Thomas Jefferson once said, “The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of a good environment.” However, in ‘Lord of the Flies’, William Golding precisely portrays the truly destruction within humans. He also illustrates the collapse of society and peaceful civilization through dissension among the group. In addition, the ‘Lord of the Flies’ is an extraordinarily fierce and bloody novel that illustrates a group of British boys, from age of six to twelve, strand on an coral island near the Pacific ocean in the 1940s. At the beginning of the story, they establish a civilized government. Yet, after a period of time, the boys become increasingly barbarous and uncivilized. Furthermore, through ‘Lord of the Flies’, Golding depicts the wild appearance and ferocious manner of the children as they slowly approach to their original human nature.
In ‘Lord of the Flies’, the change in the appearance of the boys is an important factor that leads them towards a violent and uncivilized world. Firstly, Jack Merridew starts to paint his face, using red and white mud, to hunt the pig. He suspects that the pig could see his skin under the trees. As Golding depicts, “He made one cheek and one eye-socket white, then rubbed red over the other half of his face and slashed a black bar of charcoal across from right ear to left jaw. ” (pg. 66). This quote reveals jack’s new appearance and emphases his primitive mindset. Furthermore, Ralph realizes the changes of the appearance of the boys during their expedition to the mountain. Moreover, Ralph is disgust about his hair. Teeth, nails and clothes, he looks around and see the boys aren’t paying attention to their conditions. The novel states, “hair, much too long, tangled here and there, knotted round a dead leaf or a twig; clothes, worn away, stiff like his own with sweat. ” (pg. 120) The quote shows that the boys’ bodies are slowly adapting to the native lives on the island. Lastly, the complexion of the boys change as they start to adapt to the weather on the tropical island. In addition, their skins are no longer pale and clean. The novel writes, “The skin of the body, scurfy with brine.” (pg.120) This quote highlights that the boys’ appearances start to change due to the different condition they are in. Thus, the change in the appearance of the boys has due to the conditions of the deserted island and their increasing primitive mindset.
Indeed, the action of the boys indicates their increasing savage behavior. First, Jack is trying to achieve his promise of meat. He hides behind the creepers quietly and examines the droppings on the ground. Suddenly, a pig ran through and Golding depicts Jack’s reaction, “Jack himself shrank at this cry with a hiss of indrawn breath; and for a minute became less a hunter than a