Lord Of The Flies Chant

Lord Of The Flies Chant

Discuss the significance of the savagery dance/chant.

    The savagery chant, or the “pig dance”, has occurred in Lord of the flies for more than once. In the chant, boys dance and sing, “Kill the pig! Bash her in!” while they imitate the scene of slaying a pig. One of the boys pretend to be the pig and the others attack him, in a ritual-like way. Before the pig dance in which the put Simon to death, the chant has occurred twice. The pig dance acts at the symbol of savagery in the book.

    It is Jack who starts the first chant, as he is over-whelmed by the excitement of killing a pig. Maurice mocks the pig. At this stage, the boys are still playing. They know it is only a game and no one is hurt. The pig dance reveals the savage side of the boys and how they changed, from fear of killing to treating it as a game. They see the ritual as an entertainment only, because they are so happy after hunting.

    The chant symbolized the loss of reason or blind emotion. When the boys get involved in the chant, nothing seemed real; they lost their grip on reality. Before there are some signs of the boys’ brutality individually, but here, is a massive savagery. As time goes by, they loss their reasons and fall deep into barbarity. Luckily, Ralph is there to stop them, which suggest their savagery is still under control.

    In the next pig dance, situation gets worse.

    Ralph finally joins the pig hunt. Unlike Jack, he tends to aim at getting food rather than the pleasure of hunting. However, this time it is Ralph who starts the pig dance. Just because he has successfully hit the boar, he is just too happy to stay cool and forget what he wants in the beginning and becomes unpractical. When he describes his hunting experience, he is also over-excited as the others boys. Before he has sense and dislikes Jack and other boy’s craze in hunting than being rescued. “I hit him,” he keeps on repeating, showing his irrationality.

The dance suggest...