Sapien 1

Connor Sapien

Mrs. DeVito

ELA 3-4 H

14 February 2018

Man vs. Self in Lord of the Flies

Conflicts within literature are the true life force for writing a critically acclaimed novel

that is able to tell a story no matter how simple the plot may be. The most typical ones to apply

to tales that follow one main/group of supporting characters are man versus another type of

obstacle that stands in their way of obtaining the goal they are pursuing; this may include man

vs. man, nature, society, reality, or author. However, there seems to be one that stands alone due

to its unique scenario it creates for our characters and is scarcely touched on. The literary

masterpiece of “Lord of the Flies” written by William Golding portrays a man versus self as it

relates to an actual society created to deal with their spiritual morals.

Our main hero, Ralph, has debatably the greatest inner-struggle when compared to the

rest of his motley crew. His attempt to remain civilized keeping them all together to increase

their chances of survival and being rescued while at the same time turning lawlessly savage

seems so tempting and easy to fulfill. Everything started only moments after the plane crash

landed on the island when he came across the conch shell and quite possibly the most essential

supporting character in the novel, Piggy. Ralph blows into the conch to attempt to draw all

survivors of the wreck towards their soon-to-become central meeting location and take count of

them all. The topic of electing some sort of leader quickly ensues and Jack Merridew arrogantly

volunteers yet all fingers point to another unsuspecting candidate. “‘Him with the shell.’ ‘Ralph!

Ralph!’ ‘Let him be chief with the trumpet-thing.’ Ralph raised a hand for silence,”. (Golding
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22) Even without being formally chosen to guide these children on their path to survival, they are

obedient towards his commands no matter how small they are. Ralph doesn’t truly want to lead

such a large amount of boys of his age and younger to ensure them arriving home safely, yet

doesn’t hesitate for one moment since his opposer behaves as a tyrant over his choir boys and

surely would for the others if he were to become the chief. This is where we see Jack’s greed for

power come into play and acts out to resist the reality of Ralph standing as the true chief in

power. Another struggle that Ralph experience, not only with himself but the others, is the fire

situation. He believes that their top priority should be focusing on the fire by preventing it from

going out since that is their highest chance of being rescued currently. Everyone else throws their

hat in the ring by chiming in what activity should be made the island’s main focus. While

holding this public forum type assembly, Ralph debates giving up his position of responsibility

because he doesn’t believe he’s worthy for the title. This thought comes into his mind a number

of times throughout the book only to immediately come back to the realization that Jack would

instantly be sworn into chiefdom and the society Ralph had tried so hard to believe in and

accomplish would soon crumble. “The breakup of civilization and the loss of innocence can be

traced through the breakdown of the island government. A fire burns out of control,

a metaphor for the boys who are out of control. Foreshadowing what is to come we read that

‘Piggy glanced nervously into hell and cradled the conch’ (44),” (Lorcher). Occasionally being

tempted to join Jack Merridew and his savages, Ralph weighs his pros and cons side by side. A

moral he struggles with is constantly feeling dirty, yet he can’t clean himself enough to not feel

so vile anymore and absolutely refuses to wear the clay since once he does, he will be admitting

defeat and giving into the savagery among the other boys. “But, to our relief, Ralph is aware of

the reason of the savagery at the end of the novel. When he is hunted by the ‘hunters’, Ralph has
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found the lord of the flies—the Beelzebub, He smashes the Beelzebub, and he grows mature and

begins to be aware of the reason…” (Li & Wu 2) He finally come to fully realize that he isn’t

being forced to become a savage, he has a choice to carry on with his means of survival. Shortly

after this scene, they are discovered by the navy captain meaning rescue and Ralph is proud of

himself since he did not give into those urges even though all odds were stacked against him.

Jack on the other hand is a completely different story when compared to Ralph let alone

any of the other boys. The very first scene he is introduced, he is portrayed as sort of a bully with

his choir ray always following his commands that he shouts and looks up to him as an idol

almost. “The boy who controlled them was dressed in the same way though his cap badge was

golden. When his party was about ten yards from the platform he shouted an order and they

halted, gasping, sweating, swaying in the fierce light. The boy himself came forward, vaulted on

to the platform with his cloak flying, and peered into what to him was almost complete

darkness.” (Golding 19) The choir plays a much more important role in the novel than expected,

they are the main reason for Jack Merridew’s rise for power. He had a taste of what it feels like

to single handedly lead a troop of children his age to feel superior until he constantly craved it.

