Ever since humantity began,
A battle started within man.
Two instincts equally strong,
Have been inside us all along.
Each trying to take control.
Different desires and different needs,
Possessing our thoughts and our deeds;
Two instincts control them all.
Savagery is the vicious one.
Thirst for blood and inclination to destroy.
The end justifies what to be done.
Our premitive desires. Our own selfish joy.
An instinct so brutal and reason-free.
Inside our being it will forever be.
Civilization is the disciplined one.
Longing for sociality and inclination to know.
Forming our heritage in the long run,
As we desire for law, morals and life to grow.
An instinct that fulfills our social nature,
Distinguishing us from any other creature.
Two insticts battle within man,
Ever since humanity began.
By Merhan M. Youssef
This poem relates to how savagery and civilisation both resides within us. However, when we are away from civilisation for a long period of time, the savage side of humanity tends to take over. Both the poem and the book addresses how civilisation and savagery fight an inner battle within us. However, in terms of Lord of the Flies, savagery is the one that wins this fight. This theme of Savagery vs Civilsation is also shown in the poem. The poem states, "Ever since humantity began,A battle started within man.Two instincts equally strong, Have been inside us all along. Each trying to take control.". This has shown how humans are born to have both the instincts of savagery.
However, in the context of Lord of the Flies, the savage side of humanity is shown, as the boys are forced to turn against their friends, through the rule of fear and inner darkness. As Lord of the Flies implies, "The beast is a part of us", humans are tamed under the civilised world. However, when humans are left to fend for themselves, the savage instincts of themselves may surface. As the poem states, "Savagery is the vicious one. Thirst for blood and inclination to destroy. The end justifies what to be done. Our premitive desires. Our own selfish joy.", this refers to a character we are familiar with in Lord of the Flies, one that commands fear and domination, one that possesses the "beast" within himself, one that takes pride in selfishness. a character that embodies savagery, that is, Jack. The savagery shown in the poem can be compared to how the savagery of the hunters, of humanity, is brought out when they put on face paint, concealing the instincts of "civilisation" within them. Out comes the savagery and mass destruction.
However though, the instinct of civilisation was lost eventually, while savagery took over over a period of time in the book. This promotes the theme of "Civilisation vs Savagery", both implied in the poem and the book. We are all familiar with how the boys in Lord of the Flies have followed the rules set by Ralph, the inclination to follow rules set by others. We are all too familiar with how Roger was hesitant to throw stones at the littluns at the start of the story. However, this harmless boy, Roger, turns into a savage boy who has no qualms in eradicating anyone he deems fit. How did a kind boy that was hesitant to even throw stones at the littluns, turn into the savage beast that let off the large stone that eventually killed the embodiment of civilisation, Piggy? This has marked the victory of savagery over civilisation, when the hunters chant, when the hunters hunt down prey. Did the hunters even show any regret when they had found out they had killed Piggy and Simon? They were masked by the paint, which lets savage intents take over. How else would a group of boys turn into a savage group, hunting down Ralph throughout the entire island in the end?
Civilization can only mitigate but it will never be able to wipe out the innate evil that exists within all human beings. The forest glade in which Simon sits in Chapter 3 symbolizes this loss of innocence. At first, it is a place of natural beauty and peace, but when Simon returns later in the novel, he discovers the bloody sow’s head impaled upon a stake in the middle of the clearing. The bloody offering to the beast has disrupted the paradise that existed before—a powerful symbol of innate human evil disrupting childhood innocence. It results naturally from their interactions with the innate evil and savagery that has always existed within them. This is also seen in the poem, which suggests that savagery is innate in humanity, and that civilisation only serves to tame, but even a tamed cat can turn wild again.
One question to ponder over today, which instinct won in the end, Savagery or Civilisation?
I feel that there is a bit of contradiction between the first and second paragraph of the analysis of the
ReplyDeletepoem. The first paragraph states that “humans are born to have both the instincts of savagery (and
civilisation” and that “when (humans) are away from civilization for a long period of time, the savage
side of humanity tends to take over”. This implies that the both the savaged and civilised instincts are
not choices but natural tendencies. However, the second paragraph says that “the boys are forced to
turn against their friends, through the rule pf fear and inner darkness”. The contradiction here is this
statement suggests that the boys did not turn savage instinctively, but by the influence of an external
factor, in this case, Jack. Hence, both paragraphs differ slightly in stating how civilised people turn
savage. One says that it is due to the separation from civilisation while the other states that it is because
something else had deliberately made them so.
There is also an obvious contradiction with the question at the end, which forms the last paragraph,
with the first and third paragraphs. The first paragraph states that in the novel, “savagery is the one
that wins this fight”. And the third paragraph states that “the victory of savagery over civilisation” is
“marked” by the killing of Piggy. The writer here seems to be absolutely positive that savagery has
triumphed over civilisation in the novel and has even provided some sort of evidence to support it. On
the other hand, the last paragraph poses a question, prompting the reader to wonder which instinct,
savagery or civilisation, wins. This hints at the fact that the author himself is not actually aware of which
is the stronger one amongst the two.
There are also two statements that I disagree with. Firstly, the third paragraph says that the boys have
“the inclination to follow rules set by others”. We must remember the boys include Jack and his hunters.
Hence, the quoted phrase is not very accurate as we see that the boys actually do not follow the rules
set by Ralph, in the novel. Evidence of this can be found when Jack and his hunters neglect their given
duties and let the fire out so that they could go and hunt for meat. Thus, we can see that even though
Ralph was first elected and chief to lead the boys, the rules he put in place are not followed through by
the boys. The second statement I disagree with is whereby the third paragraph says that Piggy is the
“embodiment of civilization”. I personally feel that the person whom is more apt to be described as the
“embodiment of civilization” is Ralph. Ralph exudes obvious traits of a leader like rational thought and
high morale, showing that he is civilized. Piggy merely serves as someone like an advisor; someone who
works alongside Ralph and helps him to makes sound decisions. Therefore, I feel that the statement is
inaccurate when saying that Piggy is the embodiment of civilisation.
However, I also personally feel that the use of rhetorical questions in the third paragraph is
exceptionally effective in showing the transition from civilisation to savagery. For example, the question
which asks how Roger dared to kill Piggy, even though he was afraid of even throwing stones at the
little one, is able to fully show the change in him, how he used to be well-behaved, restricted by the
disciplinary expectations of civilisation.
-by Sven
ReplyDeleteI like how the poet made used of the literary device, rhyming, at the end of every line to make the poem more interesting and how the poet used contrasting instincts -- Savagery and Civilization and said that they were of equal strength in each human and the rest of the poem about how different the two are which made the poem interesting and intriguing
By Kelsey's group