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Lord Of The Flies Inherent Evil

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Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, is a popular novel that explores the darker aspects of human nature. The novel follows a group of young boys who must learn to survive on their own after being stranded on a deserted island. Throughout the novel, the boys struggle to maintain order and eventually become “savages”, starting by only killing animals for sport, but escalating into killing one another. Golding illustrates the theme of man’s inherent evil in his novel by illustrating the actions and events surrounding Simon, Piggy, and Ralph. One of the major conflicts in the novel is the possible existence of a “beast”, which causes the boys to turn on one another in fear. Simon is the first boy on the island who discovers the beast’s true identity, the darkness within themselves. He does so through a hallucination he calls “Lord of the Flies” which tells him,“Maybe there is a beast…Maybe it’s only us.” This quote shows Simon’s inner thoughts about the boys and the evil residing in all of them. The Lord of the Flies also states “Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!... …show more content…

“Someone was throwing stones: Roger was dropping them, his one hand still on the lever... Roger, with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever... The rock struck Piggy.” Piggy’s death was unjustified and not for any particular reason, and his death was a result of evil that is innate in man. The conditions and need for survival on the island changed the boy’s psyche and brought out uncivilized behaviors they would never perform before. Immediately after Piggy’s death, Jack shouted, “I am chief!” With no time to hesitate, the boys immediately charged Ralph, as if the death of a young boy had not phased them in the slightest. This event shows how “evil” the boys had become and a window into the boys

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1484 Words | 6 Pages

It provides one with more worries about the logistics of the issue rather than fixing the problem. Many of the boys are under the age of 12 and would rather play and talk than take on heavy responsibilities. They are purely innocent, but as time goes on, they all relish in the brutal killing of others, depicting their loss of innocence as chaos ensues. Piggy is the only one who is able to keep his logical reasoning away from savagery and therefore represents innocence. The audience notice that others recognize the importance of Piggy’s slow, thoughtful insight in the face of disaster because Ralph “wept for the end of innocence” (202) and he acknowledges Piggy as a “true wise friend” (202).

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What Does The Pig's Head Symbolize In Lord Of The Flies

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In the boy’s heads, the beast is a source of the evil and darkness on the island on the island. Although, in reality,the beast is just a representation of the bad side of every person, which is causing the safety of the life on the island to quickly deteriorate. Simon begins to understand this concept even before his run in with the Lord of the Flies, and whilst a fight over how real the beast was, he trys to help the other boys come to terms with this idea. Anxiously, Simon explains to them, "Maybe, maybe there is a beast... What I mean is maybe it's only us" (p. 89). As a result to Simon's declaration, the other boys, who had finally come to a conclusion creating a moment of peace, immediately reignited their argument, more fiercely this time than the last.

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1687 Words | 7 Pages

Besides- you’d hit him.” (p.100). This quote develops how even Piggy knows that another kid on the island hates him… that being Jack and if Ralph wasn’t still chief Jack would ultimately hurt him. This further leads to Ralph losing a vote which then foreshadows Piggy’s death. Next, another way the kids expressed fear is when the signal fire burned out, leading to an argument that now no one will be there to rescue them leading them all stranded possibly dying on the island.

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Complains from a powerless figure about a leader like Jack, drives Jack to violence. “He took a step, and able at last to hit someone, stuck his fist into Piggy’s stomach” (Golding 71). As Ralph steps forward to help, “Jack smacked Piggy’s head... Piggy’s glasses flew off and tinkled on the rock [which breaks one of the lenses of his glasses]” (Golding 71). Jack doesn’t stop there, he taunts Piggy by mimicking his “whine and scramble” (Golding 72).

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Piggy was hurt, not physically but emotionally. His suspected friend did not stand up for him or even try to. Ralph had not done anything; he stood there and watched his so-called friend get ganged up on. Ralph was not being a friend, he was as much at fault as Jack

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Piggy and Ralph being by themselves with little to no mechanism of self-defense create tension and issues for the children. All of the boys were on top of the escarpment above deep maritime when Piggy got pummeled back into the water and got killed by Jack’s tribe pushing a huge rock at him (Golding 181). They look back and Piggy was lifeless with his face in the water, and body floating. This represents mob mentality as well because Jack’s tribe may have only directed that rock at Piggy because their leader, Jack modeled that by being aggressive and physical to Ralph. Jack represents savagery by killing animals and being bellerigent towards everyone because he thinks he should be the boss and he knows everything.