When first attempting to fuel his greed for dominance, he tried to reason in a civil manner with

the island but yet was still under voted and still lingers in the back of his mind the rest of the

time stranded. Soon after, his thirst for blood takes over his train of thought and that’s all he can

think about, it’s constantly on his mind 24/7. “The signal fire symbolizes the boys connection to

civilization. The fire, initially, is important in the novel. As the boys grow more savage, the fire

becomes less important to them. Jack and the hunters let the fire go out in order to hunt.”

(Lorcher) Even though Jack is not chief, he still holds a threatening influence over the island, he

has the constant need to prove himself that he can be chief through redemption. Since the
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sabotaging of Ralph’s plans don’t go well, he moves onto the next best thing; turning savage

along with bringing other hunters down a similar path. “The sense of power has given him a

newly sinister quality behind his paint. He abuses his power by his arbitrary beating of Wilfred,

violent stealing of fire, cruel robbing of spec from Piggy, forceful enlisting of Sam and Eric and

delirious killing of Piggy. What’s more, to satisfy his need of dictatorship, Jack has sacrificed the

island, which means sacrificing themselves, to kill Ralph. Their behavior reaches the climax of

terrorism and frenzy.” (Li & Wu 3) The true reason Jack paints his face along with his fellow

hunters is to completely set him free cutting off anything that was holding him back from

becoming his true savage form. He had full potential of disconnecting any trace he had to his old

life or civilization without having a single thought.

Simon is the last one to be touched upon due to his extremely unique condition he

endured during his time on the island. It appeared that he had a different grip on reality as we

know it partially because of the hallucinations he went through several times throughout the

book. These out of mind experiences allowed him to have an entirely new perspective on the

situation him and the other boys were in, a major one being the conversation he had with the

Beelzebub. “This is the pig's head that Jack impales on a wooden stake in sacrifice to the beast.

In one chapter Simon believes the Lord of the Flies to speak to him explaining the nature of evil.

The Lord of the Flies is both a physical representation of ‘the beast’, as well as a symbol for

Satan himself. ‘Lord of the Flies’ is a literal translation from Hebrew and means Beelzebub.”

(Lorcher) This was foreshadowing the turning of Jack and his hunters into their full primal mind

sets that would eventually lead to Simon’s unfortunate death. Another time his exceptional

mental state predicted a future event was when him and Ralph were comforting one another by

reminiscing about their home life. Simon comforts his fellow marooned partner “You’ll get back
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alright. I think so, anyway.” (Golding 122) There is a heavy emphasis on the you’ll, meaning that

he believes that Ralph will end up seeing his home once again but events won’t be so fortunate

for himself. While Simon appears as almost a holy child attempting to spread his positive attitude

among others and always looking for a way to help the society Ralph is building, he could quite

be the one survivor with the deepest inner conflict. “With the knowledge of human evil, Simon

seems to have consigned himself to the fate as Christ has done. When the boys are confused

about the beast of air, Simon is the real skeptic and he suggests ‘I think we ought to climb the

mountain’. (William Golding: 142)” (Li & Wu 3) This boy is constantly wandering off on his

own into the forest to take a break from the other boys who can’t even begin to imagine what

he’s going through at the moment. Simon isn’t like the others, while they are off playing around

or hunting wild animals, he can be found alone with only his thoughts trying to keep a clear head

while trying to deal with everything at such a young age.

Wether major or minor, many characters throughout the book experienced a struggle

within themselves; they had another voice in their head misguiding them to their true purpose.

Some followed through with their commands while others didn’t. The literary masterpiece “Lord

of the Flies” portrays man vs. self as it relates to an actual society to deal with their spiritual

morals. This technique showed the greater story behind the major plot.
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Lorcher, Trent “Symbolism in Lord of the Flies” Bright Hub Education. March 29, 2015,

Accessed 7 February, 2018

Li, Xiafang & Wu, Weihum “On Symbolic Significance of Characters in Lord of the Flies”

English Language Teaching. March, 2009 Accessed 8 February, 2018

Holding, William Lord of the Flies. New York: The Penguin Group, 1954. Print.