Lord Of The Flies Good Vs Evil Analysis

Good v.s. Evil, Gibran v.s. Golding

After a terrific storm sweeps over the Pacific Ocean during World War II, a group of British schoolboys are stranded on a tropical island following a plane crash. Forced to survive on their own, the boys attempt to govern themselves but ultimately succumb to savagery. In a different era, a Prophet stands before a group of villagers who ask him to speak of the good and evil in all people. The Prophet responds by only speaking of good and refers to “evil” as none other than good that is lost and uninspired. Utilizing prose and poetry respectively, William Golding's Lord of the Flies and Khalil Gibran's "Good and Evil XXII" both reject the idea of evil being a separate entity, but while "evil" manifests itself

In Lord of the Flies, the boys are categorized into age-groups of “biguns” (older boys) and “littluns” (younger boys). Jack, the leader of the hunters, encourages participation in a grotesque dance where a boy is a pig and the rest of the hunters use their spears to poke at him as if they were hunting him. After the first time this dance ends, Robert comments, “ ‘You want a real pig, [...] because you’ve got to kill him,’ ” to which Jack replies, “ ‘Use a littlun,’ ” and everybody laughs (Golding 115). The laugh at Jack’s response signifies that the biguns view littluns as tools since they are not taken seriously —especially when there is a prevailing implication that the littlun will be used as a “pig” for the dance so that the biguns can kill him in the end— reinforcing how selfish Jack and the hunters really are. However, this behavior borders on “evil” and is encouraged by only the boys themselves, thus demonstrating that the behavior is innate. Later, Jack and his tribe —recently split from Ralph’s group— kill a sow. Jack then holds out his blood-covered hands and “flicked them” while the rest of the boys “laughed at [Jack’s] reeking palms” (Golding 135). Golding’s motif of laughing at blood is effective in convincing the reader that Jack and his followers treat death like a game —a game where killing is deemed entertaining. As such, this behavior is deemed immoral. Since the boys engage this behavior without a given example, Golding is evidently trying to assure his readers that malevolence is instinctive. Comparably, in “Good and Evil XXII”, Gibran creates a setting where the townspeople ask the Prophet to speak of good and evil. In response, the Prophet acknowledges the good in the townspeople and references evil as nothing “but good tortured by its own hunger and thirst” that has been wrongly blamed for encouraging people to “seek gain for [oneself]” (Gibran 4, 13). Through the personification of good,