The Beast In The Children Essay, Research Paper

The Beast in the Children

Everyone has an evil side in themselves somewhere, most of us just don t show it. The children in Lord of the Flies exert their evil side constantly after they begin to lose contact with the outer world. The Lord of the Flies by William Golding deals with the reality of humans under stress, which can easily bring out an evil side to anyone. It begins when an airplane crashes into the ocean and many young boys are stranded on a tropical island. All the adults are killed and they are given the tasks to survive on their own. After a little while a boy named Jack, with a warrior attitude, splits from the rest of the group to start his own. He brings his hunters and start to eliminate the leader, Ralph s, group. A beast they start to worship is getting over them and they are beginning to kill each other. The beast on this island is much more than the children themselves, it is their emotions and behavior that brings the beast to reality.

The children play a large role in the part of the beast. In Lord of the Flies, the children are showing humanity s innately evil side. The children claim that there is a strange monster terrorizing the island. The only thing that is terrorizing is themselves and each other. “Maybe [the beast] is only us.” (75). This quote is trying to say that the beast is the children fighting each other. Over time the children began to show an evil side of themselves by worshiping pigs and pig heads. Each child is a different part of the beast that shows a different evil. “I m part of you? ” (150). The children are all contributing to each others evil by doing different acts and behavior. It shows how when people are away from laws and society they tend to change and show an evil – not taking care of themselves or each other.

Over time the children began to show more and more evil. They no longer think of humanity that once inhabited them. “Kill the beast, cut his throat ” (76). They are cutting all goodness and turning violent and dangerous. Every child is experiencing different changes. Simon is hallucinating the pig is talking to him. “You are a part of me.” (123). Simon is told by the beast that the real beast is within all of the children. Each different change in the child contributes to the evilness inside of humanity represented by the pig s head.

Jack himself is what started all of the evil on the island. His warrior like attitude has turned him and his hunters. “Jack represents the bestial instinct of the human being unrestrained by any rational control.” (Cliff, 65) He baptizes himself in the blood of a slaughtered pig for a full turn to evil. He eventually lures all the other boys to follow him in a life consecrated in blood, a life that will lead to multiple murders. Jack is responsible for what evil has come upon all of the children. “He is to fault for the heinous crimes by some of the boys following ” (Cliff, 6). If Jack were not on this island it is possible none of the evilness would have come upon the children. Ralph is a worthy leader. With the help of Piggy, Ralph may very well have created a well balanced society for the children.

The evilness in all of the children is inevitably shown by the lack of society and laws on the island. The beast portrayed by Jack and his followers is shared by everyone on the island. Many real life situations can be compared to this book, but will it ever get bad enough to kill off a whole community for yourself? Just look on the other side of the world, this book is coming to a reality.