What Animal Is Hunted In Lord Of The Flies

What Animal Is Hunted in Lord of the Flies: The Symbolism of the Pig Hunt

In William Golding's classic novel Lord of the Flies, the animal that is hunted throughout the story is a pig—a sow, to be exact. This seemingly simple act of hunting a pig becomes one of the most powerful and disturbing symbols in all of English literature, representing the descent from civilization to savagery that lies at the heart of this haunting tale.

The First Hunt: Setting the Stage for Violence

The hunting of the pig in Lord of the Flies begins as an attempt to provide food for the stranded boys, but it quickly transforms into something far more significant. On the flip side, the first successful pig hunt occurs in Chapter 4, when Jack Merridew and his group of hunters manage to kill a pig sow in the jungle. This moment marks a turning point in the novel, as the boys experience the intoxicating rush of violence and power that comes with taking a life.

The pig they hunt is described as a large sow, a female pig that has been nursing her young. The choice of a sow rather than a boar is significant—she represents motherhood and nurturing, making her death even more disturbing when considered alongside the novel's themes of innocence lost and the abandonment of civilized values. The hunters, led by Jack, become drunk with their success, covering themselves in the pig's blood as if it were war paint or a trophy of their achievement.

The Hunters: Jack and His Followers

Jack Merridew is the driving force behind the pig hunts in Lord of the Flies. He is first introduced as the leader of the choirboys, whose black cloaks and synchronized movements initially suggest discipline and order. From the very beginning of the novel, Jack demonstrates his obsession with hunting and killing. That said, it soon becomes clear that Jack channels this discipline toward violent pursuits rather than constructive goals.

The hunters who follow Jack represent the primal instincts that emerge when the constraints of society are removed. This transformation, which they call "going native," allows them to suspend their moral judgment and embrace the hunting instinct without guilt. Here's the thing — they paint their faces with clay and charcoal, transforming themselves into something less than human in their own eyes—and in the eyes of the other boys. The pig hunts become rituals, acts of worship to the dark god of bloodlust that has awakened within them.

The Progression of the Hunts

As the novel progresses, the pig hunts become increasingly brutal and frequent. Here's the thing — what begins as a practical endeavor to obtain food evolves into a violent obsession that consumes Jack and his followers. The hunts are no longer about sustenance—they are about power, control, and the satisfaction of primal urges.

The hunters' failure to kill their first pig is significant. But this moment of weakness troubles Jack deeply, and he returns to the hunt again and again, desperate to prove himself and overcome what he perceives as his own cowardice. On top of that, when Jack encounters a pig caught in creepers (trailing plants), he is unable to cut its throat with his knife. He hesitates, and the pig escapes. When he finally succeeds in killing the sow, the experience transforms him, releasing a darkness that had been waiting to emerge.

The Lord of the Flies: The Pig's Head

Perhaps the most famous symbol in the entire novel is the "Lord of the Flies" itself—the pig's head that Jack impales on a sharpened stick as an offering to the beast. In Chapter 8, after failing to catch Ralph and Piggy during a raid on their camp, Jack and his hunters return to their stronghold and perform a macabre ritual. They sharpen a stick at both ends, and Jack drives one end into the ground while the other holds the severed head of a pig.

The head quickly becomes covered with flies, giving it the appearance described in the title—"lord of the flies" being a direct translation of the Hebrew term "Beelzebub." This grotesque idol becomes the focal point of the hunters' primitive religion, a physical manifestation of the evil that has taken root among the boys. When Simon encounters the Lord of the Flies in the jungle, it speaks to him, telling him that there is no escape from the darkness within human nature.

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The Lord of the Flies represents the culmination of everything the pig hunts have come to symbolize: the triumph of savagery over civilization, the embrace of violence as a way of life, and the complete abandonment of moral principles. The pig that was once hunted for food has become a god—a dark, twisted deity that demands blood sacrifice.

The Symbolism: What the Pig Hunt Represents

The pig hunts in Lord of the Flies function on multiple levels of symbolism, making them essential to understanding the novel's deeper meanings. At the most basic level, the hunts represent the boys' attempt to survive on the island—they need food, and hunting is a practical solution to that problem. On the flip side, Golding uses the hunts to explore much darker themes.

The progression from unsuccessful hunter to ruthless killer mirrors the boys' descent into savagery. Each successful hunt strips away another layer of civilization, another inhibition against violence. Which means the blood of the pig becomes a substitute for human blood, a practice run for the murder that will eventually occur on the island. When Roger kills Piggy by rolling a boulder down onto him during a confrontation, the act is foreshadowed by countless pig killings that have desensitized the boys to violence and death.

To build on this, the pig hunts represent the rejection of reason and order in favor of emotion and instinct. Ralph and Piggy represent the forces of civilization—they want to build shelters, maintain a signal fire, and establish rules for living together. In practice, jack and his hunters reject these pursuits in favor of immediate gratification and the thrill of the hunt. The pig becomes a symbol of the conflict between these two philosophies, with the hunters' success representing the triumph of primitive desire over rational planning.

The Death of the Sow: A Disturbing Scene

The killing of the sow in Chapter 4 is described in graphic detail that emphasizes its brutality. The hunters surround the pig and attack it with their knives, but the sow fights back, charging at them with her tusks. In practice, jack eventually delivers the fatal blow, stabbing the pig's throat and watching as it dies in its own blood. The experience is described as exhilarating rather than disturbing—the hunters whoop and dance, covering themselves in the warm blood as if participating in some ancient ritual.

This scene is particularly disturbing because of how natural the violence seems to the boys. The sow had done nothing wrong—she was simply living her life, nursing her young, when she was attacked and killed for no good reason other than the hunters' desire for blood. There is no guilt, no reflection on the morality of what they have done. This senseless violence预views the senseless murder that will later claim Piggy's life and threaten Ralph's.

Conclusion: The Enduring Significance of the Pig Hunt

The animal hunted in Lord of the Flies is a pig—a sow whose death becomes one of the most powerful symbols in literary history. Through the pig hunts, William Golding explores the darkness that lurks within human nature, the ease with which civilized behavior can be abandoned, and the terrible things that happen when people give in to their most primal instincts.

The pig hunts in this novel are far more than a plot device—they are a window into the soul of humanity, revealing the capacity for violence that lies beneath the surface of society. Whether we see ourselves in Ralph, who tries to maintain order and reason, or in Jack, who embraces the hunt, the pig hunts force us to confront uncomfortable truths about our own nature. In the end, the animal hunted in Lord of the Flies is not really a pig at all—it is humanity's innocence, civilization, and hope for something better than our basest instincts.