"Lord of the Flies" by William Golding, is a novel about a group of young British boys who are stranded on an island after their plane is shot down. The group encounters countless problems during their duration of being stranded on the island, resulting in multiple disputes between the boys. Conflict is apparent all the way through the novel, whether it's being man versus man, man versus himself or man versus nature. One of the ways that Golding portrays conflict is through two of the main characters, Ralph, leader of the civilized group, and Jack, leader of the savage group. Golding reveals the growing tension between civilization and savagery in three key moments in the rising action: when the signal fire is let out and a boat passes by the island when Jack leaves the civilized group to create his own, and when the savages steal Piggy's specs to make their own fire. If these events did not happen, the climax would not have been possible.
The first key moment in the rising action that shows the growing tension between civilization and savagery is when Jack and his hunters let the fire die out, causing a ship to pass by without a smoke signal showing and allowing the group of boys to miss an opportunity of being rescued. This key moment is important because it marks the first strife between the antagonist and protagonist in the novel. Ralph's priorities are to build shelters and keep a signal fire going in order to get rescued, however Jack's priorities are to hunt meat for the boys and have fun. Tension is shown in this moment when they.
argue and Jack ends up taking his built frustrations out on innocent Piggy. Golding writes, "he took a step, and able at last to hit someone, stuck his fist into Piggy's stomach" (100, 14). This event reveals a clear difference between the savage and the civilized as Jack uses violence, whereas Ralph suppresses his anger. Golding writes, "Unwillingly Ralph felt his lips twitch; he was angry with himself for giving way" (101,12), which conveys his attempts to hide his spite towards Jack.
