Cilisation and Savagery Flashcards
I should have thought that a pack of British boys - you’re all British aren’t you? - Would have been able to put up a better show than that
Microcosm
Ralph sat on the fallen trunk, his left side to the sun. On his right were most of the choir; on his left were the larger boys who had not known each other before… before him sat small children squatted in the grass
Initial organisation
You got your small fire all right
Regressionnn
‘You’re a beast and a swine and a bloody, bloody thief!’
Disintegration of unity
They were glad to touch the brown backs of the fence that gemmed in the terror and made it governable
Fear causes regression
We’ve got to have rules and obey them. After all, we’re not savages. We’re English, and the English are best at everything. So we’ve got to do the right things.
Initial attempt at organisation
I’ll give the Conch to the next person to speak - they won’t be interrupted!
Ordered by jack for order
Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Kill the pig! Bash him in!
Unity in Savagery
The desire to squeeze and hurt was over-mastering
Degeneration
Roger advanced upon them as one wielding a nameless authority
Gestapo vibes
The rock struck piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist
Murder
There were no words, and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws
Atavism
‘That was Simon, that was murder’
Yikes
Behind them on the grass the headless and paunched body of a sow lay where they had dropped it
Pretty savage by now
Roger gathered a handful of stones and began to throw them. Yet there was a space round Henry, perhaps six yards in diameter, into which he dare not throw. Here, invisible yet strong, was the taboo of the old life. Round the squatting child was the protection of parents and school and policeman and the law. Roger’s arm was conditioned by a civilisation that knew nothing of him and was in ruins
Taboo
He hadn’t because of the enormity of the knife descending and cutting into living flesh
Afraid of murder
The world, that understandable and lawful world, was slipping away
descending into Savagery
If faces were different when lit from above or below - what was a face? What was anything?
Two faced
Questioning
‘What are we? Humans? Or animals? Or savages?’
Piggy my lad
‘Which is better - to have rules and agree, or to hunt and kill’
Piggyyyyy
He began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling
Animalistic
‘I painted my face— I stole up. Now you eat— all of you— and I’
Anonymity
Sneaky
Imperative but his own kindness?
Samneric protested out of the heart of civilisation
Trying to hold on to morality
I’m frightened. Of us.’
Descent scares Ralph
‘Kill the pig, slit her throat, spill her blood’
Barely even human!
He stood halfway along the neck and gazed at the savages intently. Freed by the paint, they had tied their hair back and were more comfortable than he was
Proper Savagery
Wave after wave, Ralph followed the ride and fall until something of the remoteness of the sea numbed his brain. Then gradually the almost infinite size of this water forced itself on his attention. This was the divider, the barrier
Separation from civilisation
‘Are we savages or what?’
Yes hun
Ralph launched himself like a cat; stabbed, snarling, with spear, and the savage doubled up
Ya
the compulsion yo track down and kill things… was swallowing him up
Whoop
Jack had (Roger) by the hair and was brandishing a knife
K
