Inhumanity In Lord Of The Flies

Many children dream of a place where they can run wild and not have any adult supervision, but few consider the consequences like their inner evil coming out and their humanity changing. In the novel, Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, symbolism is a key part in communicating the theme of The Inhumanity/Inherent Evil of Man through the conch, the fire, and the Lord of the Flies. The fires symbolism of evil can be shown by the boys going wild at the sight of it and starting their wild chant, often hurting people. The lord of the flies holds symbolic power because it represents the boy's inner evil, and that they are the real “beasts.” The conch is seen through the boy's destruction of the island and each other throughout the book. Throughout

The boys often dance around it, chanting, and becoming animals. After chanting the boys are inhuman and let their inner evil out, nearly killing people. After a chant, Robert is the poor victim to one of these inhumane crazes. The text demonstrates the inhumanity in this quote, “The circle moved in and round. Robert squealed in mock terror and then real pain. ‘Ow! Stop it! You’re hurting!’ The butt end of a spear fell on his back as he blundered among them.” (Golding 129) This example shows how it all starts off as a game and they make sure not to hurt him, for it is merely a simulation of the actual killing. Quickly as the boys Inherent Evil comes out, things escalate and they go into a craze from the fire and chanting. Robert yells at them to stop, but no one does and he is absolutely terrified. The boys cannot control themselves and turn into beasts as they nearly kill their friend. This later happens again when they kill a pig and have a feast. All of the boys start dancing around the fire and chanting’ “Kill the beast, slit her throat, spill her blood.” and everyone goes into a frenzy. Simon comes out of the forest to tell the boys crucial news, but they are all ready in a delirium. They circle around Simon as if he was something they were hunting, as if he was the beast. They begin to stab him and poor Simon ends up dying. The boys feel remorse for what they have

The actual lord of the flies is a pig head that Jack and his hunters stick on the end of a stick, this later gives them the idea to do it to Ralph too. Simon then starts talking to the beast, the text demonstrates theme in this quote, “‘Fancy thinking the beast was something you could kill!’ said the head. For a moment or two the forest and all the other dimly appreciated places echoed with the parody of laughter. ‘You knew didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason it's no go? Why things are the way they are?’” (Golding 164) This quote is a great example of how the lord of the flies symbolizes the theme of Inhumanity/ Inherent Evil of man. The beast explains it cannot be killed and that the boys are ridiculous for thinking so, and the forest “laughs” as in agreeance to the beast. At this point Simon realizes that they are the real beasts and all the evil inside of them. The beast explains things are the way they are because they let their evil consume them and lost their humanity, turning them into beasts. The boys all have to know that they are truly the evil ones, since they hallucinate up what the lord of the flies is saying. Once the island is in turmoil, Jack has his tribe sharpen their spears at both ends therefore they can do exactly what they did to the boar's head to Ralph, symbolizing the beast no