Lord of the Flies Language Analysis

The novel began with Jack being introduced as the strong­willed leader of the choir boys ­ a disciplined boy instilled with moral values. However, Golding shows us the transformation in Jack’s character or rather his true identity throughout the novel by his careful choice and use of words and phrases. Without the identity of a choir boy, Jack is simply an aggressive and egoistic boy greedy for power.

Jack's actions are described as being very animal­like at the beginning of Chapter 3. Jack is hunting for a pig. He is using a long sharpened stick but he is not walking upright. He moves along on all fours, like an animal. He then he smells the air like a dog to see if he can detect any fresh droppings from the pigs. As Jack hunts in the "uncommunicative forest," I think he finds the "silence of the forest more oppressive than the heat."

In the first sentence of this passage, the words, ‘bent double’ immediately catches the reader’s attention. Literally, it describes the posture of an animal ­ bent down on the knees.

Golding could have simply used the phrase ‘bent down on his knees’. I think he used this word to show animal imagery and words suggestive of animals to denote Jack's descent into savagery. For example, the words ‘dog­like’, ‘on all fours’, ‘flared nostrils’ are all animalistic traits being used to represent Jack as as a lower type of human being.

Golding also sets the scene in a very beautiful way. He makes it clear to the reader that Jack is in a dense forest or jungle through his incredible choice of words. An example would be, ‘The tree trunks and creepers festooned them lost themselves in a green dusk thirty feet above him; and all about was the undergrowth’. This sentence means that the tall tree trunks and the creepers above Jack seem to act like a skyscraper, blocking the light from the Sun thus making it feel like dusk. I find this sentence very interesting because of the word ‘festooned’. ‘Festoon’ means to adorn (a place) with chains, garlands, or other decorations. According to me, Golding used this word to create a visual imagery of the setting in the reader’s mind. He wants to make us feel the place in which Jack is in so that we can connect with Jack even more.

Overall, language has definitely helped to portray Jack’s transformation so beautifully that the reader itself is able to create a visual image of Jack’s transformation.