Two separate illustrations of an animal head and a fire on a mountain

Lord of the Flies

by William Golding

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In Lord of the Flies, how does Percival's name indicate the boys' loss of identity?

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Percival's struggle to recall his full name at the end of Lord of the Flies symbolizes the boys' loss of identity and civilization. Initially, Percival recites his name as a way to maintain his identity, but by the end, it becomes a forgotten "incantation," akin to the elusive Holy Grail. This reflects the boys' transformation into savages, stripped of individuality and humanity, as their structured identities dissolve in the chaos of the island.

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The abandoned boys in Lord of the Flies give in to their base desires and become essentially anarchist savages on the island. Through this experience, they lose not only their identity but also most traces of their humanity. They essentially become warring beasts following an alpha leader, without any civility. Because of this, even the concept of their own names and identities is foreign to them.

Percival tries recalling his identity at the end of the novel, after the boys have successfully been rescued. He searches deep in his subconscious for, as he calls it, this lost incantation. It has two meanings here—in the beginning of the novel, he repeatedly used his name, hammering it out frequently to remember himself and hold on to his identity. More importantly, however, it is reminiscent of a long lost spell or incantation—like searching for something that has been lost for centuries. The search...

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for his name even reminds him of the search for the holy grail, in that it seems so distant and ancient that he can barely grasp at it. This all goes to relate how completely the boys were stripped of their identities.

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After the arrival of the naval officer who rescues the boys from the island, Percival Wemys Madison "sought in his head for an incantation that had faded clean away."  Like his namesake, who was a knight of King Arthur's court who sought the Holy Grail, the boy searches for the recitation of his identity--now as unattainable as the grail--which he repeated in the beginning chapters. Percival has lost this identity since his address no longer has any meaning.  Like the others, with all traces of civilization gone from them, Percival is simply a member of one of the tribes, Ralph's or Jack's.  He merely follows the leadership of one of the boys, having no individual identity of his own, reduced to merely a savage who eats and sleeps.  The beautiful island, a metaphor for society, burns behind them erasing all identity.

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