Humanity In William Golding's Lord Of The Flies

The Evil Within Humanity Thomas Hobbes remarks that“The condition of man... is a condition of war of everyone against everyone”. Humans are not born flawless, they are born with an evil within them. The choices and actions they make are a representation of their inner selves. The evil within humans cause them to revolt against those of their kind. Similarly, in the novel, Lord of the Flies, a group of school boys have crashed onto a deserted island and must make means work. There is a constant struggle between what is considered to be good and what is considered to be bad. We witness each one of the boys evil within them and see their struggles. Most of the boys are lost in their evil actions, however a couple do redeem themselves by not

Furthermore, while the boys, with their faces painted, are in the jungle, they stumble across a thing that they believe in the beast. However, that beast is Simon. “The beast struggled forward, broke the ring, and fell over the steep edge of the rock to the sand by the water. At once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt on to the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore. There were no words, and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws. Then the clouds opened and let down the rain like a waterfall. The water bounded from the mountaintop, tore leaves and branches from the trees, poured like a cold shower over the struggling heap on the sand” (153). Throughout the novel Simon experiences many parallels that are similar to Jesus Christ. Innocent Simon was killed by a group of boys who wrongly accused him, and innocent Jesus was killed by a group of men who also wrongly accused him. This shows how humanity is cruel and evil, even to the innocent. When Jesus had passed away on the cross, the sky became completely dark, even though it was day time. When Simon had died, a dark storm rolled in. The day of Jesus’ crucifiction and Simon’s death both boys had been killed by a group of their own people. Jesus and Simon were both also ridiculed and misunderstood by those around them. This shows how Golding was purposefully comparing Simon to Jesus to prove the point

For example, Jack and his hunters are putting charcoal on their faces, to act like masks. They are preparing for the hunt. We witness Jack’s transformation from human to savage. “He looked in astonishment, no longer at him but at an awesome stranger...Beside the pool his sinewy body held up a mask that drew their eyes and appalled them. He began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling...the mask was a thing of its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness”(64). These pagan rituals of putting on the face paint and transforming into a savage is very destructive. The face paint gives the boys leeway and excuses to become ravenous and unsympathetic. Their judgement and perception is clouded by the need to kill and hunt. The boys feel no remorse for the actions they are taking part in. Furthermore, while the boys are killing the mother pig, they chant the words “‘Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood’”(69). This chant shows how the hunt has became a ritual now. They have certain things they do before hunting. They put on their maks, chant, and form a circle and dance around their prey.The hunt has became a religion for the boys. They worship Jack and the Beast. Since they put their loyalty with Jack they are signing up for a string of bad decisions, ultimately leading up to proving humanity’s innate evil. In