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Lord Of The Flies Character Analysis

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The novel the ‘Lord of the Flies’, by William Golding has a main theme that touches on the human condition – ‘the struggle between civilisation and savagery’. Golding advances in his writing techniques, showing symbolism and characterisation throughout. Golding chose to create a ‘Beast’ that would soon cause an emotional ‘rip’ between the boys. This beast is a symbol for the evil and the malice that resides within the children. Characterisation is shown with Ralph displaying different concepts like leadership and order, Piggy, intelligence and reason, Simon kindness and Jack, savagery. As life on the island begins to spiral out of control and the boys descend into savagery, the boy’s split and chaos is at hand. Goldings novel also points out man-kinds ways for destruction. So, what do seemingly civilized people, children in this case, do when there are no more concrete rules to govern them?
Both the Beast and the ‘Lord of the Flies’ are symbols representing the same thing – a manifestation for the evil and darkness within the children. The Beast began as a figure in water and then became the “Beast from air”. Jack’s group of savage hunters made an offering to the Beast in the form of the Lord of the Flies – a pig’s head on spike. By the boys proceeding to do this, it shows how savage they were beginning to get – for not only making an imaginary ‘thing’ an offering but for killing a pig and placing its head on a spike, showing their vindictive, mutilative traits developing.
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