Good And Evil In Lord Of The Flies

“We all have good and evil inside us.It's what side we choose to follow that defines who we are”-J.K. Rowling

William Golding wrote Lord of the Flies during a time of conflict and war. In response to all the conflict Golding wrote Lord of the Flies, a book about kids that crash landed on an island and how the isolation affects them. Golding wrote Lord of the Flies to tell that humans are corrupted to evil or forced to be good based by their surroundings.

Jack a character in the book is an example of this. In the beginning of the book Jack is a cocky kid who says “ I ought to be chief,because I’m chapter chorister and head boy” ( Golding,22). Later in the book Jack becomes a savage who kills other boys and says “ Kill the pig! Cut his throat!

For example Samneric, Sam and Eric are forced to become savages. When Jack’s group captures them they say “They made us, they hurt us.”(Golding, 188). Golding writes this to show that people can also corrupt others to evil.

Golding writes in Ralph to say that humans are also forced or turned good based by their surroundings. Ralph cares about getting rescued and saving all the boys, In the book Ralph says “Don’t you want to be rescued? I said before, the fire is the most important thing”(Golding, 102). Golding wrote Ralph to be the protagonist to show what a good person is and how people become

For example, Ralph has similar traits to Prometheus. Both characters are selfless and care about others more than them. They both use fire to help others. Ralph uses it for smoke so the boats see it, Prometheus gives fire to man so they develop and evolve. When Ralph was looking in the sea he saw “ The sleeping leviathan breathed out, the water rose, the weed steamed, and the water boiled over the table rock with a roar.” (Golding, 105). This is an allegory of the Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes. Leviathan is Thomas Hobbes telling his views on government, saying that government needs to care and think about the people to be good. When Ralph sees the waves that look like a leviathan it means that Ralph also believes Hobbes statement and later in the book he makes his leadership follow Hobbes belief. All of the allegories Golding puts in is about being selfless and care for others, and the allegories all connect to Ralph. Golding does this to say that Ralph is selfless and because of this he has to be good to help the