CIVILISATION IS JUST AN ILLUSION; MAN REMAINS A

SAVAGE: AN ANALYTICAL STUDY ON LORD OF THE FLIES

 CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Lord of the Flies is the outcome of a dark mood that pervaded the world since

the horrors of Nazism and the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Golding shared

this mood with many other sensitive minds. The savagery, despair and a sense of

futility that loomed large in the postwar environment are presented through the

behaviour of a group of boys from the ‘civilized’ world. The boys’ world on the

island has its counterpart in the world outside where ‘civilized’ nations are engaged in

war. A thin line divides ‘civilized’ and savagery and this is erased by selfishness.

Rationality and common sense are subsumed into savagery.

In the nineteenth and early twentieth century western society, certain

misconceptions grew up about the nature of man. Golding writes:

“It seemed to me that man’s capacity for greed, his innate cruelty and

selfishness was being hidden behind a kind of pair of political pants. I believed

then, that man was sick not an exceptional man, but average man” (Golding

53).

Paul Crawford argues that Golding, in one sense, wants to universalise the

‘totalitarian’ spirit by these comments. Golding tells us that he worked out his thesis

about the diseased nature of man in the play of children.

Lord of the Flies was driven by Golding’s consideration of human evil, a

complex topic that involves an examination not only of human nature but also the

causes, effects, and manifestations of evil. It demands also a close observation of the

methods or ideologies that humankind uses to combat evil and whether those methods
 2

are effective. Golding addresses these topics through the intricate allegory of his

novel.

The central concern of Lord of the Flies is the conflict between two competing

impulses that exist within all human beings: the instinct to live by rules, act

peacefully, follow moral commands, and value the good of the group against the

instinct to gratify one’s immediate desires; and act violently to obtain supremacy over

others, and enforce one’s will. This conflict might be expressed in several ways:

civilization vs savagery, order vs chaos, reason vs impulse, law vs anarchy, or the

broader heading of good vs evil. Throughout the novel, Golding associates the instinct

of civilization with good and the instinct of savagery with evil.

Golding represents the conflict between civilization and savagery in the

conflict between the novel’s two main characters: Ralph, the protagonist, who

represents order and leadership; and Jack, the antagonist, who represents savagery and

the desire for power. The conflict between the two instincts is the driving force of the

novel, explored through the dissolution of the young English boys’ civilized, moral

and disciplined behaviour as they accustom themselves to a wild, brutal and barbaric

life in the jungle. Lord of the Flies is an allegorical novel, which means that Golding

conveys many of his main ideas and themes through symbolic characters and objects.

As the novel progresses, Golding shows how different people feel the

influences of the instincts of civilization and savagery in different degrees. Piggy, for

instance, has no savage feelings, while Roger seems barely capable of comprehending

the rules of civilization. Generally, however, Golding implies that the instinct of

savagery is far more primal and fundamental to the human psyche than the instinct of

civilization. Golding sees moral behaviour, in many cases, as something that

 3

civilization forces upon the individual rather than a natural expression of human

individuality. When left to their own devices, Golding implies, people naturally revert

to cruelty, savagery, and barbarism. This idea of innate human evil is central to Lord

of the Flies and finds expression in several important symbols, most notably the beast

and the sow’s head on the stake. Among all the characters, only Simon seems to

possess anything like natural, innate goodness.

The novel’s plot, in which a group of English boys stranded on a deserted

island struggle to develop their society, is a social and political thought-experiment

using fiction. The story of their attempts at civilization and devolution into savagery

and violence puts the relationship between human nature and society under a literary

microscope. Golding's allusions to human evolution also reflect his scientific training.

The characters discover fire, craft tools, and form political and social systems in a

process that recalls theories of the development of early man, a topic of much interest

among many peoples including the mid-century Western public. The culmination of

the plot in war and murder suggests that Golding's overarching hypothesis about

humanity is pessimistic, that is, there are anarchic and brutal instincts in human

nature. Ordered democracy or some other regime is necessary to contain these

instincts.

The narrator reflects Jack’s internal thought the least out of all the major

characters but still takes the reader inside his head, as after he kills the sow “His mind

was crowded with memories; memories of the knowledge that had come them when

they had closed in on the struggling pig.....” (Golding 92). Golding shows that even

the youngest boys experience lust for power or remorse at causing pain. Yet he mostly

shows the littluns from a distanced perspective. This technique likens them to a

generic mob, capable of acting as a single organism, as when they join Jack’s tribe
 4

and unquestioningly participate in the pursuit of Ralph. By switching between brief

interior glimpses into specific littluns and presenting them as a single character, the

narrator shows the way the individual is susceptible to mob mentality.

As an allegory about human nature and society, Lord of the Flies draws upon

Judeo-Christian mythology to elaborate on the novel's sociological and political

hypothesis. The title has two meanings, both charged with religious significance. The

first is a reference to a line from King Lear, “As flies to wanton boys are we to gods”

(Shakespeare 97). The second is a reference to the Hebrew name Ba’alzevuv or in its

Greek form Beelzebub, which translates to “God of the Flies” and is synonymous

with Satan. For Golding, however, the satanic forces that compel the shocking events

on the island come from within the human psyche rather than from an external,

supernatural realm as they do in Judeo-Christian mythology. Golding thus employs a

religious reference to illustrate a Freudian concept: the Id, the amoral instinct that

governs the individual's sense of sheer survival, is by nature evil in the amoral pursuit

of its own goals. The Lord of the Flies, that is, the pig's head on a stick, directly

challenges the most spiritually motivated character on the island, Simon, who

functions as a prophet-martyr for the other boys.

Many of the problems on the island-the extinguishing of the signal fire, the

lack of shelters, the mass abandonment of Ralph’s camp, and the murder of Piggy-

stem from the boys’ implicit commitment to a principle of self-interest over the

principle of community. The boys would rather fulfil their desires than cooperate as a

coherent society, which would require that each one act for the good of the group.

Accordingly, the principles of individualism and community are symbolized by Jack

and Ralph, respectively. Jack wants to “have fun” on the island and satisfy his

bloodlust, while Ralph wants to secure the group’s rescue, a goal they can achieve
 5

only by cooperating. While Ralph’s vision is the most reasonable, it requires work

and sacrifice on the part of the other boys, so they quickly shirk their societal duties in

favour of fulfilling their desires. The shelters do not get built because the boys would

rather play; the signal fire is extinguished when Jack’s hunters fail to tend to it on

schedule.

The boys’ self-interestedness culminates, when they decide to join Jack’s

tribe, a society without communal values whose appeal is that Jack will offer them

total freedom. The popularity of his tribe reflects the enormous appeal of a society

based on individual freedom and self-interest, but the freedom that Jack offers his

tribe is illusory. Jack implements punitive and irrational rules and restricts his boys’

behaviour far more than Ralph did. Golding thus suggests not only that some level of

the communal system is superior to one based on pure self-interest, but also that pure

individual freedom is an impossible value to sustain within a group dynamic, which

will always tend towards the societal organization.

Lord of the Flies offers a view of what society might look like trying to

rebuild after a largescale manmade catastrophe. In their attempt to rebuild society, the

boys cannot agree on a new order and eventually fall into savagery. Ralph comes to

realize that social order, fairness and thoughtfulness have little value in a world where

basic survival is a struggle, such as after a devastating war. The paratrooper who lands

on the island reminds the reader that while the boys are struggling to survive

peacefully on the island, the world at large is still at war. Even in their isolation and

youth, the boys are unable to avoid violence. In their descent into torture and murder,

they mirror the warring world around them.

 6

Lord of the Flies is a very grim illustration of the kind of situation that, as

Golding sees it, must inevitably arise if the sanctions and controls of society are

abandoned. In this kind of situation, the great majority of human beings (whether

boys or men) will choose destructive courses. There will be the few who will choose

the order, whose acts reflect human decency and goodness, but they will be

outnumbered and defeated by the evil tendencies of the many. The ethos of

Ballantyne’s island was that of the boy-scout camp; on Golding’s the greater number

of the boys choose to enact the roles of savages, painting themselves, wallowing in an

orgy of animal slaughter, sinking into bestial habits, engaging in torture, murder and

sacrifice to false gods.

Speaking of false gods prompts a reference to the significance of Golding’s

title for the novel. This refers to Beelzebub, traditionally the most debased and

disgusting of all the devils. The young British Christians, most of all the choirboys

instinctively chose Beelzebub, rather than the Christian God as the object of their

worship. This choice bears fundamentally on Golding’s views on human nature.

Golding is, above all, a didactic writer and he is trying, therefore, to teach us a moral

lesson here. One of his primary purposes is to expose what he sees as the shallowness

of optimistic theories (he would see them as illusions) about human nature. At one

level, his novel can be read as a strenuous rejection of humanistic theories of human

perfection. It enacts an unrepentant belief in the traditional Christian doctrine of

Original Sin; the doctrine which teaches that the first sin of Adam, as the old

Catechism put it, ‘darkened the understanding, weakened the will, and left us a strong

inclination to evil’.

Golding has a remarkable gift for presenting abstract conceptions in

compelling concrete terms. One of the themes of the book that particularly appeals to
 7

younger readers is that it enacts a powerfully imagined version of the dream that most

children cherish at one time or another of escaping from the restraints of a society

controlled by adults. What Golding does in Lord of the Flies is bringing this dream to

life. But what he also does is to turn the dream into a virtual nightmare. Escape from

the stabilising forces of the adult world, instead of bringing about happiness, results in

a riot of destructive individualism. In the beginning, there is a vague, unsatisfactory

sense of kinship and comradeship: Ralph and Jack, the two ‘mighty opposites’ of the

later parts of the novel, can, in the beginning, look at each other ‘with a shy liking’.

