Analysis Of Primitive Nature O Essay, Research Paper

A running theme in Lord of the Flies is that man is savage at

heart, always ultimately reverting back to an evil and primitive

nature. The cycle of man’s rise to power, or righteousness, and his

inevitable fall from grace is an important point that book proves

again and again, often comparing man with characters from the Bible to

give a more vivid picture of his descent. Lord Of The Flies symbolizes

this fall in different manners, ranging from the illustration of the

mentality of actual primitive man to the reflections of a corrupt

seaman in purgatory.

The novel is the story of a group of boys of different

backgrounds who are marooned on an unknown island when their plane

crashes. As the boys try to organize and formulate a plan to get

rescued, they begin to separate and as a result of the dissension a

band of savage tribal hunters is formed. Eventually the “stranded

boys in Lord of the Flies almost entirely shake off civilized

behavior: (Riley 1: 119). When the confusion finally leads to a

manhunt [for Ralph], the reader realizes that despite the strong sense

of British character and civility that has been instilled in the youth

throughout their lives, the boys have backpedaled and shown the

underlying savage side existent in all humans. “Golding senses that

institutions and order imposed from without are temporary, but man’s

irrationality and urge for destruction are enduring” (Riley 1: 119).

The novel shows the reader how easy it is to revert back to the evil

nature inherent in man. If a group of well-conditioned school boys

can ultimately wind up committing various extreme travesties, one can

imagine what adults, leaders of society, are capable of doing under

the pressures of trying to maintain world relations.

Lord of the Flies’s apprehension of evil is such that it touches

the nerve of contemporary horror as no English novel of its time has

done; it takes us, through symbolism, into a world of active,

proliferating evil which is seen, one feels, as the natural condition

of man and which is bound to remind the reader of the vilest

manifestations of Nazi regression (Riley 1: 120).

In the novel, Simon is a peaceful lad who tries to show the

boys that there is no monster on the island except the fears that the

boys have. “Simon tries to state the truth: there is a beast, but

‘it’s only us’” (Baker 11). When he makes this revelation, he is

ridiculed. This is an uncanny parallel to the misunderstanding that

Christ had to deal with throughout his life. Later in the story, the

savage hunters are chasing a pig. Once they kill the pig, they put

its head on a stick and Simon experiences an epiphany in which he

“sees the perennial fall which is the central reality of our history:

the defeat of reason and the release of… madness in souls wounded by

fear” (Baker 12). As Simon rushes to the campfire to tell the boys of

his discovery, he is hit in the side with a spear, his prophecy

rejected and the word he wished to spread ignored. Simon falls to the

ground dead and is described as beautiful and pure. The description

of his death, the manner in which he died, and the cause for which he

died are remarkably similar to the circumstances of Christ’s life and

ultimate demise. The major difference is that Christ died on the

cross, while Simon was speared. However, a reader familiar with the

Bible recalls that Christ was stabbed in the side with a a spear

before his crucifixion.

William Golding discusses man’s capacity for fear and

cowardice. In the novel, the boys on the island first encounter a

natural fear of being stranded on an uncharted island without the

counsel of adults. Once the boys begin to organize and begin to feel

more adult-like themselves, the fear of monsters takes over. It is

understandable that boys ranging in ages from toddlers to young

teenagers would have fears of monsters, especially when it is taken

into consideration that the children are stranded on the island. The

author wishes to show, however, that fear is an emotion that is

instinctive and active in humans from the very beginnings of their

lives. This revelation uncovers another weakness in man, supporting

the idea or belief that man is pathetic and savage at the very core of

his existence. Throughout the novel, there is a struggle for power

between two groups. This struggle illustrates man’s fear of losing

control, which is another example of his selfishness and weakness. The

fear of monsters is natural; the fear of losing power is inherited.

The author uses these vices to prove the point that any type of

uncontrolled fear contributes to man’s instability and will ultimately

lead to his [man's] demise spiritually and perhaps even physically.

The author chooses to use an island as the setting for the

majority of the story. “The island is an important symbol in all of

Golding’s works. It suggests the isolation of man in a frightening and

mysterious cosmos, and the futility of his attempt to create an

ordered preserve for himself in an otherwise patternless world” (Baker

26). The island in the novel is the actual island; it is not simply an

island, though. It is a microcosm of life itself, the adult world, and

the human struggle with his own loneliness.

“Left alone on the island of the self, man discovers the reality of

his own dark heart, and what he discovers is too abominable for him

to endure. At the highest pitch of terror he makes the only gesture

he can make — a raw, instinctive appeal for help, for rescue”

(Baker 67).

Man grows more savage at heart as he evolves because of his

cowardice and his quest for power. The novel proves this by throwing

together opposing forces into a situation that dowses them with power

struggles and frightening situations. By comparing mankind in general

to Biblical characters in similar scenarios, the novel provides images

of the darker side of man. This darker side of man’s nature inevitably

wins and man is proven to be a pathetic race that refuses to accept

responsibility for its shortcomings.