Analysis of Lord Of The Flies Essay

Lord of the Flies Essay

No notice is taken of a little evil, but when it increases it strikes the eye. Aristotle. This quote by Aristotle can directly relate to the young group of British boys stranded on an island during war. In this novel, The Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a group of young British boys that have crash landed are left stranded on an island. These boys start out on an island as innocent little kids who try to build their own community like their elders back home in Britain. But as the boys are left on the island for a longer amount of time, their society begins to crumble. Right as the boys begin to turn on each other, they are greeted by an unexpected officer that gives these younglings unexpected news. Since the boys arrival on the island, their society immediately begins to collapse, giving them the opportunity to demonstrate their true identity. Golding illustrates that mankind is inherently evil, but with the laws and consequences of society, mans inherent nature cannot be truly shown. As society starts to diminish, mens inherent evil begins to express itself freely.

Golding states that mans inherent nature is to act evil, yet with the rules and regulations of society, mankinds evil nature is concealed from humanity. When the boys have their first official meeting, they choose their hunters to find a pig to kill and eat. But when the leader of the hunters, Jack, gets his chance to kill the pig, he is unable to bring himself to do so. They knew very well why he hadnt: because of the enormity of the knife descending and cutting into living flesh; because of the unbearable blood (Golding 31). Jack first encounters his chance to commit something sinful, he is unable to do so because of his fear of consequences that would embellish upon him if he were back home in Britain. Jack has just arrived on the island, and as a result, his actions are limited as to how evil he can truly be. Subsequently, the boys continue to attempt at keeping a stable society in order to help keep them mentally safe. Ralph uses the conch to bring together the boys and call a meeting. During this meeting, they set their own guidelines to abide by during their stay on the island. Well have rules! he cried excitedly. Lots of rules! Then when anyone breaks em- Whee-oh! Wacco! Bong! Doink! (Golding 33). Even though the boys do not seem evil as they are trying to build a running society, without them taking notice, they really are beginning to show their inherent evil. They show this by saying that if you do break any of the rules set on the island, that you are going basically get beat up and suffer the consequences. So even though they are trying to help keep themselves safe with their own set of rules, their inherent evil slowly begins to erupt from within themselves without them taking note of their actions. As they continue to stay on the island for a longer bit of time, their evil nature continues to grow within them. Once Jack had returned from their unsuccessful hunt, this desire to kill the pig starts to attach to him. But I shall! Next time! Ive got to get a barb on this spear! We wounded a pig and the spear fell out. If we could only make barbs! (Golding 51). Although Jack is not breaking any of their rules, this desire to kill this pig begins to haunt him and starts to interfere with his actions. Forcing him ignore the fact, that the rules were not even that important. Therefore, Jack gets his opportunities to commit more savage acts. So as mankind is trying to keep a stable society, their inherent evil are not yet things that mankind would consider evil. As humans begin to realize that there is no true authority over them to help keep the rules in place, their inherent nature seizes the opportunity to begin to show itself.

Golding exhibits that humans begin to display their true nature as society has stopped punishing rule breakers and begins to fall apart. After mankind has attempted at building an orderly community, they begin to grow more care of their actions and start to drift away from their order. Jack is one of the first to exploit himself to his inherent evil as his desire to kill continues to eat him up. He capered toward Bill, and the mask was a thing on its own, behind Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness (Golding 64). Although Jack pertains to the rules that they have set, he grows this mask to help let him forget about their rules and lets him commit any evil doing without feeling any regret. Thinking that killing the pig would help feed this urge. Although Jack is yet to break any of their rules, by growing this mask, he is no longer feared by the rules and consequences that would attack him if he were to break any of their rules. Since the boys are unaware of this mask Jack has grown, they think nothing of him when he obsessively asks to go out and hunt. When they succeed in killing their first pig, the boys have their first feast. During this feast, is the time that the hunters begin to express their inherent nature. Then Maurice pretended to be the pig and ran squealing into the center, and the hunters, circling still, pretended to beat him. As they danced, they sang, Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Bash her in. (Golding 75). Once Jack succeeded in killing the sow, his evilness spread towards the others as if it were a wild fire. Once they create their chant. Their chant then becomes a symbol of how savage these boys have started to become. Their chant also becomes another sign of how careless they are, wanting to be saved. They have put hunting and killing, in front of being home again. The outcome of the boys growth on inherent evil is that they also start to not enforce their rules that they had created once they arrived on the island. As a result, the boys, like Jack, are given more opportunities to commit evil acts. When Ralph calls in another meeting, the conch that they had used to establish order in their society, is then ignored by Jack, and nobody takes a stand. Jack was the first to make himself heard. He had not got the conch and thus spoke against the rules; but nobody minded (Golding 87). Although the boys are aware of Jacks wrong doing, they had not made an attempt to tell him what he had just done. It also shows that the amount of respect and expectations they had towards Ralph and his rules have begun to go at a low. Otherwise, they would have not gone against the conch and its rules which were a symbol of unity within their society. Once mankinds society begins to fall apart, mans evil takes upon its open opportunity to reveal itself. As mankind realizes that there are no consequences for their evil doings, mans evil is fully shown without any limitations.