The collapse of this sympathy, the breaking of most of the bonds of human kinship, is

the stark reality which haunts Golding’s fable. And even when the outside world

comes to the rescue after the novel it only brings further reminders of disorder and

war with the finding of the dead airman and the arrival of an armed warship. There is

little comfort, then, to be drawn from Golding’s dystopian novel: neither a ‘civilised’

environment nor the lack of it, seem to offer much hope of even limited perfection or

happiness to human beings. Lord of the Flies, as an allegory, has a simple coherence

which is easily understood. Golding’s religious faith, which is based upon his

interpretation of experience rather than upon an unquestioning acceptance of

revelation, is, in part, responsible for this. Golding is not a believer in a conventional

sense. Also unlike Shelley, he does not subscribe to a literary creed that might provide

a substitute for belief. Don Crompton has remarked: ‘He (Golding) has no fixed

centre, and this accounts for the very varied atmosphere, tones and attitudes present in

his work - sometimes deeply pessimistic as in The Pyramid and, perhaps, Rites of

passage and sometimes, as in The Spire and Darkness Visible, illuminated by the

possibility of a faith that derives from the memories of those moments of passionate

conviction that convince him that something is better than nothing, good than evil,
 8

love than hatred or indifference’. An allegorical correspondence between the Island

ship and England can be drawn. The Island Ship is gliding backwards just as post

imperialist England is reverting to its nineteenth-century character under the guidance

of Jack. Piggy is the most contemporary character. He is fat, short-sighted and does

not take into account class differences. Along with this he is asthmatic and has a

balding head. This doesn’t qualify him for captainship just as the tolerant rationalism

of pre-world war I disqualify Ralph from the seat of power.

The symbols employed in the book do not have a fixed meaning. The

dominant symbol of the island is a ship at sea. It also means a civilization threatened

with submergence, a tooth in a sucking mouth, and a body dissociated from primal

nature. It may mean consciousness divorced from the brute passivity of the

subconscious. The boys, while on this island, are always in awe of the sea. This

dominant symbol is woven into the narrative texture at various places. A logic of

association is evolved through associating other images with this dominant symbol.

Ralph is isolated at the tail-end of the island - “He was surrounded by chasms of

empty air. There was nowhere to hide, even if one did not have to go on” (Golding

130). It is an isolation of the despairing hero as well as the rupture of the

selfconscious mind. Piggy is described as “islanded in a sea of meaningless colour”

(Golding 91) while he embraces the rock with “ludicrous care above the sucking sea”

(Golding 217). Here the microcosmic or macrocosmic resonances are extremely rich.

Due to the associative nature of symbols with variations, assigning them fixed

meaning becomes difficult. Hence dynamism of thought dominates.

The image of the conch and its use could be an important object of power for

keeping everybody under control and continuing with the civilized influences if any,

of the past life before landing on the island. The possessor of the conch draws on the
 9

funds of order and democratic security. Physical senses connected with the conch are

realised in the beginning. The focus is on the description of the fulcrum and level,

weight and resistance. The shell is physically disentangled from the weeds. The conch

is strange, beautiful and ‘the glistening thing that lay in Ralph’s hands.’ The simple

vulgarity of the farting noises, while blowing the conch, fills the boys with delight.

The existence of the conch is physically imagined by us through its association with

saltwater, brilliant fish and green weed or through the description of its strange cream

and rose spiral and the sound which it makes to shatter the solitude of the island. It is

only Piggy who invents the idea of the meeting, giving the shell a social purpose. The

use of the conch could have been an instrument of introducing disciplinary power

which Michel Foucault discussed in his book Discipline and Punish. Disciplinary

power is the outcome of the contact between the body and the object it handles and

this power binds the body to the object.

The regulation imposed by power is at the same time the law of construction

of the operation. Thus disciplinary power appears to have the function, not so

much of deduction as of synthesis, not so much of exploitation of the product

as of coercive link with the apparatus of production (Foucault 153).

Discipline appears to be wearing off among the boys. The language of the conch loses

its meaning because the standards it appeals to are gone. The idea of rescue vanishes.

Roger begins to drop stones from a height and the boys don’t look even human to

him: ‘Ralph was a shock of hair, and Piggy a bag of fat’. Jack and his tribe are

unconcerned about Piggy’s glasses and conch. Jack does not have to give any reason

for beating Wilfred. The conch doesn’t matter and a tear from Piggy’s eyes falls on its

delicate curve and flashes like a star. The irony is established as the saltwater of the

sea has been the element of the ‘fragile’ white shell. It is different from Piggy’s tear.
 10

Jack’s gang descends into a meat and sex society and rejects the liberal democracy of

the conch-invoked meetings. Their carnival is filled with dance, chanting, and

irresponsibility. They dress and present themselves as a choir, an oxymoronic

combination in the light of their actions. Golding’s use of carnival can be viewed as

his deeply felt unease about the nature of English ‘civilization’ in the light of the

events of World War II. As Paul Crawford states that the misrule of carnival in

contemporary history is presented as integral not simply to the Nazis or other

totalitarian regimes but also England with its divisive and cruel class system. Golding

lays bare an alternative view to civilized English behaviour, one that counters

accepted, familiar, erroneous complacencies. In the isolated focus, in the ‘carnival

square’ of Golding’s island, carnival affirms that everything exists on the threshold or

border of its opposite. The noncelebratory or Juvenalian satire with its combined

fantastic and carnivalesque in Lord of the Flies subverts the view that the ‘civilized’

English is incapable of the kind of atrocities carried out by the Nazis during World

War II. An analysis of Lord of the Flies reveals that ‘civilized’ nations, in the course

of waging war against one another, cause undue damage to their citizens and children.

On the island, most of the boys from the “civilized” world turn to savagery and a few

sanguine and rational boys either perish or are forced to retreat to save their lives. The

adults’ world of civilized nations intersects at many points with the world of children.

The Naval Officer’s admonishing of boys, in the end, becomes ironic as he is to return

to that very “civilized” world which is in the grip of savagery.

Lord of the Flies has proved an extraordinarily popular book, both from the

general readership and among academics. Golding may have conceived his novel as

an allegory, but he is also a master of realistic fiction, and the book has a striking

impact on the generality of young readers. Golding was a teacher for several years,
 11

and has an instinctive understanding of, and feeling for, the characters and

mannerisms of schoolboys. One of the striking features of his method is his success

in presenting his young characters in terms of idiom and linguistic habit (compare the

under-educated, ill-spoken Piggy in this respect with Ralph and Jack). The novel, for

all its allegorical and symbolic overtones, is rooted firmly in real experience.

Physical sensations are admirably and tellingly rendered; the discomforts,

unpleasantness, delights and other sensations associated with life on the island are

evoked with astonishing realism. The beautiful descriptions of the island and sea are

unforgettable. Golding’s continuous success with the depiction of the physical

realities of life, the rootedness of the book in the solid earth, is perhaps its most

memorable feature for younger readers, most of whom, it is safe to suggest, can

approach it on a realistic level without bothering unduly about its allegorical

implications or its status as a moral fable. Discussing the wider picture, the novel as

fable or allegory or simply realistic novel with an eager English class.

 CHAPTER TWO

CIVILISATION VS SAVAGERY

Civilisation is any complex society characterized by urban

development, social stratification, a form of government and symbolic systems of

communication such as writing. Civilizations are intimately associated with and often

defined by other socio-political-economic characteristics, including centralization,

the domestication of both humans and other organisms and specialization of labour;

and is culturally ideologies of progress and monumental architecture, taxation,

societal dependence upon farming and expansionism. Civilizations are organized in

densely populated settlements divided into hierarchical social classes with a ruling

elite and subordinate urban and rural populations, which engage in intensive

agriculture, mining, small-scale manufacture and trade. Savage means that it is true to

its wild, ferocious nature, but if you describe a person or the actions of a person

as savage, it means ‘cruel’ or ‘brutal’. Savage is just the opposite of civilization.

Civilization never joins with savagery, because of its oppositeness.

Savage was a term used to describe the Native Americans. It is a word that

was also incorporated into Lord of the Flies. In a scene, Ralph is furiously trying to

avoid being caught by Jack’s tribe. “A smallish savage was standing between him and

the rest of the forest, a savage striped red and white, and carrying a spear (Golding

195).” Jack’s society has turned into a group of boys who smear the blood of animals

on their faces, kill for sport, and who kill anyone who does not agree with their ways.

In other words, being brought up civilized does not mean that children stay civilized

without the guidance of an adult at an age when they are malleable. The ‘savage’

nature will be forced away when the children would be brought back to society.
 13

However, the after-effects would still be traumatic and possibly cause the children to

question what’s right and what’s wrong after Roger mercilessly killed Piggy in front

of many witnesses, who did not necessarily protest, because Piggy did not agree with

the conceptions of the new tribe under the leadership of Jack.

The themes for Lord of the Flies can be different to different people. Some of the

themes could be good vs evil, sensibility vs impulsiveness, or civilization vs savagery.

In Lord of the Flies, two sides are conflicting with each other throughout the whole

story, and these are civilization vs savagery. In Lord of the Flies, civilization

represents good while savagery represents evil. Civilization is the good sense in man

to choose to live by rules, under an authority, act reasonably, and peacefully with

others. Savagery represents the evil of choosing not to live peacefully with others and

not live by rules, instead of living to gain power over others and acting violently.

However, living by rules and authority does not always guarantee peace and acting

violently does not make someone a savage. The boys in Lord of the Flies show the

decision they have to make whether to live by rules or to live violently and gain

power for themselves; this shows the boys’ change of behaviour from being civilized

and having good behaviour to being wild and violent, as shown in the two main

characters Ralph and Jack, and the loss of the boys’ innocence. The Lord of the Flies

explores the theme of savagery versus civilization.

The theme of savagery versus civilisation is first introduced to the readers

through the symbol of the conch shell which one can associate with Ralph as he is the

person who first uses it and becomes the elected leader of the boys. This symbolises

authority amongst the boys. At the first assembly, Ralph says “I’ll give the conch to

the next person to speak…he won’t be interrupted”. This suggests order civilisation as

Ralph is allowing each boy to have an equal say and opinion. If they have the conch,
 14

no matter who they are or what age they are they will be given the chance to speak

and will be listened to by the rest of the boys. The boys have created the island to be a

democratic place which shows a civilised side to them as they try to mimic the homes

they have just left.

