Lord Of Flies 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.

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.