Jester St. John Mrs Hogue English 10 Honors 13 October 2024 Lord of the Flies, an Apocalypse Allegory? Lord of the Flies by William Golding is very clearly a story about evil and savagery, but many individuals do not recognise the parallels between this story and the Apocalypse of St. John. This novel is a fictional story where several young boys are stranded on an island due to a plane crash. These boys are made to fend for themselves in the absence of any adults, as all of them passed in the crash. The novel follows these children and their slow descent into savagery. Jack was stranded on this island, he worked as a leader later in this book to the group of children who were mainly called savages. These savages killed and ate wild pigs on the …show more content…
The Bible states, “...And I saw a beast coming out of the sea... The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and his great authority... All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast...” (Revelation 13:1-8). The Beast of the Sea is given the authority to wreak havoc all over the world. This is incredibly similar to how The Beast in Lord of the Flies behaves. While The Beast does not literally walk around and force the children on the island to worship him, his presence undeniably demands respect. Jack’s boys even go as far as giving the pig’s head to him as an offering. Both Beasts represent the terror of the unknown, and the fear that a man feels when he nears his end. The Beast, and the Lord of the Flies, demand respect, fear, and worship. The Beast receives his power and authority from the dragon, Satan, terrorizing all people of the earth and demanding their worship. Within Lord of the Flies, the Beast gets his power and authority from the fear that the boys feel. Fear of the unknown, fear of the forest, fear of the savages and in turn Jack. Golding uses demonization to reference the story of the apocalypse in his