Contrasting with the symbol of the conch is the symbol of the beast which

comes to be associated with Jack as by the end of the novel he is almost devil

worshipping it. The beast begins as a “snake thing” but by the end of the novel it has

become “the Lord of the Flies”. The first suggestion shows us that the beast is evil.

Western society considers snakes to be bad omens because it was a snake that led Eve

to eat from the tree of knowledge. However, at this stage of the novel, the beast is

quite insubstantial as it is only a “thing”. As the boys fear of the beast grows so too

does the beast itself until it has manifested into the devil – the ultimate and most

powerful evil. He has a strong status as a Lord although it is over something pretty

disgusting – the flies. The boy’s belief in the beast leads them to behave more like

savages as they act out from their fear and they begin to lose hold of the rules, led by

Jack, thus demonstrating the theme of savagery.

One of the ways Golding shows the conflict between savagery and civilisation

is when Jack and some of the other boys are killing the first pig. Jack chants “kill the

pig, cut her throat, spill the blood”. This suggests savagery as the boys are being

violent and aggressive when killing the pig and they don’t care about it. This is

particularly clear through Golding’s word choice. Jack talks about cutting the pig’s

throat which makes it sound like a savage action and spilling her blood which

reinforces the lack of care and feeling shown towards the pug’s carcass. This shows

that the boys are no longer feeling guilty about what they have done thus showing

them becoming savages. The conflict between savagery and civilisation develops
 15

further and savagery rises above their civilized side when Piggy’s glasses are broken.

At the start of the book, Jack would never have dared touch Piggy, but here he snaps

and goes for Piggy whom he despises. Piggy is scared as Golding chooses the words

“cried” and “terror” to describe the scene. Piggy sounds like he is hurt severely and is

genuinely terrified about what Jack might do to him and the loss of his sight. Piggy’s

glasses have also come to represent intelligence on the island and with the breaking of

the glasses, the pathway to savagery is now completely open for the boys. This is the

first true piece of violence between the two factions on the island and it will result in

nearly all the boys becoming savages. A final way in which the theme of savagery

versus civilisation is demonstrated is when Ralph sticks up for Piggy after he is

attacked by Jack. Ralph says “that was a dirty trick”. This shows that Ralph is really

angry at Jack for what he said and did to Piggy. He is still attempting to impose

himself as a leader here as he says this in an aggressive and assertive tone. This

suggests there is still some glimmers of civilisation on the island at this point as there

is still someone with a sense of moral goodness ready to fight for justice.

The overarching theme of Lord of the flies is the conflict between the human

impulse towards savagery and the rules of civilization which are designed to contain

and minimize the savagery. The differing ideologies are expressed by each boy’s

distinct attitudes towards authority. While Ralph uses his authority to establish rules,

protect the good of the group, and enforce the moral and ethical codes of the English

society the boys were raised in, Jack is interested in gaining power over the other boys

to gratify his most primal impulses. When Jack assumes leadership of his tribe, he

demands the complete subservience of the other boys, who not only serve him but

worship him as an idol. Jack’s hunger for power suggests that savagery does not

resemble anarchy so much as a totalitarian system of exploitation and illicit power.

 16

Golding’s emphasis on the negative consequences of savagery can be read as a

clear endorsement of civilization. In the early chapters of the novel, he suggests that

one of the important functions of a civilized society is to provide an outlet for the

savage impulses that reside inside each individual. Jack’s initial desire to kill pigs to

demonstrate his bravery, for example, is channelled into the hunt, which provides

needed food for the entire group. As long as he lives within the rules of civilization,

Jack is not a threat to the other boys; his impulses are being re-directed into a

productive task. Rather, it is when Jack refuses to recognize the validity of society and

rejects Ralph’s authority that the dangerous aspects of his character truly emerge.

Golding suggests that while savagery is perhaps an inescapable fact of human

existence, civilization can mitigate its full expression. The rift between civilization

and savagery is also communicated through the novel's major symbols: the conch

shell, which is associated with Ralph, and The Lord of the Flies, which is associated

with Jack. The conch shell is a powerful marker of democratic order on the island,

confirming both Ralph’s leadership-determined by election-and the power of

assembly among the boys. Yet, as the conflict between Ralph and Jack deepens, the

conch shell loses symbolic importance. Jack declares that the conch is meaningless as

a symbol of authority and order, and its decline in importance signals the decline of

civilization on the island. At the same time, The Lord of the Flies, which is an

offering to the mythical ‘beast’ on the island, is increasingly invested with

significance as a symbol of the dominance of savagery on the island, and Jack’s

authority over the other boys. The Lord of the Flies represents the unification of the

boys under Jack’s rule as motivated by fear of "outsiders": the beast and those who

refuse to accept Jack’s authority. The destruction of the conch shell at the scene of

Piggy’s murder signifies the complete eradication of civilization on the island, while
 17

Ralph’s demolition of The Lord of the Flies-he intends to use the stick as a spear-

signals his descent into savagery and violence. By the final scene, savagery has

completely displaced civilization as the prevailing system on the island.

Golding sees moral behaviour, in many cases, as something that civilization

forces upon the individual rather than a natural expression of human individuality.

When left to their own devices, Golding implies, people naturally revert to cruelty,

savagery, and barbarism. This shows the decision the boys in Lord of the Flies had to

make either to live by rules or to live wild and violently. In the end, they chose to live

wild and violently. Ralph is a very big influence on the younger boys. He believes in

taking care of the boys and finding ways for everyone to be rescued. Some ways he

did this is by building the fire and huts. Ralph, Piggy, and Simon are a sign of

security. Throughout the whole story, Ralph symbolizes order until he becomes the

only one who doesn’t join Jack’s group. The violent side of Jack begins when he

starts hunting pigs and uses the idea of the ‘beast.’ The idea of a beast causes fear in

the boys. The more of a savage Jack becomes, the more he influences the boys to

become savages. The symbol of the Lord of the Flies becomes both a physical

manifestation of the beast, a symbol of the power of evil and a kind of Satan figure

who evokes the beast within each human being and Jack assumes that figure. This

shows the evil that hides in Jack and the whole of mankind. The beast is the primal

instinct of savagery that exists within all human beings, the one thing that frightens all

the boys and the main tool by which Jack gains power over the boys. The conflict

between Ralph and Jack is the choice of gaining one’s power or caring for the needs

of others. When they come to the island the boys have no thought of acting violent or

wild. They do not know really what to do without adult supervision and so they create

their own rules. The boys are in a place where freedom is all around them and there
 18

are no adults to tell them what is right or wrong. This kind of freedom is very

dangerous because the longer they stay on the island without any rules, the more they

forget what good behaviour is and eventually become wild and violent. Through the

influence of the beast and Jack, all the boys slowly become enthralled by the ways of

savagery. The influence of Jack causes the boys to find pleasure in killing, torturing

and spilling the blood of animals. The boys become so enthralled that they chant,

“Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!” (Golding 152) They become so

violent and wild that they even beat and kill some boys, pretending they are the pig.

“It was dark. There was that – that bloody dance. There was lightning and thunder and

rain. We were scared!” (Golding 156) shows the boys do not think of what they do as

wrong but as a game. Their savagery represents the evil that dwells in them, of

wanting to hurt someone or something. The group of boys at the beginning of the

book is far from being the same group of boys at the end of the story.

The ‘beast’ is a symbol Golding uses to represent the savage impulses lying

deep within every human being. Civilization exists to suppress the beast. By keeping

the natural human desire for power and violence to a minimum, civilization forces

people to act responsibly and rationally, as boys like Piggy and Ralph do in Lord of

the Flies. Savagery arises when civilization stops suppressing the beast: it's the beast

unleashed. Savages not only acknowledge the beast, but they also thrive on it and

worship it like a god. As Jack and his tribe become savages, they begin to believe the

beast exists physically, they even leave its offerings to win its favour to ensure their

protection. Civilization forces people to hide from their darkest impulses, to suppress

them. Savages surrender to their darkest impulses, which they attribute to the

demands of gods who require their obedience.

 19

In Lord of the Flies, one of the effects of the boys’ descent into savagery is

their increasing inability to recognize each other’s humanity. Golding uses imagery to

imply that the boys are no longer able to distinguish between themselves and the pigs

they are hunting and killing for food and sport. After the first successful pig hunt, the

hunters re-enact the hunt in a ritual dance, using Maurice as a stand-in for the doomed

pig. This episode is only a dramatization, but as the boys’ collective impulse towards

complete savagery grows stronger, the parallels between human and animal intensify,

as several of the boys are hunting the beast, they repeat the ritual with Robert as a

stand-in for the pig; this time, they get consumed by a kind of ‘frenzy’ and come close

to killing him. The repeated substitution of a boy for a pig in the children’s' ritual

games, and their conversation, calls attention to the consequences of their self-

gratifying behaviour: concerned only with their base desires, the boys have become

unable to see each other as anything more than objects, subject to their wills. The

more pigs the boys kill, the easier it becomes for them to harm and kill each other.

Mistreating the pigs facilitates this process of dehumanization. The boys are

substituted for pigs, either verbally or in the hunting dance, also foreshadow the tragic

events of the novel’s later chapters, notably the murders of Simon and Piggy and the

attempt on Ralph’s life. Simon, a character who from the outset of the novel is

associated with the natural landscape he has an affinity for, is murdered when the

other children mistake him for ‘the beast’-a mythical inhuman creature that serves as

an outlet for the children's fear and sadness. Piggy’s name links him symbolically to

the wild pigs on the island, the immediate target for Jack’s violent impulses; from the

outset, when the other boys refuse to call him anything but ‘Piggy,’ Golding

establishes the character as one whose humanity is, in the eyes of the other boys,

ambiguous. The murders of Simon and Piggy demonstrate the boys' complete descent
 20

into savagery. Both literally and symbolically, the boys have become

indistinguishable from the animals that they stalk and kill.

“Man has demonstrated that he is a master of everything - except his nature”

(Henry Miller 266). Even the best of people can be tempted and twisted by their nature.

