Simon is a very interesting character to this story. Including the death of a few friends, such as Simon. Along with these wars came anger, sadness, and death. With the two governments fighting for their own causes, with neither being exactly a good intention, it reflects our world perfectly. As the book is ending towards the end, the two boys loathe each other, and the two tribes have a semi-war.
These two boys representing two different governments do not get along at all, even in the very beginning Ralph is very skeptical of Jack. Even in the final chapter, it is implied Jack and Roger has hurt one of the twins into telling them where they think Ralph is hiding (Golding, 175). Jack, with Roger by his side, tortured and beat the twins to get them to obey their commands. Jack is seemingly worshiped like a god and treats his peers like one.
As the book describes him, “painted and garlanded, sat there like an idol.” (Golding, 135). Jack, however, represents an autocratic government. Early on in the book, the boys ‘vote’ for Ralph to be their leader, just like in a democratic government where the people choose their own leader on their own free will. Ralph represents a democratic government because he was chosen by his peers to become chief.Įven Ralph himself states, “ ‘I’m the chief’, said Ralph, ‘because you chose me’ ” (Golding, 137). And this is even more accurate considering what the two boys represent. Two separate leaders of two different tribes fighting… sounds like a war.
After Piggy’s death, Jack lashed out in rage and tried to kill Ralph as well. These events are most likely symbolism for the real world, how a few truthful, angry words can lead to the death of a (mostly) innocent person. The conch eventually leads to Piggy’s death, whom after he voices his opinions starts a fight, getting a rock thrown at him and leading to the poor boys death (Golding, 164-165). But, this conch also does cause quite a bit of problems among the boys. Without this, there wouldn’t be rules on the island. Whoever is holding the conch gets the right to speak his opinions and thoughts. In Lord of the Flies, the boys find a conch early on and use it as a sort of microphone. However, we have speakers to tell our governments not to fight, and to help make laws. In these modern times, with weapons of mass destruction, the world is a more dangerous place than it has ever been.
The more modern we become, the more we argue and fight, and even kill. War and fighting are probably older than even civilization is. War, however, is also something we are used to. We learn, laugh, and care for the safety of each other… sometimes.
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