Layers: Civilization and Mask Essay

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1832406 1
1832406
Mr. Peterson
English 3-4
21 May 2013
Layers
Imagine an onion’s layers hiding the center of the onion. After one peels away the layers one gets closer and closer to the core of the onion exposing it for what it truly is. The same can be said for a person that is removed from civilization for a long period of time. People have layers that are built up by society from years of punishment for wrong doings. But once they are put in a place where society no longer has control over them, the layers begin to crumble until finally all that is left is a person’s core, their true evil side. In the book Lord of the Flies by William Golding a group of boys become stranded on an island due to a plane crash. While on the island the boys elect a leader by the name of Ralph who elects Jack to be in charge of all the hunting for the group. After a while, it becomes obvious that Jack is a very bad hunter because he is unable to kill a pig. One day a ship sails past the island but the signal fire that they had created had gone out because Jack didn’t keep it going instead he went hunting. After a while tension continues to rise and when Simon, another boy on the island, goes to tell Jack’s tribe that they were mistaken when the thought they had seen a beast, but when Simon comes out of the bushes the tribe mistakes him for the beast and kill him. When Ralph makes it to the beach he collapses and when he looks up there is a British naval officer standing over him. While the boys are on the island you can see that day by day they become more and more evil and their civilized layers begin to crumble away. Golding uses the symbolism of the mask and the characterization of Ralph to show that once someone becomes detached from society their true evil side is revealed. The symbolism of the mask shows that when it is on it hides the civilized side of the boys and allows them to hide from their actions. Before the boys put the mask on it was hard for them to
1832406 2 commit evil crimes but when it was on they felt like they were no longer forced to follow the rules of society. “The mask was a thing on its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self- consciousness” (Golding 64). When one puts on the mask it is as if it is to hide from their actions. When the mask is on it is like it is a new person, because of this the mask makes it easier to do such evil things.
But once the mask is taken off one is forced to face what they have done. The mask acts as a new identity. This next quote shows that masking their face helps them cope with being able to do such terrible things. “The boys nodded. They understood only too well the liberation into savagery that concealing paint brought” (Golding 172). Before the boys return into battle they feel it is necessary to hide their faces. Once they put the face paint or the mask they feel like they can do anything because it is not really them committing these acts. The mask and the paint are a way for the boys to
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