Discussion Topic
Naval Officer's Symbolism and Role in Lord of the Flies
Summary:
In Lord of the Flies, the naval officer symbolizes the thin veneer of civilization over humanity's inherent savagery. His presence is ironic, as he embodies order and authority while participating in a global war, mirroring the boys' descent into chaos. The officer's shock at the boys' savagery contrasts with his own violent role, highlighting the novel's theme that civilization merely masks our primal instincts. Ultimately, he represents both salvation and the harsh reality of human nature.
What's the symbolism and irony of the naval officer's presence in chapter 12 of Lord of the Flies?
The British naval officer that arrives on the beach and prevents the savages from killing Ralph is a symbolic representation of humanity's thin veil of civility over our inherently wicked nature. The officer's immaculate outfit with its "white drill, epaulettes" and "row of gilt buttons down the front of a uniform" symbolically represents order, structure, and civility. The British officer also speaks with authority and is depicted as a rational, proud man. However, the officer's civil presence is ironic because he is participating in a world war, which reveals his inherently wicked nature. Golding's message in the novel is that humans are inherently wicked, savage beings, who will revert back to their primitive nature in an environment that is void of rules, regulations, and structure. While the British officer expects the boys to "put up a better show," he is ironically engaging in similar behavior by participating in a savage,...
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brutal world war. The boys' behavior on the island is a microcosm of what is happening throughout the world.
The naval officer symbolizes war, which creates an irony between the war he is fighting in and the war that the children have been engaged in.
The naval officer lands on the island just in time to save Ralph's life. His presence reduces the on going battle between the children to just that, fights between children, and it causes him to reflect on the war that he himself is engaged in. He finds himself shocked at the savagery the children had been reduced to.
The irony is that as the naval officer expresses out loud his surprise of the savagery the children resorted to he turns to look at his own ship and realizes that he too is engaged in the same actions.
References
What does the naval officer symbolize in Lord of the Flies?
The naval officer symbolizes plenty of things: First, it is a paternal figure which the boys desperately need. Second, it is a figure of authority and salvation, which the kids are also desperately in need of. Third, it is the first contact the boys have with the outside world. Fourth, it is a figure of discipline, order, and organization- those are the very things that the boys lost when they were left to their own devices. Fifth, he represents reality. Even the Naval Officer himself was a bit grossed out at the state of the children, and the children did not respond to him in a child-like or infantile way: Instead, everyone was shocked in both sides, and that is the same way reality hits- shockingly at times.
Finally, the naval officer represents salvation and a return to humankind. The boys had been living in a semi primitive state. How interesting that it is a NAVAL officer, one who commands the ocean (a very uncertain element) appears to re-organize and save the boys. Yet, naval officers equally follow nature's signs, and use objects to guide them through the most unreliable elements, and make it. Therefore, the naval officer is the ultimate salvation to the boys.
What does the naval officer represent in Lord of the Flies?
For a novel that is so much about civilisation and its various limitations, this is a very interesting question. Firstly, it is clear that the officer, from his physical appearance, with his "white drill, epaulettes" and a "row of gilt buttons down the front of a uniform," represents the order and structure of civilisation that the boys have lacked on their isolated island. There is a deliberate contrast between the smartness of the naval soldier and the way that the boys are described as the narrative voice shifts to looking at the boys from the perspective of the naval officer:
A semicircle of little boys, their bodies streaked with coloured clay, sharp sticks in their hands, were standing on the beach making no noise at all.
The naval officer then firstly acts as a symbolic marker to show how far the boys have fallen from the heights of civilisation. It is clear too from what he says that he has not yet learnt the lesson that Ralph and the other boys have learnt, concerning the "end of innocence." He thinks what the boys were doing was "fun and games" and then expresses disappointment in the boys' inability to "put up a better show" in the way that they coped with being on the island.
Yet, at the same time, the way in which the naval officer is described with his "revolver" and also the ship with its "sub-machine gun" ironically identifies that the so-called "civilised" world that the boys are returning to is just as violent and bloody as their savage primitive world. This reinforces the central message of Golding as he demonstrates the way in which civilisation acts as nothing more than a very thin veneer that only just covers the barbaric reality of human nature.