Madness In Lord Of The Flies

The Evil Within In The Lord of the Flies, Golding questions the innocence of man. When a few boys get stranded on an island Golding shows the effects that truly push man to the edge; however the contentious question of the root of their madness. The boys go through plenty from arriving on the island to finally escaping the darkness that the island has made them become. Many critics argue the source of the madness of the boys, whether it remained there forever or developed with an environment. Some argue that the boys were always mad but always restricted by an authoritative figure. They believe man has complete control on how he acts and reacts. However, after research and analysis, it becomes evident that the boys conformed to their environment

Golding uses a group of boys to show that even in, children, the thing society sees as the most innocent can still become corrupted by an environment full of evil. Golding creates the character, Jack, the tough hunter but it takes Jack a little while to completely take on this role. In the quote, “‘I was going to,’ said Jack. He was ahead of them, and they could not see his face” (Golding 31), Readers can see Jack fail to kill a pig, Jack makes excuses as to why he did not kill it, however the reader can infer Jack did not have the heart to kill it because of his morals. Jack still has his initial innocence but later Golding shows how Jack will break his morals. Later Jack finally kills the pig and to support the fact that Jack did not have the heart to kill the pig. As well as the twitch his dream of, “memories of the knowledge that had come to them when they closed in on the struggling pig, knowledge that they had outwitted a living thing, imposed their will upon it, taken away its life like a long satisfying drink” (Golding 70) To show how much it was bothering him. Jack,one of the most evil in the book and could be said to have the the leader role in the madness. The quote shows his innocence that completely contrast Jacks personality later in “The Lord of the

In addition, Fatima Anjum’s article "Loss of Civilization and Innocence in Lord of the Flies," states that, Ralph is not bad at the core he still has a sense of his original innocence, but as bad things happen he falls deeper and deeper into the madness. At points when engulfed by madness, he wants to revert to his innocence rather than face the evil that he has become. Anjum relates his points to the quote stating that ralph“wept for innocence” (Golding 202). Ralph is at a point where he does not even recognize himself, he is so far into evil he does not even know how he got there. Ralph may be falling into evil but overall he is still a kid, and he still has innocence even if it does not amount to the innocence he had upon arriving to the island. Ralph knows that what has happened is wrong, and that they are veering aways from any kind of purity they started with. Jack takes on a new personality toward the end of the book, “He looked in astonishment, no longer at himself but at an awesome stranger. He spilt the water and leapt to his feet, laughing excitedly. Beside the pool his sinewy body held up a mask that drew their eyes and appalled them” (Golding 31-33). Jack becomes ashamed of himself and hides his face so he can pretend to be someone else. The theory that man can gradually lose innocence and can revert back to it shows that man cannot be initially mad. The ability to return to innocence portrays that man has initial innocent and can see the evil he has become,