GCSE English Literature Chapter 3 Opening Analysis Essay

Saturday, 19th October 2013 H/W

Chapter 3 Opening - Analysis
The first few lines of chapter refer to animal imagery. This introductory section illustrates how the boys – especially Jack – descend into savagery. Golding implements animal like imagery, for example, when describing Jack as “dog-like” and bent “uncomfortably on all fours”. Golding uses this technique to express how Jack is becoming less human like as the novel progresses. Furthermore, Jack’s increased passion for hunting is illustrated with Golding’s constant reference to his “knife-belt” or most prominently his obsession with killing pigs; “the pig run”.
We can infer that Jacks obsession for a hunting is symbolic of his loss of civility and progression into barbarity. The subject always being the pig is symbolic of eliminating weakness. We can foreshadow that Piggy will die as he is not given a name, is always associated with pigs and Jack perceives him as an unimportant figure, only relevant due to his glasses.
William Golding demonstrates how Jack is predator like such as when describing his “nose only a few inches away from the humid earth. His “sandy hair, considerably longer than when they had dropped in” is illustrative of how the boys are isolated from society, therefore creating their own rules as there is no authority in place. Additionally, the simplistic description shows that the boys are alone; they are independent. A “sharpened stick about five feet long” establishes that Jack is prepared to hunt and kill. The sharpened stick, later on both ends, is suggestive that it will be used as an offensive weapon potentially killing, yet demonstrating the immense power struggle present within the boys.
However, although it is present that civility is becoming less apparent, the fact that the boys still have clothes on represents civilised behaviour and obedience of the rules. His “tattered shorts” are a metaphor that have direct correlation with the progression of barbarity. The adjective “tatty” shows the ‘wear and tear’ the shorts have endured, but on another level, show Jack’s descent into become more hunter like, eventually savage. The concept with the shorts is simply being that the more ripped they become, the more of a nuisance they become, eventually removing (or eliminating) them completely. This notion would be similar to that of the rules the boys feel they have to abide by. This concept is expressed clearly in the way the boys’ language changes. At first, the boys’ language is fairly simplistic and obedient in being typical 1950’s slang such as “wacco” and

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GCSE English Literature Chapter 3 Opening Analysis Essay

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