Animalistic Qualities: Savagery or Stability (Lord of the Flies Essay Example)

Have you ever been put in a dire situation? If so, what was your reaction? Were you calm and collected, or did you begin to shed all logic and let fear make your decisions? Lord of the Flies is a story about a group of boys who found themselves stranded on an island. During this situation multiple personalities were in play, which led to many clashes that even cost lives. Things on the island were poorly handled by many individuals and the boys would have benefited from healthy communication, empathy, and conflict resolution. 

Healthy communication is a quality wolves have. “Wolves have a highly evolved social structure” (Deshpande). Each member of the pack has a specific job. The boys attempted to do this, but they were unsuccessful. In one chapter of the book, Jack and the choir boys went off hunting, while they were supposed to be tending to the fire. In typical Jack fashion he didn’t care, causing the fire to go out as a ship passed by (Golding 66-71). This situation could’ve been avoided had Jack kept his role, or simply communicated his need for someone to watch the fire. If Jack had realized that getting rescued is more important than meat and his lust to kill, then the ship may have seen the smoke signal and no additional deaths would have occurred. He even could have expressed his need for someone to watch the fire because he needed help hunting. Had he done this, the boys could have had a much earlier rescue.

Empathy in elephants is another animalistic quality that could have benefited the boys. Elephants are very socially aware, they are able to empathize with their fellow herd members on a human level. That being said, the boys could have benefited from a lesson on empathy. There were multiple occasions throughout the book where if empathy was shown situations of conflict would have been avoided. In one such chapter, the littluns were terrified of the so-called beast. Everyone had their own response to this, but Jack’s was less than ideal. He yelled at the littluns telling them “serves you right if something did get you, you useless lot of cry-babies!” (Golding 83). This was a very aggressive way to deal with a child’s fear and doesn’t end up eliminating it in the long run. Another situation where empathy was not displayed was when Roger rolled the rock off the cliff and hit Piggy in the face. “Roger, with a sense of delirious abandonment leaned all his weight on the leaver” (Golding 180). This incident led to the death of Piggy, which could have been fully avoided if Roger had stopped and thought about what would happen and how he would feel if he were violently assaulted while trying to voice his opinion. 

Finally, the article brings up the conflict resolution skill of chimpanzees. This is one that the boys desperately needed help with. Chimpanzees groom, hug, and kiss after fights with “the chimp who comes off worse in a conflict initiating the reconciliation” (Deshpande). Now the boys didn’t necessarily need to do that, but their way of fist fighting didn’t solve anything. “He took a step and stuck his fist into Piggy’s stomach” (Golding 71). This was Jack’s response to being called out for letting the fire die while a ship passed by. Now this situation was unfair to Jack, due to the accusations and jeers from all sides but he handled it quite unwell. Instead all parties should have seen this as a learning experience and divided fire watching more among the tribe so it would always have a look out. They should have also learned the power of communication that was mentioned earlier. Jack should have asked for some help and Ralph should have relieved shelter builders to help Jack hunt. One of the biggest weaknesses on the island is that people weren’t agreeing on a main goal. Every person thought their goal was the most important. Rather than minimizing each other's goals, they should have realized all of their opinions are important. Jack's goal of hunting for meat was just as important as shelters because sustenance will keep the boys happy and sane. The shelters were important because they were going to keep them safe from the elements. By sharing one common goal of survival, the boys would’ve enjoyed a much healthier idea of conflict resolution as everyone is important. 

Lord of the Flies is a story about the evils of human kind and how many of the so-called beasts our species faces are a direct result of our behavior. However, the boys in this story weren’t doomed from the start and would have benefited from the animalistic qualities above for a shorter, more enjoyable time on the island. These qualities of animals were the opposite of the savage and unproductive ones shown by the boys, which provided the template for the many traumatic experiences and deaths on the island.

Works Cited

Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. 375 Hudson Street, Penguin Books, 2006.

Deshpande, Neeraj. “What You Can Learn about Teamwork from These Animals’ Traits.” Entrepreneur, 3 Sept. 2015, www.entrepreneur.com/article/250277.