Like the symbolic pig’s head stuck in the calm forests clearing, all beauty and

innocence can be mutated when order is overthrown by impulse actions. A central

theme of the novel is the deterioration of civilization, and the domination of savagery,

leading to the abandonment of moral thoughts and actions within a person. The beauty

of the island is burned away slowly as the fiery demon of savagery attempts to

overwhelm the boys. Piggy acts as a conscience when rumours of ghost and monsters

are spread, and he ends the gossip by explaining ghosts are not logical or scientific,

meaning they do not exist. Piggy uses his smarts to make sundials for the boys to keep

track of the time, and with Ralph’s combination of leadership, the two boys begin to

form what looks like the beginnings of a civilized camp. Civilization exists in the

children, as they follow Ralph’s initial commands and help build the first shelter. They

do not fully understand why they act civil, but their morals passed on by parents or self-

growth guide them. Golding uses the combination of Ralph and Piggy to show the roots

of civilization, and the peace that morals bring, and the other boys to show the balance

factor of feeling obligated to act civil. They use the law as a protective companion,

making rules for only speaking when holding the conch, to prevent yelling and fights.

In Golding’s novels, ‘civilized’ persons turn to the utmost savagery when

overpowered by egotism, selfishness, callousness and unbridled gratification of

desires. This reversal of civilization and savagery is overt in Golding’s initial novels

but becomes covert and complex in his later works. The notion of being civilized is

unconnected with learning, education, tradition and culture. The supposedly civilized
 21

persons are the persons who are arrogant, wicked, violent, callous and selfish. Due to

these evils, their actions dip to savagery in the extreme. Sensitivities which should be

enhanced through education, intellect, discipline and religion are overpowered by

greed, selfishness, callousness and disregard for others’ feelings. Michel Foucault in

his book Madness and Civilization has made it clear that madness as an affliction is

akin to a peculiar disease of our civilization, conjured up to evade a moment of our

existence, a refusal to confront the chaos in our selves, to escape some anxiety as also

to externalise its cause. The consequences of this attitude are immense, though they

go unrecognised most of the time. Golding’s novel suggests that evil is not located

outside human beings in a different dimension. Human action ought not to be seen as

operating under the controlling influence of God, whether for good or evil. Evil is

located in a human being and is not a cosmic accident or a cosmic mistake. The fall

into sin and the experience of pain are the consequences of the human entity’s

inordinate clinging to its combative animality and selfish personality. Real evil

appears in man when his egotism turns him into an arrogant, wicked and dangerously

violent being.

In many of Golding’s novels, the protagonist realises his evil only when he is

confined. In Lord of the Flies, Ralph hides himself to escape being killed by Jack and

his co-hunters. At that moment, he realises that evil is inherent in human beings.

Similarly, Sammy, in Free Fall, comes to know of his evil inside the prison cell. Lok,

in The Inheritors, watches the violence of the New People when he is hidden by

leaves or is covered with water. Michel Foucault does not believe in the public

display of evil. He feels that only oblivion can suppress evil. He writes:

“Confinement, on the contrary, betrays a form of conscience to which the

inhuman can suggest only shame. There are aspects of evil that have such
 22

power of contagion, such a force of scandal that any publicity multiplies them

infinitely. Only oblivion can suppress them” (Foucault 63).

Golding is concerned with the diabolic perversions of human beings and the

inordinate greed and selfishness in the present civilization. The need is for

reassurance and Golding expresses it in terms of the primitive. Golding longs to see

an end to class war. He examines the evils of class war in England, which leads to the

disintegration of human relationships in The Pyramid, Rites of Passage and Darkness

Visible. Golding’s quest is for a world wherein people can live equably. In his work,

Golding had visualised a classless paradise on earth but his vision was rudely

shattered as he grew up. Utopias are a myth that idealistic writers in a class-ridden

society like to envision. Golding, sadly realises that there is social divisiveness in

society. He presents a brilliant contrast between a pre-social and post-social primitive

group in The Inheritors.

The book’s theme shows that evil is inherently in man and given the

opportunity it shows itself out. The boys in Lord of the Flies had to decide if they

wanted to live by rules or live violently. They had rules that they followed but there

was no one to enforce it on them. Civilization may have rules but that does not mean

that people will always obey them. Lord of the Flies shows that a good amount of

time away from civilization can have a drastic effect on a person and they might not

remember how to act properly in society. Man can choose to control that evil or fall

under its control as shown in the fall of the boys in Lord of the Flies. Golding

demonstrates that the concomitants of civilization can check the tide of savagery only

temporarily. Violence is a basic and baser instinct in man’s psyche. It is a part of the

primitive, barbaric self that seeks power, gratification and comfort at any cost. It

stems from the negative emotions of anger, hate, jealousy, revenge and pride.
 CHAPTER THREE

LOSS OF INNOCENCE

Lord of the Flies dramatizes the conflict between the civilizing instinct and the

barbarizing instinct that exist in all human beings. The artistic choices that Golding

makes in the novel are designed to emphasize the struggle between the ordering

elements of society, which include morality, law and culture, and the chaotic elements

of humanity's savage animal instincts, which include anarchy, bloodlust, the desire for

power, amorality, selfishness, and violence. Throughout the novel, Golding portrays

the rise and swift fall of an isolated, makeshift civilization, which is torn to pieces by

the savage instincts of those who compose it.

In Lord of the Flies, Golding establishes the parameters within which this

civilization functions. To begin with, it is populated solely with boys - the group of

young English schoolboys shot down over the tropical island where the novel takes

place. The fact that the characters are only boys is significant: the young boys are only

half-formed, perched between civilization and savagery and thus embodying the

novel's central conflict. Throughout the novel, Golding's foundation is the idea that

moral and societal constraints are learned rather than innate--the human tendency to

obey rules, behave peacefully, and follow orders is imposed by a system that is not in

itself a fundamental part of human nature. Young boys are a fitting illustration of this

premise, for they live in a constant state of tension concerning the rules and

regulations they are expected to follow. Left to their device, they often behave with

instinctive cruelty and violence. In this regard, the civilization established in Lord of

the Flies, a product of preadolescent boys' social instincts, seems endangered from the

beginning.
 24

The boys, unsure of how to behave with no adult presence overseeing them, largely

stick to the learned behaviours of civilization and order. They attempt to re-create the

structure of society on their deserted island: they elect a leader, establish a division of

labour, and set about systematically exploring the island. But even at this early stage,

we see the danger that the boys' innate instincts pose to their civilization: the boys

cruelly taunt Piggy, and Jack displays ferocious desire to be elected the group's leader.

Golding introduces the bespectacled Piggy as a representative of the scientific

and intellectual aspects of civilization. Piggy thinks critically about the conch shell

and determines a productive use for it summoning the other boys to the beach. The

conch shell itself is one of the most important symbols in the novel. The conch shell

represents the law, order, and political legitimacy, as it summons the boys from their

scattered position the island and grants its holder the right to speak in front of the

group.

The conflict between the instincts of civilization and savagery emerges

quickly within the group: the boys, especially Piggy, know that they must act with

order and forethought if they are to be rescued, but the longer they remain apart from

the society of adults, the more difficult it becomes for them to adhere to the

disciplined behaviour of civilization. The boys seem determined to recreate the

society they have lost, their instinctive drive to play and gratify their immediate

desires undermines their ability to act collectively. As a result, the signal fire nearly

fails, and a young boy burns to death when the forest catches fire. The constraints of

society still linger around the boys, who are confused and ashamed when they learn

the young boy is missing, a sign that a sense of morality still guides their behaviour at

this point.
 25

Golding's portrayals of the main characters among the group of boys

contribute to the allegorical quality of Lord of the Flies, as several of the boys stand

for larger concepts. Ralph, the protagonist of the novel, stands for civilization,

morality, and leadership, while Jack the antagonist, stands for the desire for power,

selfishness, and amorality. Piggy represents the scientific and intellectual aspects of

civilization, as his glasses a symbol of rationality and intellect enable the boys to light

fires. Already the boys' savage instincts lead them to value strength and charisma

above intelligence: although Piggy has a great deal to offer to the boy's fledgeling

civilization, they see him as a whiny weakling and therefore despise him and refuse to

listen to him, even when his ideas are good. For instance, when Piggy suggests that

the boys find a way to improve their chances of being rescued, they ignored him; only

when the stronger and more charismatic Ralph suggests the same thing do they agree

to make the signal fire.

Apart from the boys themselves, the signal fire and the "beastie" also

carry symbolic significance. The signal fire serves as a barometer for the boys’

interest in maintaining ties to civilization: as long as it burns, they retain some hope

that they will be rescued and returned to society, but as they become increasingly

obsessed with power and killing, they lose interest in fire. When the fire ultimately

burns out, the boys’ disconnection from the structures of society is complete.

Meanwhile, the beast that a young boy claims to have seen also emerges as an

important symbol in this novel. At this point, the beast is merely an idea that frightens

some of the boys.

The personal conflict between Ralph and Jack mirrors the

overarching thematic conflict of the novel. The conflict erupts into a verbal argument

for the first time, making apparent the divisions undermining the boys’ community
 26

and setting the stage for further, more violent developments. As Ralph and Jack argue,

each boy tries to give voice to his basic conception of human purpose: Ralph

advocates building huts, while Jack champions hunting. Ralph, who thinks about the

overall good of the group deems hunting frivolously. Jack, drawn to the exhilaration

of hunting by his bloodlust and desire for power, has no interest in building huts and

no concern for what Ralph thinks. But because Ralph and Jack are merely children,

they are unable to state their feelings articulately.

The conflict between civilization and savagery is still heavily tilted in

favour of civilization. Jack, who has no real interest in the welfare of the group, is

forced to justify his desire to hunt rather than build huts by claiming that it is for the

good of all the boys. Additionally, though most of the boys are more interested in play

than work, they continue to re-create the basic structure of civilization on the island.

They even begin to develop their language, calling the younger children “littluns” and

the twin’s Sam and Eric “amnesic”.

Simon, meanwhile, seems to exist outside the conflict between Ralph

and Jack, between civilization and savagery. We see Simon’s kind and generous

nature through his actions. He helps Ralph build the huts when the other boys would

rather play, indicating his helpfulness, discipline, and dedication to the common good.

