Evil In Lord Of The Flies Essay

Fear and internal evil is always within us. In the novel, Lord of The Flies by William Golding, a group of boys, ages ranging from 6-12, get into a plane crash and there are no surviving adults. They have to learn what it means to survive, but more importantly how to create a new civilization. The group splits into two with Ralph and Jack being the two leaders, Ralph believing in rules and order while Jack’s group become savage like. By the end, Ralph is the only surviving member of his group when they get rescued by a Naval ship. Golding uses the symbolism of the conch, the beast and the fire to express internal evil and savagery. Golding uses the conch to show the rise and fall of civilization. The boys landed on the island and that’s

Except by me’
Jack was on his feet.
‘We’ll have rules!’ he cried excitedly. ‘Lots of rules! Then when anyone breaks ‘em-’”(Golding 33). The conch from the start brought all the boys together, being blown and signaling that there were more survivors. It represents the right to speak during meetings, where when you have the conch, you can speak.
By the end of the book, there are two tribes with Ralph and Piggy together in one and Jack and the rest of the boys in the other. Jack’s tribe are filled with savage animals like boys with no rules and only the desire to hunt, while Ralph and Piggy are still fighting to be rescued and Piggy is still trying to keep the meaning of the conch alive. “The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist” (Golding 181). The conch breaking is a way to show that without rules we, people, can go into full evil and savagery. After the conch broke, Jack's whole group became animal-like, killing Piggy and forgetting how to act like civil humans. The conch represents the rise and fall of civilization on the

‘"Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood! Do him in!” The sticks fell and the mouth of the new circle crunched and screamed. The beast was on its knees in the center, its arms folded over its face” (Golding 111). After Simon tries telling the boys, the boys beat him up and kill him. Before doing this they were in a cult like circle chanting and marching. The boys are almost inhuman and animal-like. The beast shows the progression of fear and how far deep into savagery they’ve gone. The beast shows that fear can lead into savagery. Fire is a great source of safety and security, but what happens when it is taken away. The boys realize that they are stuck and they need to figure out how to be rescued. ““There’s another thing. We can help them to find us. If a ship comes near the island they may not notice us. So we must smoke on top of the mountain. We must make a fire.”’ (Golding 27). The fire is used as a rescue tactic almost immediately. It gives them a sense of hope that it will all be okay and they will be rescued. This connects them with civilization and keeps them from falling into