what is the scar

"All round him the long scar smashed into the jungle was a bath of heat."

The scar describes the long trail the plane created in the jungle when it crash landed. Introducing violent imagery from the start, Golding foreshadows bloody events in the book including the scenes where the pigs are slaughtered, and the climax scene of the hunt and storm.

The scar represents one of the central themes - man being at odds with nature. The plane upsets the natural order of the island, the scar indicating man's destruction and the introduction of an external evil.

Complexly, as the jungle represents nature, so the beach offers objects representing man, such as the conch which is an object of authority, power and civilization. The beauty and order of nature throughout, contrasts with the social and moral decline of the boys. They arrive on a beautiful untouched island, a 'blank page', and the evil inherent in all men and therefore society and civilization, unavoidably causes destruction.