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William Golding's Lord Of The Flies: Literary Analysis

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Arya Dhungana
Blosser
Language Arts Period 3
9 December 2015
Lord of the Flies Analysis Essay
William Golding’s book, Lord of the Flies, is about a group of boys that are stuck on an island after their plane crashes. They must be able to create a fair civilization and all agree on it. One of the many themes of this book is that man is intrinsically evil at the core. The body paint, the beast, and the pig hunts all symbolize and support this theme.
To begin with, the body paint shows how everybody wears a mask to hide their true self. “Beside the pool, his sinewy body held up a mask that drew their eyes and appalled them.” (William Golding 63). It is ironic because when Jack put on the body paint, it was like a mask, only it was like he was taking off the mask he wore around everybody else. When he took off his mask, his evil shone through and they boys …show more content…

“The beast is the hunter.” (126) Jack said this when they were wondering what the beast was. In reality, the hunter was the beast. The hunters, aka the boys, were taking off their masks when they hunted, thus releasing their inner beast. Jack knew this, but he didn’t want the others to realize it either. When Simon was dehydrated and walking through the island after the pig hunt, he saw and heard the Lord of the Flies in the sow’s head. It is not certain if he is hallucinating or not. The Lord of the Flies represents the Devil. The Lord of the Flies says, “ ‘Fancy thinking the beast is something you can hunt and kill.’ ” (143) This supports the statement where the hunter is actually the Beast, and not the other way around. It can never be killed because it is inside of the boys. The Lord of the Flies also says, “ ‘You knew didn’t you? I’m a part of you?... I’m the reason why… things are what they are.’ ” Beelzebub is implying that there is an inner beast inside of everybody, and the beast controls many things they

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