In chapter 7 William Golding reveals his beliefs that all humans have the tendency to act like beasts. Throughout the entire book the boys have started reverting back to animal like tendencies, but Golding’s beliefs about it are more apparent in this chapter. For example, when Ralph and the other boys were trying to catch the pig, Ralph "was full of fright and apprehension and pride” (113) after his spear hit the pig in the snout. On any other normal basis, this doesn't seem like something that Ralph would take pride in. Ralph is showing the human tendency to act like a beast because on any normal occasion, Ralph wouldn't be the type of person to take pride in injuring an animal. However, given the circumstances, he has to in order to eat. In addition, when the boys were reenacting the pig chase they made Robert play the pig and, "Robert squealed in mock terror, then real pain" (114). None of them even realized that Robert wasn't playing along anymore. They were treating him like an animal and nobody saw anything wrong with it. This is an example of how humans have the tendency to act like beasts because, as the boys are adjusting to life on the island they're becoming more aggressive and almost losing a part of their morals, which is causing them to become beast like.
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