Golding portrays that mankinds true face of evil is fully shown once their society has ceased to exist. At the beginning, mankinds evil is masked from its true self and are also aware of what is right and wrong. But once society has taken realization that there are no longer consequences for their choices, they begin to take advantage of the fact and no longer have the care to notice. After Jack and Ralph create separate tribes, Jack gets all of his hunters to go and hunt a momma pig. But as they hunt, other boys take their opportunity to express their evil nature. One piglet, with a demented shriek, rushed into the sea trailing Rogers spear behind it (Golding 134). Roger, a boy who started out with the fear of throwing rocks at another boy, has grown into an animal that is relentless of any of his actions. Although he knows what is right from wrong, he proceeds to follow through with the action, which is more fun and enjoyable to him. Roger also ignores the people of a higher level than him. Jack asks all of the boys to kill the momma pig, but Roger ignores this command and continues to attack the baby piglet. As Roger begins to participate in more evil acts, he also then realizes that no matter what he may do, that there are no longer any consequences for any of his actions. Roger received this news as an illumination. He ceased to work at his tooth and sat still, assimilating the possibilities of irresponsible authority (Golding 159-160). Roger finally realizes that he now has the choice of being good or evil. Yet, he chooses to be evil because he knows that by choosing this, he can have more fun. Even though Roger knows that the more logical thing would to be good and do everything Ralph says is needed to be saved on the island, he neglects all of Ralphs help and instead continues to do what he thinks is more enjoyable for him. Once mankind realizes that the laws and consequences to exist to them any longer, man then proceeds to act out its evil without any regrets. When Roger becomes a bigger part of Jacks tribe, he begins to abuse his power upon those before him, despite whether they were friends or not. Roger edged past the chief, only just avoiding pushing him with his shoulder. The yelling ceased, and Samneric lay looking up in quiet terror. Roger advanced upon them as one wielding a nameless authority (Golding 192). Even though Roger is aware of Jack at a higher level than him, he purposely almost runs into Jack even though Jack is the leader. Although Roger is knowledgeable of the fear and sadness inside of Samneric, he shows no mercy towards the two and never allows them the choice of joining their tribe or not. So as society has ceased to exist, mankinds evil is fully shown without any limitations. Although mankind may know its rights from wrongs, society may choose what is more fun and enjoyable to them rather than what is really more productive to help keep them safe.

Golding portrays that humans are inherently evil, but when knowledgeable of the results from bad behavior, are masked from their true selves. As their community begins to falls apart, mankinds evil beings to show. At first, Golding says evil is not yet shown when the laws and consequences of society are present. But as their society starts to become careless of any evil actions, their inherent nature beings to grow. Once their society is extinct, mans true nature is fully revealed. In the novel, mankinds inherent evil is hidden at first from its true self. But as these rules they create start to be broken and their consequences are not carried out correctly, mans inherent nature is fully unleashed. In todays society, there are rules and laws that all people must go by. If one of these laws were to be broken, that persons actions lead him to his consequences. If society were to not have these laws present, the society would begin to fall apart and cease to exist. There would be a world of murder, rape, and torture. As if there isnt enough of these horrible things going on in the society, its laws and punishments help to prevent the world from eating itself alive. So no matter what man is, or where mankind came from, there is inherent evil in all of society. Even if denying the fact, it can be anyone as innocent as someone like Roger, that knew his rights from wrongs, can turn into a violent and ruthless person. To be somebody as terrifying and relentless, as he had become.