Shin

Xiomara Shin
English 3 (5)
2 February 2020
Lord of the Flies
William Golding in his 1954 classic novel ​Lord of the Flies​ continually expresses the
theme of​ human nature and what happens when authority ceases to exist.​ The novel takes place
on an isolated island during a world war during which a group of boys are stranded on after their
plane is shot down. Without adult supervision, the boys are left to fend for themselves while
attempting to establish a form of democracy. As the story progresses, the act of becoming
civilized fails and soon leads to chaos and the loss of innocence as a conflict emerges between
the two older boys. The story emphasizes on mob mentality, power struggles, and the savage
impulses lying deep within mankind. ​William Golding’s ​Lord of the Flies ​traces society’s flaws
back to its source and how without the constraints of civilization, raw human nature takes over
and reason ceases to exist.
Throughout the novel, the struggle of maintaining power is evident between the two main
characters, Jack and Ralph, and their differing ideologies.​ At first, Jack helps out Ralph in
creating a civilized society, but, soon after exclaims, “Bollocks to the rules! We’re strong – we
hunt! If there’s a beast, we’ll hunt it down! We’ll close in and beat and beat and beat -!” (Chapter
5). In the fifth chapter, Jack begins to demonstrate his growing desire for killing a pig and starts
showing signs of being a tyrannical ruler. He starts to value barbarity and hunting rather than
having a civilized society where law and order exist. On the other hand, Ralph believes that “The
fire’s the most important thing. Without the fire, we can’t be rescued. I’d like to put on war-paint
and be a savage. But we must keep the fire burning. The fire’s the most important thing on the
island…” (Chapter 8). While Jack believes hunting, fun, and violence should be first, Ralph
thinks otherwise and believes that planning for the future, structure, and rules are the ways to go.
Ralph tries to execute his job as the leader to the best of his abilities and puts the others first
while Jack’s intentions are selfish.
The boys progress in becoming savages as they begin to side and become part of Jack’s
tribe​. Jack is effectively enabling the boys to act like the beast itself and to express the act of
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savagery that resides within their nature. One day while resting along the beach, Roger, one of
the defiant boys begins to throw rocks at the littluns with no remorse or reaction; “Roger
stooped, picked up a stone, aimed and threw it at Henry-threw it to miss. The stone, that token of
preposterous time, bounced five yards to Henry's right and fell in the water” (Chapter 4). Roger
shows early signs of becoming a sadistic follower of Jack. While he throws rocks at Henry, the
only thing that keeps him from intentionally hurting him is the taboo of a civilization he no
longer has a connection to. Similarly, Jack begins to lose his connection with order and reason
when he“...paints his own face for hunting camouflage. The mask makes him feel liberated: Jack
begins dancing and snarling” (Chapter 4). By painting his face, Jack essentially transforms both
his appearance and demeanor. The mask of paint removes a part of humanity from the boys and
gives them the freedom to release their inner beast, tossing aside all reason.
Further into the novel, the mindsets and values of the boys change as a result of mob
mentality.​ They lose their individuality and instead share one common mindset. Subjecting
themselves to immorality in order to be part of the group, “The beast was on its knees in the
center, its arms folded over its face...At once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock,
leapt on to the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore” (Chapter 9). By this point in the novel, Jack has
the boys around his thumb and manipulates them into believing that Simon is actually the beast.
Together as a mob, they murder Simon merciless without anyone stepping in to prevent injustice.
Similarly to this, after Piggy and Ralph go to Castle Rock to try and retrieve Piggy’s specs,
Roger leans on the lever under the boulder, “The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to
knee: the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist. Piggy, saying
nothing, with no time for even a grunt, traveled through the air sideways from the rock” (Chapter
11). Having Jack as a cruel chief and the rest of the boys as savages, Roger feels safe in his
decision to kill Piggy. Due to mob mentality, Roger’s deed is actually accepted since by now, the
boys have let raw human nature consume them.
Through his novel, Golding illustrates how a civilized society cannot survive unless laws
and authority exist. With laws and authority figures, raw human nature is concealed; however,
once the constraints of civilization are gone, raw human nature is freed and innocence is lost
while the compulsion to kill and obtain power grows by the second. By being stranded on an
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isolated island, Golding reveals that, on a much larger scale, if thrown into a foreign place with
no system of power, all ideals and values are corrupted. In the blink of an eye, reason and order
can cease to exist while inner savagery and chaos strive.