Denise MayangLord Of The Flies:An Exploration to the True Nature of Human Beings(my english proj.)
In 1954, right after the tragic World War II, the Nobel-prize winning author William Golding wrote the Lord of the Flies, a novel about a group of British school-aged boys stranded on a seemingly deserted island, who were left with their own devices and eventually descend to savagery and barbaric behavior. Inspired by the tragedy of World War II, Golding created this allegorical novel where the main characters- Ralph, Jack, Simon, Piggy, Roger, and the twins, Samneric-are infused with symbolic significance and posses intangible quality that convey the central themes and ideas of the novel. Particularly, Ralph, the novel’s protagonist, represents human being’s civilizing instincts and democratic rule, his side kick and brain trust Piggy, represents the scientific, rational side of civilization, the mysterious Simon represents truth and natural goodness. On the other hand, the novel’s antagonist Jack Meridew represents totalitarianism, selfishness, savage instincts, and the twins Samneric stands for the common masses. In deed, William Golding created an allegorical novel to show that human, without rules and orders, are naturally savage, corrupt beings, and to be able to live and coexist, people need a strong government that will impose such orders and maintain peace. In addition, Golding chose to explore mankind’s true nature in attempt to explain the disaster brought by World War II during his time and also to suggest solutions on how such brutality and chaos be prevented in the future. Furthermore, William Golding shows human beings’ inborn savageness and their need of a strong government to coexist peacefully through his portrayals of the symbolic characters, ideal setting of the island, and tragic, disastrous events of the novel.
First, Golding shows his idea of innate human evil that exist in every mankind through the symbolic character Ralph, who struggles with his own innate savageness, and through the conflict between Ralph and Jack, the group’s two opposing leaders. For instance, the rising antagonism of the group leaders, Jack and Ralph, filled the entire island with tension, creating a feeling of resentment among the boys: “‘Why do you hate me?’ [Ralph asked Jack.] The boys stirred uneasily, as though something indecent had been said. The silence lengthened.” (p.118).This shows the tension between the two symbolic characters, that eventually result to the domination and supremacy of Jack and his hunters over Ralph, causing Ralph to be an outcast. Specifically, this shows the battle between the two competing impulses that exist within all human beings: the instinct of civilization against the instinct of savagery, where savageness destroys any hint of civilization. Moreover, the author shows the evil inherent in human nature through Ralph’s participation in a hunting game: “Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Kill the pig! Bash him in!’ Ralph too was fighting to get near, to get a handful of that brown, vulnerable flesh. The desire to squeeze and hurt was over-mastering.” (p.115) Ralph’s instinctive excitement during the hunting game shows that he too, is susceptible to savageness that is innate in all human beings, despite the fact that he represents the intangible quality of civilization. Also, this shows that every individual, however strong his or her instinct toward civilization and order, has an undeniable, innate drive toward savagery that is beyond human control. Given these facts, Golding’s use of both Ralph’s inner struggle and the conflict between Jack and Ralph effectively emphasize his idea of man’s savage nature.
Second, William Golding uses disastrous, horrifying events in the novel to stress that human, without rules and law, naturally revert to cruelty, selfishness and savagery. For example, the boys succumb to the frenzy and mass hysteria of the tribal dance and brutally kill Simon, thinking that he is the beast: “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood! Do him in!” The sticks fell and the mouth of the new circle crunched and screamed. The beast was on its knees in the center, its arms folded over its face. It was crying out against the abominable noise something about a body on the hill. The beast struggled forward , broke the ring and fell over the steep edge of the rock to the sand by the water. At once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt on the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore. There were no words , and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws.” (p.152 - p 153)With the brutal, animalistic murder of Simon, the vestige of civilized order on the island completely diminish, and brutality and chaos take over. Specifically, this shows that human savageness is innate therefore it is inevitable and beyond human control. To prevent such disaster, where mankind decline to animalistic savagery, Golding suggests that society needs a strong government and a powerful but selfless leader to achieve peace and stability. Moreover, the author shows that men are inherently evil through Piggy’ s symbolic death and the destruction of the conch: “The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into thousand white fragments and ceased to exist. Piggy, saying nothing, with no time for even a grunt, traveled through the air side ways from the rock, turning over as he went. The rock bounded twice and was lost in the forest. Piggy fell forty feet and landed on his back across the square red rock in the sea. His head opened and stuff came out and turned red. Piggy ’s arms and legs twitched a bit like a pig’ s after it has been killed.”(p.181) Piggy’ s intentional death is an indication of the violence prevalent among the hunters. In addition, the death of Piggy-representative of the scientific and rational side of civilization, and the shattering of the conch-symbol of law and order, signifies the end of the civilized instinct among all the boys. Also, this emphasize that the instinct of savagery is far more primal and fundamental to the human psyche than the instinct of civilization. In conclusion, Golding’s use of Simon’s “accidental” death and Piggy’ s intentional murder successfully emphasize that human are naturally savage and cruel beings, and in order to survive they need law and order.
Lastly, Golding created an ideal setting that sets the stage for a utopia or perfect society to show Man’s sinful nature and their need of a strong, selfless government to attain peace. For instance, the exploration of Jack, Ralph, Simon to see if the island is inhibited led to their discovery of the beauty of the island: “But this is a good island. We- Jack, Simon and me- we climbed the mountain. It’s wizard. There’s food and drinks, and-” “Rocks-” “ Blue flowers-” (p 34) This shows the abundance of food, water, and other necessities in the island. In the story, the boy’s primal instinct of savagery and blood lust emerge as they manage to kill a pig despite the fact that it is not necessary, for the island has a plenty of food and other basic needs. More specifically, this shows that it is not the environment, but the mankind and their innate evil that led to the downfall of their civilization. Also, the author shows that violence and sin is inherent in humanity through the fire set by Jack and his hunter to smoke out and kill Ralph, and burns out almost the entire island of The Lord of The Flies: “ Ralph screamed, a scream of fright and anger and desperation. His legs straightened, the screams became continuous and foaming…All at once the lights flickering ahead of him merged together, the roar of the forest rose to thunder and a tall bush directly in his path burst into a great fan-shaped flame. He swung to the right , running desperately fast, with the heat beating on his left side and the fire racing forward like a tide. ” ( p.199) Earlier in the novel, fire represents the boy’s connection to civilization, as it is built to attract passing ships that may rescue them. However, the fire started by Jack’s hunter is a fire of savagery built to kill Ralph. This fire of savagery shows the hunter’s capability of killing without remorse and their blatant disregard to human life. Indeed, this shows that savagery is not only directed to each man but through the nature itself. To conclude, Golding created a perfect island and the fire that represents the boy’s violence to emphasize the existence of natural evil within every human beings effectively.
In brief, the author explore man’s nature in this novel to show Man’s sinful and cruel nature that is innate to everyone. Specifically, Golding emphasize Man’s inherent evil through his character portrayals, creation of an idyllic setting, and use of horrible incidents throughout the novel. In addition, Golding uses characters that posses symbolic significance to show that man, free from rules and social structure of civilization, naturally descend to cruel, animalistic behavior. The author creates a perfect or utopian society, abundant with food, water and other natural resources to stress man’s sinful and cruel nature. Golding creates increasingly horrific situations to show the result of the boy’s innate savageness and to show that all of humans share this inborn evil. Overall, Golding created this allegorical novel to show that mankind‘s inborn evil and savageness is the real cause of a chaotic and destructive society, and to prevent such disastrous society and peacefully coexist, citizens need a government run by a strong, selfless leader that will implement law and order.
denise on 2:32 AM