the evil or "savageness" inside of them has come …show more content…
Ralph asks Percival his name and Percival begins to recite his name, address, and telephone number: “Now tell us. What's your name?" "Percival Wemys Madison. The Vicarage, Harcourt St. Anthony, Hants, telephone, telephone, tele--" As if this information was rooted far down in the springs of sorrow, the littlun wept. (Golding 86) When Percival recites his information, he comes to realize the situation they are in and how much he misses home. When he stutters while trying to remember his phone number, "telephone, tele--," it means that at home, he was was drilled to remember his information. When he cannot remember his phone number, it shows that he is getting farther and farther away from society. Likewise, at the end of the novel, Percival goes up to the officer on the beach: "I'm, I'm--" (Golding 201) When Percival approaches the officer at the end of the book, he cannot remember his name. We saw before towards the middle of the book that Percival could not remember his telephone number, but the farther the book has gone, the farther away Percival(and all the other boys), get from
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