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Unable to keep up with the rest of the boys physically and intellectual beyond his age, he is shunned from the beginning. While Ralph’s calmness seemed to augment his image of leadership and strength, Piggy’s rationality and common sense becomes a hamartia, marking him as a tragic figure. Piggy is so intent on preserving some remnant of civilization on the island that after Jack’s tribe attacks Ralph’s group, he assumes they “wanted the conch” (00), when in fact they have come for his glasses in order to make fire. Even up to the moment of his death, Piggy’s perspective does not shift in response to the reality of their situation. Because his intellectual approach to life is modeled on the attitudes of the authoritative world where Golding utilizes Piggy to make a statement on the treatment and disregard of the weak, whose punishment for giving power through his glasses to the corrupted Jack Merridew is death by murder.

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Lord Of The Flies Island Quotes

1264 Words | 6 Pages

This belief in the beast and the subsequent actions to appease it highlight the boys inner darkness and capacity for evil. Simons encounter with the Lord of the Flies, a pig’s head on a stick’ further symbolizes this inherent evil. During his hallucinatory conversation with the Lord of the Files, Simon realizes that the true beast is within the boys themselves:” The beast was harmless and horrible”(Simon page 181). This revelation highlights the theme that the darkness lies within every human being, and the island’s isolation and lack of societal rules unleash this inner savagery.

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Evil Is Within Everyone Lord Of The Flies Analysis

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Although Ralph may be a good leader and Piggy may be smart, they both have evil inside of them and want to be a part of Simon’s murder. Ralph and Piggy are nowhere near being savages at this point, but their love of death still shows, even if they regret it later. Their savagery is just the result of the evil human nature inside of them that is left unchecked by civil society. On the island, the boys do not have the benefit of civilization, so they revert to human nature and instinct for survival.

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Literary Devices Used In Lord Of The Flies Essay

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A theme that arises around Piggy is the realists in the world are unheard when other people are overwhelmed by an inner evil. In the beginning, Piggy tries to make his name known but Ralph does not care and he calls him the one name he does not want to be called, which is Piggy. Piggy is seen as weak by the other boys because he is fat and has asthma. An example of Piggy being an unheard realist is when he is trying to get the attention of the boys and it is very hard when he finally gets their attention he tells them they need to build shelters and get rescued and points out that no one paid any attention to the ‘littluns’. Throughout the book, Piggy is a reminder of being rescued.

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For instance, as Ralph is accentuating Piggy’s assets, he explains, “Piggy, for all his ludicrous body, had brains” (71). Each boy in the group has little respect for Piggy and thinks of him as an outsider, yet Piggy continues to stay true to himself and finds small ways to help the group, which always involves his high level of thinking. Piggy knows better than to participate in the savage acts with other boys, which helps him maintain his sanity up until his gruesome death. Moreover, in a large discussion with all the boys, Piggy reflects, “Which is better - to have rules and agree, or to hunt and kill?” (259).

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The boys who have the most power in their little civilization are Ralph, Jack, and Piggy. One symbol which remains prevalent throughout Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, is the “beast” – most importantly, its significance. The beast symbolizes the boys’ loss of sanity and structure which emphasizes the innocence they all eventually lose. Following the thesis, their loss of structure and innocence starts when the beast

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“The Lord of the Flies,” by William Golding is a computer novel that addresses philosophical debates and offers Golding’s perspective views on the natural state of man. The story takes place on a deserted island in which a plane full of British school-boys has crash landed. The boys on the island come together by sound of a conch to choose a leader, which we learn is the charismatic boy named Ralph. Soon after, the antagonist of the story, Jack, is introduced and begins to lead wild hunting expeditions and savage face painting. This impedes upon Ralph’s leadership, as well as going against his morals and the morals of his supporters like Simon and Piggy, who want to keep a signal fire lit in hopes of being rescued while Jack is more focused on hunting.

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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.

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Throughout the novel of Lord of the Flies, William Golding provides a profound insight into human nature. Golding builds on a message that all human beings have natural evil inside them. To emphasize, the innate evil is revealed when there’s lack of civilization. The boys are constantly faced with numerous fears and eventually break up into two different groups. Although the boys believe the beast lives in the jungle, Golding makes it clear that it lurks in their hearts.

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