Simon helps the littluns reach a high branch of fruit indicating his kindness and

sympathy a sharp contrast to many of the older boys, who would rather torment the

littluns than help them. When Simon sits alone in the jungle glade marvelling at the

beauty of nature, we see that he feels a basic connection with the natural world. On

the whole, Simon seems to have basic goodness and kindness that comes from within

him and is tied to his connection with nature.

 27

All the other boys, meanwhile, seem to have inherited their ideas of goodness

and morality from the external forces of civilization, so that the longer they are away

from human society, the more their moral sense erodes. In this regard, Simon emerges

as an important figure to contrast with Ralph and Jack. Where Ralph represents the

orderly forces of civilization and Jack the primal, instinctual urges that react against

such order, Simon represents a third quality a kind of goodness that is natural or

innate rather than taught by human society. In this way, Simon, who cannot be

categorised with the other boys, complicates the symbolic structure of Lord of the

Flies.

The group of boys has lived on the island for some time, and their society

increasingly resembles a political state. Although the issue of power and control is

central to the boys’ lives from the moment they elect a leader, the dynamics of the

society they form take time to develop. The boy’s community mirrors a political

society, with the faceless and frightened littluns resembling the masses of common

people and the various older boys filling positions of power and importance

concerning these underlings. Some of the older boys, including Ralph and especially

Simon, are kind to the littluns; others, including Roger and Jack, are cruel to them. In

short, two conceptions of power emerge on the island, corresponding to the novel's

philosophical poles civilization and savagery. Simon, Ralph, and Piggy represent the

idea that power should enable those who hold it to gratify their desires and act on their

impulse. They hold that treating the littluns as servents or objects for their amusement

is a stance representing the instinct toward savagery.

As the tension between Ralph and Jack increases, we see more obvious

signs of a potential struggle for power. Although Jack has been deeply envious of

Ralph's power from the moment Ralph was elected, the two do not come into open
 28

conflict. When Jack’s irresponsibility leads to the failure of the signal fire. When the

fire a symbol of the boys’ connection to civilization goes out, the boys’ first chance of

being rescued in is thwarted. Ralph flies into a rage, indicating that he is still

governed by the desire to achieve the good of the whole group. But Jack, having just

killed a Pig, is too excited by his success to care very much about the missed chance

to escape the island. Indeed, Jack's bloodlust and thirst for power have overwhelmed

his interest in civilization. Whereas he previously justified his commitment to hunting

by claiming that it was for the good of the group, now he no longer feels the need to

justify his behaviour at all. Instead, he indicates his new orientation toward savagery

by painting his face like a barbarian, leading wild chants among the hunters, and

apologizing for his failure to maintain the signal fire only when Ralph seems ready to

fight him over it.

The extent to which the strong boys bully the weak mirrors the extent to which

the island civilization disintegrates. Since the beginning, the boys have bullied the

whiny, intellectual Piggy whenever they needed to feel powerful and important. Now,

however, their harassment of piggy intensifies, and Jack begins to hit him openly.

Indeed, despite his position of power and responsibility in the group, Jack shows no

qualms about abusing the other boys physically. Some of the other hunters, especially

Roger, seem even crueller and less governed by moral impulses. The civilized Ralph,

meanwhile, is unable to understand this impulsive and cruel behaviour, for he simply

cannot conceive of how physical bullying creates a self - gratifying sense of power.

The boys' failure to understand each other’s points of view creates a gulf between

them, one that widens as resentment and open hostility set in.

The boys’ fear of the beast becomes an increasingly important aspect of their

lives, especially at night, from the moment the first littlun claims to have seen a snake
 29

- a monster. The fear of the beasts finally explodes, ruining Ralph’s attempt to restore

order to the island and precipitating the final split between Ralph and Jack. At this

point, it remains uncertain whether or not the beast exists. In any case, the beast

serves as one of the most important symbols in the novel, representing both the terror

and the allure of the primordial desires for violence, power, and savagery that lurk

within every human soul. In keeping with the overall allegorical nature of Lord of the

Flies, the beast can be interpreted in several different lights. In the religious reading,

for instance, the beast recalls the devil; in a Freudian reading, it can represent the id,

the instinctual urges and desires of the human unconscious mind. However we

interpret the beast, the littlun’s idea of the monster rising from the sea terrifies the

boys because it represents the beast’s emergence from their unconscious minds. As

Simon realizes later in the novel, the best is not necessarily something that exists

outside in the jungle. Rather, it already exists inside each boy’s mind and soul, the

capacity for savagery and evil that slowly overwhelms them.

As the idea of the beast increasingly fills the boys with dread, Jack and

the hunters manipulate the boys' fear of the beast to their advantage. Jack continues to

hint that the beast exists when he knows that it probably does not a manipulation that

leaves the rest of the group fearful and more willing to cede power to Jack and his

hunters, more willing to overlook barbarism on Jack’s part for the sake of maintaining

the "safety" of the group. In this way, the beast indirectly becomes one of Jack’s

primary sources of power. At the same time, Jack effectively enables the boys

themselves to act like the beast to express the instinct for savagery that civilization

has previously held in check. Because that instinct is natural and present within each

human being, Golding asserts that we are all capable of becoming the most beastly.
 30

As fear about the beast grips the boys, the balance between civilization

and savagery on the island shifts, and Ralph’s control over the group diminish. At the

beginning of the novel, Ralph’s hold on the other boys is quite secure: they all

understand the need for order and purposive action, even if they do not always want to

be bothered with rules. By this point, however, as the conventions of civilization

begin to erode among the boys, Ralph’s hold on them slips, while Jack becomes a

more powerful and menacing figure in the camp.

Ralph’s attempt to reason with the boys is ineffective and Jack can manipulate

Ralph by asking him, in front of the other boys, whether he is frightened. This

question forces Ralph to act irrationally simply for the sake of preserving his status

among the other boys. This breakdown in the group’s desire for morality, order, and

civilization is increasingly enabled or excused by the presence of the monster, the

beast that has frightened the littluns since the beginning of the novel and that is

quickly assuming an almost religious significance in the camp.

The boar hunt and the game the boys play afterwards provide stark

reminders of the power of the human instinct toward savagery. Before this point,

Ralph has been largely baffled about why the other boys were more concerned with

hunting, dancing, bullying, and feasting than with building huts, maintaining the

signal fire, and trying to be rescued. But when he joins the boar hunt, Ralph is unable

to avoid the instinctive excitement of the hunt and gets caught up in the other boys’

bloodlust. In this scene, Golding implies that every individual, however strong his or

her instinct toward civilization and order, has an undeniable, innate drive toward

savagery as well. After the hunt, the boys' reenactment of the chase provides a further

reminder of the inextricable connection between the thrill of the hunt and the desire

for power. Robert, the boy who stands in for the boar in the reenactment, is nearly
 31

killed as the other boys again get caught up in their excitement and lose sight of the

limits of the game in their mad desire to kill. Afterwards, when Jack suggests killing a

littlun in place of a pig, the group laughs. At this point, probably none of them except

possibly Jack and Roger would go so far as to carry out such a plan. Nonetheless, the

fact that the boys find the possibility exciting rather than horrifying is rather

unsettling.

The conflict between Ralph and Jack has escalated to a real struggle for

power, as Jack's brand of violence and savagery almost completely replaces Ralph's

disciplined community in the boy's conception of their lives on the island. Ralph's

exhilaration in the hunt and his participation in the ritual that nearly kills Robert is, in

a sense, a major victory for Jack, for the experience shakes Ralph's confidence in his

instinct toward morality and order. As befits a power struggle in a savage group, the

conflict between Ralph and Jack manifests itself not as a competition to prove who

would be the better leader but instead as a competition of sheer strength and courage.

The boys return to tell Piggy and the others what they have seen. Jack is

determined to gather his hunters and fight the beast, but Ralph insists the rescue fire is

most important. Jack snatches the conch, calling an assembly without Ralph's

permission. Jack calls for a vote to remove Ralph as a leader, but none of the boys

raises their hands. Jack abandons the group. Piggy suggests building the fire down on

the beach, and the boys set out do so. Eventually, they realize that Maurice, Bill, and

Roger are missing, obviously gone to follow Jack. When some boys revert to

savagery, they can be seen as replicating what they have witnessed in the adult world.

Neither side can understand or appreciate what those on the other are

feeling, and acts accordingly, just before Piggy is murdered he tries to explain that
 32

Jack and his crew need to live by rules. Meanwhile, Jack sets the island on fire to

destroy Ralph, not considering that this will also destroy the fruit trees, the boy’s main

source of the food. As their time on the island grows longer, the boys change. With

their long hair, unkempt bodies, and painted faces, the boys discover and act out

different sides of themselves. Many of the boys develop bloodlust and ultimately

commit terrible acts, including murdering Simon.

When the naval officer arrives on the beach, in the last chapter, Ralph cries

and the others join him in despair. They recognize the evil within themselves and

humanity at large. They are no longer innocent schoolboys who simply want to have

fun. In every society it is a belief that children are innocent, great poems are written in

adorning the innocence of a child. They are normally believed to be well disciplined

and full of love. In the novel, on their first exploration of the island, Jack thought to

kill a piglet that was caught in a curtain of creepers. But he couldn't when he thought

of "the enormity of the knife descending and cutting into living flesh; because of the

unbearable blood" (Golding 30).

At the end of Lord of the Flies, Ralph weeps "for the end of innocence," a

lament that retroactively makes explicit one of the novel's major concerns, namely,

the loss of innocence. When the boys are first deserted on the island, they behave like

children, alternating between enjoying their freedom and expressing profound

homesickness and fear. By the end of the novel, however, they mirror the warlike

behaviour of the adults of the Home Counties: they attack, torture, and even murder

one another without hesitation or regret. The loss of the boys' innocence on the island

runs parallel to and informs their descent into savagery, and it recalls the Bible’s

narrative of the Fall of Man from Paradise.

