Lord Of The Flies - The Shell And The Glasses
[Analysis of 250 Words; page 196 “He’s going to beat Wilfred” to page 197 “The semicircle muttered and shuddered in agreement.”]
The Shell and the Glasses is a significant chapter in ‘Lord of the Flies’. There are many important elements of the book contained in this chapter; the two recurring motifs of the conch and Piggy’s glasses, the response to Simon being killed in the ‘dance’, and the continuing realisation that the island is not the paradise the boys thought it to be in the beginning. However, it could be said that one of the most important ideas in the chapter is the irrefutable portrayal of Jack Merridew and the hunters as savages, with a new society based on much more primitive and instinctive principals. In the 250 words specified above, Golding has communicated this concept of savagery using many techniques.
Golding has used dialogue to show the dynamic of the new society of Jack and his hunters. The most revealing example of dialogue explains that Jack is using violence to assert his chieftainship:
‘“He’s going to beat Wilfred”
“What for?”
Robert shook his head doubtfully.
“I don’t know. He didn’t say...”’
The passage continues, and it becomes evident that Jack doesn’t have a reason to beat Wilfred. He is doing it to scare the hunters into submission and to affirm his power and leadership, or perhaps as a punishment for something to other hunters don’t know about. Using violence to show leadership is a much more primitive and tribal concept, and therefore contributes to the portrayal of savagery in the boys.
The diction used by Golding in this passage is also integral to the audience gaining an understanding of the extent of the transformation the boys have undertaken. Words such as ‘chief’, ‘tribe’, ‘savage’ and ‘hunt’ are used frequently, and the repetition makes it apparent that the society and physical state of the boys has changed drastically from that at the beginning. The values of this new society are based around primal...
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