William Golding’s philosophical novel: “Lord of the Flies”

2. Humanity’s potential for evil as reflected in W. Golding’s “Lord of the Flies”

Among the vast number of themes and motifs characterized in “Lord of the
Flies” by William Golding, the one that amply unwinds the tangle of symbolism and
allegory is the image of evil, the thread that runs through the entire body of the novel.
This kind of evil causes disorder amongst the order. As Golding himself has said, the
theme of the novel “is as attempt to trace the defects of society back to the defects of
human nature” (1954, pp. 250-251).
The reason for evil playing a leading role in the novel is first and foremost the
literary influences Golding was submitted to while writing the story, the major two
being Ballantine’s “The Coral Island” and Milton’s “Paradise Lost”. While the first
resulted in clear ironical contrast between the novels, “Paradise Lost” and implied
Christian story of the Fall of Man practically served as a basis for the whole subject
matter. A tragic flaw of frail mankind, the way from the childish pure soul to a
dissolute corrupt nature and atrocity lay the foundation for the story, which is full of
parallel patterns. The Eden-like setting itself, boys representing mankind, Jack and
choirboys representing fallen angels, devilish rituals and sacrifices to the Lord of the
Flies, being Devil himself, and the death of Simon representing the death of Christ –
by all these parallels Golding skillfully shows the reality of humankind and the nature
of evil.
From the very beginning it is noticeable that the author’s choice of characters
points out the very beginning of the evil – the absence of it. Even in the Bible child’s
faith is said to be the perfect faith man is called to have. Boys on the island are
expected to be full of fear confronted by the hunger and death. Instead, we witness
this subliminal desire of the order. They consolidate their powers and decide to
cooperate. But however good intentions they have, their sinful nature slips and
corrupts them to the point of sheer evil. This pattern is bolstered by the structure of
the novel itself. As E. C. Bufkin explains, even though it develops a chronologically
straight narrative, it is actually bipartite, the first part showing the boys in a state of
innocence, and the second in a primitive state of evil (1965, p.44). In their changed
state boys react in a completely different manner. Even death and murder become par
for the course for them, as we see with the Simon’s death:
“You didn’t see what they did—”
“Look, Ralph. We got to forget this. We can’t do no good thinking
about it, see?”
“I’m frightened. Of us. I want to go home. Oh God, I want to go
home.”
“It was an accident,” said Piggy stubbornly, “and that’s that.”
Therefore, the movement of the plot towards evil is vertical, emphasizing on the
downfall. E. C. Bufkin mentions, that the author continually uses words of
downward motion emphasizing the doomed path, “The opening sentence itself sets in
motion this running verbal motif: “The boy with fair hair lowered himself down the
last few feet of rock…”. The boys are “dropped” from the sky. The parachutist
“come down from the world of grown-ups”, and later the corpse “swayed down
through a vastness of wet air and trod with ungainly feet the tops of the high trees;
falling, still falling, it sank toward the beach…””(1965, pp. 44-45)
The embodiment of evil in the novel is the Lord of the Flies, Beelzebub, the
Prince of Devils. Interestingly, the materialization of this devil on the island
coincides with this change in boys’ behavior and appearance of atrocity and savagery
among them, revealed in their actions. This process of the downfall, like Piggy said,
“What are we? Humans? Or animals? Or savages?”, is thus disclosing the course of
the human soul, doomed to succumb to the tempting wickedness. Having this
freedom and liberation from the outer world, man paradoxically choses to fall. The
broader meaning of evil is represented by this omnipresent beast that becomes more
and more real in the course of time, more and more striking fear in boys’ hearts. And
only Simon intuitively realized this beast wasn’t real:
“Maybe,” he said hesitantly, “maybe there is a beast.”
“You, Simon? You believe in this?”
 “I don’t know,” said Simon. His heartbeats were choking him. “But…
What I mean is. . . maybe it’s only us.”
E. C. Bufkin concludes saying, “Evil, the beast, exists within men, and it is kept
within by the authoritative restrains of laws, rules, and knowledge” (1965, p.56)

5. Death and social collapse in “Lord of the Flies”

Apart from the central theme of evil and man corruption, “Lord of the Flies”
focuses attention on the motifs of death and social collapse, in particular, how this
corrupted human nature results social corruption and a complete destruction of
civilized human being.
The author consequently starts from the very beginning with this innate human
instinct and basically imperative need of order and a leader to hold the council. Boys
immediately find the conch shell, this symbol of reason and authority, and Piggy
somehow knows what to do with it. The story develops through this constant action
and numerous dialogues of the characters to show the established relationships
between them and the forming democracy. Thus, we see democracy taking over,
Ralph being its voice and its reason, “he could recognize thought in another”. But as
the story goes, the true human nature exposes itself in blind anarchical desire to
wreak havoc. Jack, representing an authoritarian man, at first demanded this chief
position to himself, “We’ll have rules!” he cried excitedly. “Lots of rules! Then when
anyone breaks ’em –”. But then he rejected the rules and claimed the right to decide
for himself. As hunter he becomes dog-like, dying to kill. Just as the conch shell
“exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist”, this promising
democracy faded away, leading to bloody murders, brutality and a complete decay of
social value system. The boys no longer communicate like social humans, but behave
themselves like beasts.
Now the spoiled rage is taking over. Murder and death became not a means of
surviving, but a means of power and satisfaction, and in the text as a means of
crossing the line. The two major death –Piggy’s and Simon’s – represent the death of
reason and revelation. David Spitz compares Simon with Christ, “He alone does not
fear the false god”, and Piggy with Socrates, “He alone shows marks of intelligence.
But Piggy, as Simon, too is killed. Authority must be found elsewhere, for men
accept reason no more than they do revelation” (1970, p. 26).
The author emphasizes that those who consider political and social systems to be
separated from human nature “are the victims of a terrible, because self-destructive,
illusion”. (1970, p.29) The intention to create an innocent society took the course of
destruction. Even though the boys were already civilized and they brought their social
values that reflected the outer world they were raised in, the system broke down.
Those beasts that lived inside them were made free and took what they wanted –
death. And no matter how socialized man is, how unique a person, there is always
this living evil inside him.
 References
Bufkin, E. (1965). Lord of the Flies: An Analysis. The Georgia Review, 19(1), 40-57.
Retrieved April 6, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/41398168
Golding, William, 1911-1993. (1954). Lord of the flies. New York: Perigee.
Spitz, D. (1970). Power and Authority: An Interpretation of Golding's "Lord of the
Flies". The Antioch Review, 30(1), 21-33. Retrieved April 6, 2020, from
www.jstor.org/stable/4637248