 33

Accordingly, the island is coded in the early chapters as a kind of paradise,

with idyllic scenery, fresh fruit, and glorious weather. Yet, as in the Biblical Eden, the

temptation toward corruption is present: the younger boys fear a "snake-thing." The

"snake-thing" is the earliest incarnation of the "beast" that, eventually, will provoke

paranoia and division among the group. It also explicitly recalls the snake from the

Garden of Eden, the embodiment of Satan who causes Adam and Eve's fall from

grace. The boys' increasing belief in the beast indicates their gradual loss of

innocence, a descent that culminates in tragedy. We may also note that the landscape

of the island itself shifts from an Edenic space to a hellish one, as marked by Ralph's

observation of the ocean tide as an impenetrable wall, and by the storm that follows

Simon's murder.

The forest glade that Simon retreats to in Chapter Three is another example of

how the boys' loss of innocence is registered on the natural landscape of the island.

Simon first appreciates the clearing as peaceful and beautiful, but when he returns, he

finds The Lord of the Flies impaled at its centre, a powerful symbol of how the

innocence of childhood has been corrupted by fear and savagery.

Even the most sympathetic boys develop along a character arc that traces a fall

from innocence (or, as we might euphemize, a journey into maturity). When Ralph is

first introduced, he is acting like a child, splashing in the water, mocking Piggy, and

laughing. He tells Piggy that he is certain that his father, a naval commander, will

rescue him, a conviction that the reader understands as the wishful thinking of a little

boy. Ralph repeats his belief in their rescue throughout the novel, shifting his hope

that his own father will discover them to the far more realistic premise that a passing

ship will be attracted by the signal fire on the island. By the end of the novel, he has

lost hope in the boys' rescue altogether. The progression of Ralph's character from
 34

idealism to pessimistic realism expresses the extent to which life on the island has

eradicated his childhood.

The uniqueness of the novel lies in the multiplicity of themes- loss of

innocence and identity, the theme of power and fear, blindness and sight etc.

However, the most obvious of the theme is man's need for civilization. Civilization

keeps the 'beast' at bay. But when civilization is absent, the chained beast in man is

left loose. The conflict between the instincts to live by rules, act peacefully and

following the valuable moral commands against the instinct to gratify one's immediate

desires, act violently to obtain supremacy over others and enforce one's will becomes

the driving force in the novel.

The final ‘hunt’ of the savages completes the act of destruction. Ralph does

not recognize the meaning of the stick sharpened at ends, it is to replace the pig's head

with Ralph's. However, Ralph himself becomes an animal - a pig launching himself

snarling out of the bushes and knowing the experience of being hunted. This

degeneration of Ralph is a role forced upon him by others. He is degenerating because

man is a degenerated animal and Ralph is growing into manhood. Here Ralph is

shown to have learned a great and bitter lesson: his dream world and his idealism

have been shattered. Lord of the Flies, suggests that in the absence of the structure of

school, family, and government, which prop up civilization, human beings will

always choose anarchy and hedonism over law and order. Piggy represents the wild

boy’s strongest link to civilization: Once he is killed, the hope of regaining it is lost

forever, and only chaos remains.

 CHAPTER FOUR

MAN VS NATURE AND HUMANITY

With the very existence of mankind on the face of this planet came the

inherent struggle with the forces of the existing world around. They are the everyday

struggles brought about by the natural surroundings that we have grown accustomed

to. We live with these every day and have learned to overcome them on a somewhat

regular basis without a trace of any thought that would remain with us over time.

They are a part of our life that goes unnoticed, except when nature challenges us or

tests us. In a time of crisis or danger when nature has us backed against the wall

fighting for survival and the survival of others is when we must face the challenge.

We must fight on with whatever circumstance is presented, no matter how small the

problem may seem. Many times the battle will be won, and man will overcome the

challenge presented, and other times nature will get the better of even the best of us,

showing its commanding power. Some of the best testaments to this never-ending

power struggle are the stories of men and women who know of the power of nature or

have experienced the power of nature first hand.

Lord of the Flies introduces the question of man’s ideal relationship with the

natural world. Thrust into the completely natural environment of the island, in which

no humans exist or have existed, the boys express different attitudes towards nature

that reflect their distinct personalities and ideological leanings. The boys’

relationships to the natural world generally fall into one of three categories: the

subjugation of nature, harmony with nature, and subservience to nature. The first

category, the subjugation of nature, is embodied by Jack, whose first impulse on the

island is to track, hunt, and kill pigs. He seeks to impose his human will on the natural
 36

world, subjugating it to his desires. Jack’s later actions, in particular setting the forest

fire, reflect his deepening contempt for nature and demonstrate his militaristic, violent

character. The second category, harmony with nature, is embodied by Simon, who

finds beauty and peace in the natural environment as exemplified by his initial retreat

to the isolated forest glade. For Simon, nature is not man's enemy but is part of the

human experience. The third category, subservience to nature, is embodied by Ralph

and is the opposite position from Jack’s. Unlike Simon, Ralph does not find peaceful

harmony with the natural world; like Jack, he understands it as an obstacle to human

life on the island. But while Jack responds to this perceived conflict by acting

destructively towards animals and plant life, Ralph responds by retreating from the

natural world. He does not participate in hunting or Simon's excursions to the deep

wilderness of the forest; rather, he stays on the beach, the most humanized part of the

island. As Jack's hunting expresses his violent nature to the other boys and the reader,

Ralph's desire to stay separate from the natural world emphasizes both his reluctance

to tempt danger and his affinity for civilization.

A man vs nature conflict occurs when a character must struggle against the

natural world in some way. In Lord of the Flies, the man vs nature conflict is the first

to emerge, as the school children find themselves stranded on the island. They need to

find food and fresh water, they need to create shelter from the hot sun, they need to

navigate the vine creepers and dangerous pink granite rock. All of this is compounded

by the man vs society conflicts and man vs man conflicts that crop up among the

boys: Ralph and Piggy struggle to get the others to form a productive society that can

work to get them rescued, Jack and Ralph fight over who will be leader, These other

conflicts make the boys' mastery over the natural world of the island that much

harder.
 37

As the novel progresses, the man vs. nature conflict becomes two-fold. The

boys are still trying to survive in a wild and sometimes dangerous setting, but they are

also each fighting what Golding positions as the instincts of wildness and destruction

that lie dormant in humankind. An example is the hunters’ struggle to hunt and kill

the island's pigs for meat. While this is a classic man vs. nature conflict, it is deepened

when the hunters do a blood lust dance, eventually getting so caught up in pretending

to hunt Robert that they hurt him. when the hunters worship the head of the pig as the

Lord of the Flies, they demonstrate the evil nature that lurks in the hearts of each of

them, bringing a new, more chilling look at the man vs. nature conflict. The signal fire

represents the boys' mastery over the natural world, they have learned to control it and

to use green branches to produce smoke that is thicker and easier to see for potential

rescuers. The fire becomes a way for the hunters to hunt and kill Ralph. It is thus

another tool to perpetuate the natural evil in mankind.

The makeshift civilization the boys form in Lord of the Flies collapses under

the weight of their innate savagery: rather than follow rules and work hard, they

pursue fun, succumb to fear, and fall to violence. Golding’s underlying argument is

that human beings are savage by nature, and are moved by primal urges toward

selfishness, brutality, and dominance over others. Though the boys think

the beast lives in the jungle, Golding makes it clear that it lurks only in their hearts.

The contrast between the sea on one side of the island and the sea on the other

side echoes the division between the two groups of boys. The sea is like a border

which cuts them off. The first impression the boys get while they are exploring the

island is that this island is the ideal place to live. They find fruits and water. On this

island, they do have good conditions. There are pigs which means they have meat,
 38

there is the sea so they can go fishing. But the boys make little use of the sea as a

source of food. The first hint that the island has a bad side too is the bird with the

witch-like cry. This cry represents danger. The island does not only have romantic

sides. The kids have to be careful about exploring this island. A second hint that their

Garden of Eden may not be as perfect as it first seems is the diarrhoea the boys get by

eating the fruits. The heat is another problem. It is the first force to change the boys’

usual behaviour. The temperature is quite different from what they are used to in their

former life. A major feature of the island is the mountain, the mountain is like a holy

place. It is the place for the fire and later on the place where the parachutist lands. At

first, they climb the mountain to discover the truth of their whereabouts. The

mountain stands for the truth because Simon finds out the truth about the beast on the

top of the mountain. He finds out that a beast is only a dead man - a dead parachutist.

Simon is integrated into nature. He does understand nature pretty well so you

can say that he is a part of nature. This boy is living with nature and in nature. In

contrast to Simon, Ralph does only accept nature. He lives not in nature, but he tries

to do the best out of his situation. The leader of the group often thinks about being

rescued. That means that he is not a part of nature, he remains a part of the civilisation

and the world of the grown-ups. The civilisation is his medium. Ralph never becomes

a savage. He fights against it all the time. Piggy represents civilisation. His specs are a

symbol for civilisation and his way of thinking is a sign for this, too. He is unable to

live in nature and to live with nature. That is why he tries to bring civilisation to the

island and nature. Ralph tries to keep civilization. Referring to nature Jack and Ralph

are different. While Piggy is dreaming of civilisation, Jack becomes a savage. He

livens up in nature. He enjoys living in nature because this is a chance for him to

express his animal-like behaviour which was suppressed all the time he lived in the
 39

civilisation. But Jack is also afraid of nature because he does not always understand

what is happening. Jack fights against nature because of his fear. For him, the most

important thing is hunting. Jack would like to be more powerful than nature but he is

not.

The best proof that nature is more powerful than the children is the landing of

the dead parachutist which shows that nature has complete power. The wind is so

strong that the parachutist is helpless. This landing shows the contrast between what

human beings do to each other and how nature is. Nature is nice and untouched.

Nature is wonderful. The world could be a garden and mankind could live in peace

with nature. Simon’s heart livens up in nature and his emotional side comes out. In

contrast to Jack, he never abuses nature. Jack uses natural elements. He uses their

civilised side to make them scared of nature. Nature is new for the littluns. They did

not know nature in this way before. The Castle Rock eventually becomes a fortress

for Jack’s tribe. Castle Rock is the place to which Jack moves with the children after

he has become the new leader. This Castle Rock is a suitable setting for savagery and

superstition. There is a big contrast between the two sides of the island. The opposite

side of the island is utterly different because the cold sea hardens the images. There

are no mirages, instead, the horizon is hard, clipped blue on their side the lagoon

protects them and one might dream of rescue. The two sides of the island are rather

like the two sides of human beings - the good and the evil. Humankind and nature

have some things in common. They can change their faces. They have different faces,

but that mankind is often responsible for the change of nature. There are many storms

and many catastrophes. Mankind wants to control nature but that nature is much

more powerful than man. The boys struggled with nature to survive and to escape

from that island.

