One of the most important themes in Lord of the Flies is that man will inevitably descend into savagery in the absence of a structured civilization. In Chapter 4, "Painted Faces and Long Hair," Roger and Maurice are walking along the beach when they find littluns Johnny, Henry, and Percival making sandcastles. Through their play, the littluns are re-constructing something they saw back in civilization; as such, the sandcastles symbolize the civilization from which all...
One of the most important themes in Lord of the Flies is that man will inevitably descend into savagery in the absence of a structured civilization. In Chapter 4, "Painted Faces and Long Hair," Roger and Maurice are walking along the beach when they find littluns Johnny, Henry, and Percival making sandcastles. Through their play, the littluns are re-constructing something they saw back in civilization; as such, the sandcastles symbolize the civilization from which all the boys have come. The littluns cry as Roger walks through their sandcastles, "kicking them over, burying the flowers, scattering the chosen stones." As Maurice follows, he is "laughing" and Golding says he "added to the destruction." Golding's diction here, with use of the word "destruction," is a clear foreshadowing of the boys' ultimate descent into savagery—the ultimate destruction of the fledgling society they attempt to create while on the island. The chapter title also indicates that things are beginning to shift on the island. The boys' hair is growing, suggesting that as time has passed, the boys look less and less like they would have back in society; this change is something out of their control. However, they are also changing in ways that are within their control. Jack, the most vocal proponent of savagery, paints his face for the first time in this chapter, donning a "mask" that "compelled" the other boys to follow him in the hunt as he makes his first successful kill.
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