 40

Golding uses the boys’ fear of a mythical beast to illustrate their assumption

that evil arises from external forces rather than from themselves. This fearsome beast

initially takes form in their imaginations as a snake-type animal that disguises itself as

jungle vines; later, they consider the possibility of a creature that rises from the sea or

the more nebulous entity of a ghost. When they spot the dead paratrooper who has

landed on the mountain, the boys feel sure that they have proof of a beast’s existence.

A beast does roam the island, but not in the form the boys imagine.

Golding wanted to illustrate in this novel the dark side of human nature and

make the point that each member of humankind has this dark side. The boys

conceptualize the source of all their worst impulses as a beast, some sort of actual

animal or possibly supernatural creature inhabiting the island. Yet all along the boys

take on the persona of the beast when they act on their animal impulses. There is no

external beast.

Golding conveys the beast's identity through the literal actions of Jack and his

tribe and the abstract concept conveyed in Simon’s vision. Simon’s revelation about

the beast comes upon him after he witnesses the sow’s death and beheading. As an

observer instead of a participant, Simon can comprehend the brutality of the act. The

sow's head becomes covered with flies, creatures that cannot feel compassion for or

empathy with the dead sow, occupied entirely by their need to eat and multiply. That

compassion is one of the key dividers between humanity and animality; tellingly, Jack

lacks compassion for the littluns and the vulnerable Piggy. Soon his hunters lose their

compassion as well, seeking only to hunt meat and increase the numbers of their tribe

or kill those who will not join. The imaginary beast that frightens all the boys

represents the primal instinct of savagery that exists within all human beings. The
 41

boys are afraid of the beast, but only Simon reaches the realization that they fear the

beast because it exists within each of them. As the boys grow more savage, their

belief in the beast grows stronger. By the end of the novel, the boys are leaving it

sacrifices and treating it as a totemic god. The boys’ behaviour is what brings the

beast into existence, so the more savagely the boy's actions, the more real the beast

seems to become. The boys "become" the beast when they kill Simon. Golding

describes the savages’ behaviour as animal-like; the savages dropped their spears

(man's tool) and ‘screamed, struck, bit, tore. There were no words, and no movements

but the tearing of teeth and claws.’ This description is very similar to Sam and Eric's

description of the beast on the mountain.

In the novel Lord of the Flies, the concept of Sigmund Freud’s personality

theory is present in various characters and Golding personified the id, ego, and

superego in his characters of Jack, Ralph, and Piggy. Influenced by his awareness of

Freudian ideas, William Golding proves that all men, when faced with difficulty, will

experience a struggle within themselves. The novel Lord of the Flies exemplifies

Sigmund Freud’s theory of Id, Ego, and Superego. His theory refers to a person’s

mind as having three different ideas fighting one another with one winning in the end.

The winning idea is the person’s action. The Id of one’s brain does not care about any

other person and only cares for itself. If one is hungry and don’t have money one will

steal food. Ego is in between Id and Superego, it allows one to wait until the

appropriate time to satisfy one’s need. If one’s don’t have money and need food

instead of stealing one asks for money from a person. Super Ego is one's morals and

ethics. It is ones inner voice telling one to do the right thing. There are two parts of

Superego. Freud divided the superego into two parts, the ego ideal and the conscience.

The ego-ideal is the idealistic view of what is right, while the conscience is that sense
 42

of guilt or the view of what is considered wrong. The Ego Ideal is what one’s brain

registers as what one should do or what is right to do like saving a person from a

burning building. Conscience is what one’s brain registers as a wrong example

knowing that stealing is very wrong. Following Superego can be exemplified as if one

is hungry without money one gets a job and works for money and helps anyone else

who needs help. All three of these are shown in the novel. They create a government

but it slowly turns to shambles and most of the boys turn savage all except Ralph,

Piggy and Simon. There are many instances of Id in the book, most of these instances

are formed by the uncivil tribal boys. Id is represented throughout the book as

exemplified by “The pig’s head hung down with a gaping heck and seemed to search

for something on the ground. At last, the words of the chant floated up to them, across

the bowl of blackened wood and ashes. ‘Kill the pig! Cut her throat! Spill her

blood!”(Golding 4). Here the tribal boys disregard the pig’s life by killing it very

brutally and allowing its piglets to watch. They then dance like savages around the

fire, indicating the start of the tribe going savage. This shows Id in the fact that they

are only thinking of themselves and taking a life. Often in the book the chant “Kill the

pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood!” is used, showing that the tribe is slowly turning

Id completely to become savages. “At once the crowd surged after it, poured down the

rock, leapt on the beast, screamed, struck, hit, tore.”(Golding 153). These actions are

Id. After all, they are killing one of the boys because they are bloodthirsty and itching

to kill when the unfortunate Simon shows up. They decide to think of only their need

for blood and disregard his life, as similarly as how they disregarded the sow, in the

way that they don’t give him a chance to live and are brutal to him. The tribe turns

completely savage, taking many lives without regard for the fallen and only thinking

of themselves. Ego is represented like the other two branches in this book. It is not
 43

very often but very prominent when found. One example of the Ego is, “That was

murder”(Golding 156), which comes from the upset Ralph. He at the time just stood

there and watched as his friend was murdered. This shows Ego because he knows this

was wrong but did not act upon his feeling. Understanding his limitations and

remembering the rules made by his aunt, Piggy reveals his ego; “My Auntie wouldn’t

let me blow on account of my Asama”(Golding 16). He respects these rules and

follows them by letting Ralph blow the conch to call the others. Showing his Ego as

he follows the rules his Aunt gave him. Though there are only a small amount of

instances of Ego, they are prominent and show that the boys know what society would

think of their actions.

Super Ego is represented like the others throughout the book by Ralph and

Piggy as well as other boys. Piggy wants to go check on the other tribe that deserted

them and make sure that everything is alright, that they have water, food, fire, and

housing. Piggy often makes comments similar to this one in the book where he

chooses to look after other members of the group. Here Piggy’s Super Ego peripherals

as he is concerned for others and is trying to do what is righteous: “Just an ordinary

fire. You’d think we could do that? Just a smoke signal so we can be rescued.” “Only

now there’s no signal going up, ships may be passing. Do you remember how he went

hunting and the fire went out and a ship passed by? And they all think he’s best as

chief. Then there was, there was… that’s his fault too. If it hadn’t been for him it

would never have happened. Now Piggy can’t see and they came stealing”(Golding

170). Ralph is upset that the new tribe is savage that reminds the few people who are

still with him that a moral society is best and helps everyone. He is looking out for

everyone’s best interests and wishes for everyone to get along. As proven through the

reading this demonstrates Sigmund Freud’s theory of Id, Ego, and Superego. This
 44

theory is very distinguished in this classic tale of the unfortunate result in human

behaviour. Although this story is truly a hard fact of life it is very unfortunate the way

it is.

Freud’s theory of id, ego and superego influences the spheres of ones being.

The id represents violence, and the drive to kill. The id is the desire to hurt others and

to dominate. In contrast, the ego persuades one to take actions that make one's actions

acceptable by others around them. It also controls the need for acceptance and the

need to be in control. Though different, the superego lies within one's spirituality and

need for order. It values rules and commandments.

Jack as id, represents the carnal drives in man. He illustrates this by painting

his face. By painting his face, Jack suppresses his ego and superego, causing Jack to

be capable of acts of violence without having any repercussions. Jack portrays this

violence in different ways. First, Jack enjoys hunting because he gets to kill pigs.

Often, in Lord of the Flies, Jack is consumed by killing pigs and desires nothing more.

The drive to kill rules his thoughts. In Jacks statement “We are strong-we hunt! If

there is a beast we will hunt it down. We will close in and beat and beat and beat”, he

demonstrates his carnal desire to hint and kill. Next, Jack also strives to control

others. He would even resort to torture: "'What do you mean by it, eh?' said the chief

(Jack) forcefully 'What d' you mean coming with spears? What d' you mean by not

joining my tribe?' The prodding became rhythmic. Sam yelled" (166). The desire to

kill is what proves that Jack has an evil nature, and the fact that he came from a

civilized society shows that anyone can become like him.

Piggy and Simon were the representations of the superego. Both Piggy's need

for rules and Simon's mysticism suggested that superego was the largest influencing
 45

force in their lives. Piggy would often try to set up rules, and other tools of

civilization to create order. Without that order, Piggy knew that there would be no

hope in their situation. He proved this need for rules with his need to take names,

"Piggy moved among the crowd, asking names and frowning to remember them."(17).

Different from Piggy, Simon had a strange quality of mysticism about him. He had an

understanding of the nature of the beast that no one else had. He illustrated this

understanding when he had this vision, "'Fancy thinking the Beast was something that

you could hunt and kill!' said the head. For a moment or two, the forest and all the

other dimly appreciated places echoed with the parody of laughter. 'You knew, didn't

you? I'm part of you? Close, close, close! I'm the reason why it's no go? Why things

are what they are?'"(130). With Piggy's need for rules and Simon's understanding of

the nature of the Beast, it is apparent that they both had the capabilities of the same

savagery as the other boys. Through Freud's theory of id, ego, and superego, it is

apparent that man does have an underlying evil nature and this fact is illustrated in the

novel, Lord of the Flies. Jack, Ralph, Piggy, and Simon each display’s these aspects

of man's evil nature and also proves that if it can happen to them, it can happen to

anyone. Young children are typically thought of as purer and more innocent than

those who are more experienced. If they are capable of such acts, it is sad to think

what the rest of the world is capable of.

Golding contends that human nature, when free from the constraints of

society, draws people away from common sense to savagery. His fundamental

arguments are that human beings are savage by nature, and are moved by urges

toward brutality and dominance over others. The use of characterization, symbolism,

and character development are various literary devices that Golding uses in Lord of

the Flies to illustrate that all humans are inherently evil. The character development of
 46

Jack in Lord of the Flies is just one of many details that Golding makes use of in his

attempt to address that all human beings are savages by nature. Jack has a desire for

power at the beginning of the novel and gets furious over the fact that he ends up not

getting the role as chief. Jack realizes that there is a need to make an order, something

that being in society has instilled in him. When he first encounters the pig, he is

unsuccessful at killing it. It is the civilized Jack who is unable to bear the thought of

harming the pig. He then devotes his time into hunting and trying to kill the pig,

changing the image of his character very much ever since the beginning, slowly

drifting into savagery as he finds pleasure in killing the pigs. As more time goes by,

his savagery has affected the whole group as he, along with others have killed Simon,

the first character to realize that the barbarianism that has descended within them is

just a part of human nature. Ralph, a symbol of order and civility opposite to Jack also

participates in Simon’s murder, revealing that all humans can be evil in the right

setting. Although Ralph participates, Piggy is the only one that does not due to his

greater intelligence in comparison to the other boys. With intelligence, he still has

maintained a sense between good and bad, morality. The imaginary beast is one

symbolic figure that Golding implements into Lord of the Flies that exhibits the

change in human nature as an individual gets farther away from civilization. Most of

the boys suppose that there is a terrifying beast on the island due to the physical forms

they have seen such as the dead parachutist and believe that it remains hidden in the

ocean during the day and emerges only at night. Simon is the first character to

recognize that the beast, in reality, is not an external force, but instead a component of

human nature.
 CHAPTER FIVE

CONCLUSION

The ambiguous and deeply ironic conclusion of Lord of the Flies, however,

calls into question society’s role in shaping human evil. The naval officer, who

repeats Jack’s rhetoric of nationalism and militarism, is engaged in a bloody war that

is responsible for the boys’ aircraft crash on the island and that is mirrored by the civil

war among the survivors. In this sense, much of the evil on the island is a result not of

the boys' distance from society, but of their internalization of the norms and ideals of

that society-norms and ideals that justify and even thrive on war. The novel is not

entirely pessimistic about the human capacity for good. While evil impulses may lurk

in every human psyche, the intensity of this impulses-and the ability to control them-

appear to vary from individual to individual. Through the different characters, the

novel presents a continuum of evil, ranging from Jack and Roger, who are eager to

engage in violence and cruelty, to Ralph and Simon, who struggle to contain their

brutal instincts. The characters who struggle most successfully against their evil

instincts do so by appealing to ethical or social codes of behaviour. Ralph and Piggy

demand the return of Piggy’s glasses because it is the right thing to do. Golding

suggests that while evil may be present in us all, it can be successfully suppressed by

the social norms that are imposed on our behaviour from without or by the moral

norms we decide are inherently “good,” which we can internalize within our wills.

The loss of the boys’ innocence on the island runs parallel to and informs their

descent into savagery, and it recalls the Bible's narrative of the Fall of Man from

Paradise. As in the Biblical Eden, the temptation toward corruption is present: the

younger boys fear a "snake-thing." The "snake-thing" is the earliest incarnation of the
 48

"beast" that, eventually, will provoke paranoia and division among the group. It also

explicitly recalls the snake from the Garden of Eden, the embodiment of Satan who

causes Adam and Eve's fall from grace. The boys' increasing belief in the beast

indicates their gradual loss of innocence, a descent that culminates in tragedy. We

may also note that the landscape of the island itself shifts from an Edenic space to a

hellish one, as marked by Ralph’s observation of the ocean tide as an impenetrable

wall, and by the storm that follows Simon’s murder.

The novel depicts ostensibly realistic characters, but the plot, which follows a

small group of humans isolated within an alien landscape, employs or alludes to the

conventions of popular science fiction novels of the time. Golding’s subsequent works

saw him moving even further into the science fiction genre. Violence continues to

exist in modern society and is institutionalized in the military and politics. Golding

develops this theme by having his characters establish a democratic assembly, which

is greatly affected by the verbal violence of Jack’s power-plays, and an army of

hunters, which ultimately forms a small military dictatorship. The boys' assemblies

are likened to both ends of the social or civil spectrum, from pre-verbal tribe

gatherings to modern governmental institutions, indicating that while the forum for

politics has changed over the millennia, the dynamic remains the same.

In Lord of the Flies, the boys on the island come from the so-called “civilized”

world of grown-ups caught up in a violent war. The boys themselves turn savage, and

the rescuer at the end generates not much optimism for the boys who are ready to

return to the savage world of grown-ups. In subsequent novels such as The Inheritors,

Pincher Martin, Free Fall and The Spire, the “civilized characters” end up being

savage either due to their inherent flaws or being bred by greed, or ego or selfishness,

or bias of ill-conceived notions. The characters in Golding’s novels behave in a

 49

savage and uncivilized way, contrary to our expectations. On the other hand, the so-

called uncivilized characters show kindness, sympathy, and natural goodness.

Sometimes they show ignorance due to their simplicity of mind and heart. In all the

novels, it is the protagonist who influences most of the circumstances and characters.

The exception, of course, is Ralph in Lord of the Flies who is helpless against the

circumstances created by Jack and his co-hunters.

In Lord of the Flies, it is ironic that barbaric fury, rather than conscious effort,

should lead to the rescue. Throughout the novel, it is apparent that innocence and

sanity are doomed. Suddenly and inconsistently at the end of the novel, we discover

that sanity exists. The British Officer turns into a public schoolmaster. But the whole

statement is not contradicted by the ending, for as Golding directly points out, Ralph

has learned from the experience: “And in the middle of them, with filthy body, matted

hair, and unwiped nose, Ralph wept for the end of the innocence, the darkness of

man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the true wise friend called Piggy”. The

rescue is ultimately a ‘gimmick’, a trick, a means of cutting down or softening the

implications built up within the structure of the boys’ society on the island. But this

‘gimmick’ lays bare the cruelty of the “civilized” world already caught up in violent

war. The British Officer is to take the children to that world which is bereft of

common sense, peace, security and kindness. In Lord of the Flies, two sides are

conflicting with each other throughout the whole story, and these are civilization vs.

savagery. In Lord of the Flies, civilization represents good while savagery represents

evil. Civilization is the good inside of man to choose to live by rules, under authority,

act reasonable, and peaceful with others. Savagery represents the evil of choosing not

to live peacefully with others and not live by rules but instead living to gain power

over others and acting violently.

 50

The book’s theme shows the evil that man has inside if given the opportunity

to show it. The boys in Lord of the Flies had to decide if they wanted to live by rules

or live violently. They had rules that they followed but there was no one to enforce it

on them. Civilization may have rules but that does not mean that people will always

obey them. Lord of the Flies shows that a good amount of time away from civilization

can have a drastic effect on a person and they might not remember how to act

properly in society. The decline of the boys’ behaviour throughout the story from

being civilized and having good behaviour to being wild and violent shows that evil

dwells in every human. Man can choose to control that evil or fall under its control as

shown in the fall of the boys in Lord of the Flies. The theme in Lord of the Flies

revolves around the concept of the emergence of evil and its conflict with the good.

This leitmotif has been made concrete through a well-knit plot, the universality of the

myth, realistic portrayal of characters, apt and perceptible symbolism, thematic

imagery, sensible events, graphic and imaginative descriptions and last but not the

least his unique narrative style which makes the story gripping and suspensive. As the

story ensues, the thematic concern of the novel is enhanced and integrated by so many

motifs befalling in the novel including, loss of civilisation, the motif of power, the

fate of intellectuals, the uncertainty of life, symbolic manifestations, and the essence

of pessimism prevailing till the end of the novel Lord of the flies shows.

Lord of the Flies shows the savagery inherent in human beings, civilization

becomes an illusion for the boys stranded on that island. In Lord of the Flies,

civilisation becomes an illusion when savagery get hold of the boys. The primal

instinct of man is savagery, which is expressed by the boys stranded in the island.

Golding focuses on the primitive instincts of man, by depicting children’s descent into

savagery.
 WORKS CITED

Adams, C. J. The Sexual Politics of Meat A Feminist Vegetarian Critical Theory. New

York: The Continuum International Publishing Group. 2010.

Carlassare, E. Essentialism in ecofeminist discourse. In Carolyn Merchant (Ed.),

Ecology. Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press. 1994.

Dick, B. F. William Golding. Boston, MA: Twayne Publishers. 1987.

Dickson, L. L. The modern allegories of William Golding. Tampa, FL: University of

South Carolina Press. 1990.

Foucault, Michael. Discipline and Punish. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. 1975.

Gaard, G. Transfiguration: Toward a queer ecofeminism. Hypatia. 1997.

Glotfelty, C. & Fromm, H. (Eds.) Introduction. The Ecocriticism Reader. Athens:

University of Georgia Press. 1996.

Golding, William. The Lord of the Flies. Faber and faber. 17 september 1954.

"Henry Miller Quotes." BrainyQuote.com. BrainyMedia Inc, 2020. 11 June 2020.

https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/henry_miller_397902.

JanMohamed, A. R.. The economy of manichean allegory. In Bill Ashcroft (Ed.), The

Post-Colonial Studies Reader New York: Routledge. 2003.

Morita, K. 2007. Giving voices to the environmentally humiliated and misrecognized:

Nature and women. Second International Conference on Multicultural

Discourses. Japan: University of Tokyo. 16 april 2020.

http://www.humiliationstudies.org/ documents/MoritaHangzhou07.pdf
 52

Philips, D. Ecocriticism, literary theory and the truth of ecology. New Literary

History. 1999.

Reilly, P. Lord of the Flies: Fathers and sons. Boston, MA: Twayne Publishers. 1992.

Rigby, K. Remembering the earth. In Julian Wolfreys (Ed.), Introducing Criticism at

the 21st Century (pp. 151-178). UK: Edinburgh University Press. 2002.

Sagar, Keith. Literature and the Crime against nature. Chaucer press. 2005.

Shakespeare, William. King Lear. London. 1606.