Lord of the Flies was written by a famous British novelist named William Golding. Golding wrote this story right after World War II, and exactly in the middle of the Cold war. Golding’s experience in World War II was a huge inspiration to this story. Profound effects were made on the view of human nature and the extent of evil that one is capable of having. Golding’s real-life experiences taught him that defective human nature leads to a defective society, which is reflected by the boys in the story. This novel explores the serious theme of the evil of human nature through the innocence of children.
The story takes place during a worldwide war around the year 1950. It starts with the encounter of Ralph and Piggy on a tropical island in the Pacific Ocean. A group of children between the ages of six and twelve were trapped on a deserted island from a plane crash during their retreat from England. There are no rules or laws on the island; the boys are free to do whatever they want. This absence of rules and restriction is a big threat to natural peace on the island, and eventually, the duality of human nature begins to be exposed. At first, they are able to live in harmony, but later, they are deprived due to their evil inner nature. Later on, they start to kill each other and have tragic results. Conflict is apparent throughout the novel and is considered one of the biggest causes of the transformation from harmony to savagery.
Golding demonstrates that the concept of the different influences people’s impulses on civilization and savagery to different degrees. One of the ways that Golding portrays conflict is through the two main characters: Ralph, the leader of the civilization, and Jack, the leader of the savagery. Both of these characters want to gain power over the boys, but their purpose and aim make them oppose each other. Ralph wants to keep everything organized and civilized in order for them to be rescued from the island. However, Jack, the primary antagonist, represents the instinct of violence and savagery throughout the novel. He is willing to have the power to control the boys fully and does not have any desire to be rescued.
Golding reveals the growing tension between civilization and savagery in the rising action: the group dissolution between the two leaders, the unfortunate miss on the ship that passes by, and the incident surrounding Piggy’s specs. Another conflict that surrounds the story is when the boys are afraid of the possibility of there being a beast on the island. This is person vs supernatural. The name beast is first discovered when the birthmark boy explains to Ralph that the “beastie” gives him nightmares. He also mentions that the beast appears to be “a snake thing,” which is “ever so big.” All the boys show fear of the beast; they struggle and do not want to encounter it. At first, all the boys consider the beast as a snake-like creature that lives on the island; however, they do not realize that the only beast on the island is the capacity for evil inside themselves. In addition, the Lord of the flies symbolizes the evil throughout the novel and is thematically related to Golding’s beliefs regarding humanity’s inherent wickedness.
Additionally, Golding interprets the Lord of the Flies by using a third-person omniscient view, which means that the narrator has no bias or preferences and has full control and knowledge over how he wants to express the characters in the book. In this way, it makes it easy for the narrator to give many supporting details to the reader for them to know more about the characters introduced. On the other hand, the downside to the third-person omniscient view is that the narrator only gives us a small number of characters’ thoughts since we cannot effectively read the characters’ minds.
Moreover, we can rely on another character’s expression to correctly understand their feelings and thoughts. In Lord of the flies, Golding mostly focuses on describing Ralph, Jack, Piggy, and Simons’ points of view; how each character interacts is a great way to reveal their inner thoughts. For example, when Jack realizes that Piggy’s specs can be used to set up a signal fire “as burning glasses”, he steals “it away from Piggy without permission.” And we, as readers, are able to absorb Piggy’s depression or disappointment through this interaction with Jack. Overall, I think this is a very good “reality” story that connects to how human beings currently think. All humans have their limits; they will be out of control and become savage. A ship passing by sees the boys’ signal fire in the end and results in a rescue. I think this ending shows that, despite all sorts of savageness that has happened on the island, being rescued is probably the best method for the narrator to protect Ralph from being killed.
There are many evident themes in the book Lord of the Flies. One of the most evident themes throughout the novel is the loss of innocence. It is shown as the story progresses that the children’s innocence vanishes as the boys are taken away from society’s influence. They lose their innocence and develop a darker and more powerful evil. The killing of the first pig reveals the boys’ first progression on how they started to lose their innocence. In the later chapters, the boys are even able to kill their compatriots, which leads to Simon and Piggy’s death. They show the loss of all their innocence and displays how they have become true savages. Another evident theme of the novel is man’s innate capacity for immorality and evil. Jack is one of the leaders initially keen on rules and democracy but becomes addicted to hunting pigs and soon is defeated by the darkness. In chapter 9, the scene where Simon is torn apart by a group of little “barbarians” led by Jack greatly represents the inherent evil in all men. On a stormy night, Jack and his followers begin to imitate the dance of primitive hunting and gradually trap a kind of life instinct to vent and eventually murder Simon. Ralph and Piggy, who has been sober and sensible, breathe in the tide of fear and beastliness. They involuntarily participate in Simon’s mass murder, which makes the boys wake up to see the huge destructive power of the dark undercurrent in themselves. While Piggy denies participating in killing Simon, Ralph feels quite self-blamed when he realizes that he is nothing better than Jack and his troop. He reveals the darkness inside his body, which cannot be eliminated. The boys are bloodthirsty and savage. All of this comes from the instincts of children. In other words, human beings produce sin just as honeybees make honey. Therefore, it does not come from any external motivation, but it is completely a basic need for survival. The correct mood used is also considered very important to the novel as a whole. Horror and grief are the moods that Golding used to illustrate the novel Lord of the Flies to the reader. In addition, the tone used in this novel is quite indifferent because the boys on the island do not treat each other with sympathy or are shocked by the incident that happens. Golding has granted them the tone of curiosity and naïveté at the beginning of the book when the boys are still civilized and innocent. As the book progresses, several tragedies occur on the island. The boys are no longer innocent but more evil. The tone changes to a tone of fear and regret.
Additionally, a lot of symbolism is developed in this novel to help the progress of the themes. The most representative one is the conch in the book. The conch found by Ralph runs throughout the whole story. It was precisely because the conch brings all the surviving children together, which expands the story’s development. During the rally, Ralph is chosen as the leader because of the worship of the conch and the people who can blow the conch, and a rule is set for only those who hold the conch to speak. In the beginning, the rules are binding because the children who have just come out of civilization think that rule violations will result in as much punishment as they would at home. The inexplicable fear forces them to obey “the conch in Ralph’s hands, and Jack and Simon fell silent.” However, because this system relies on the maintenance of an idea, which is the rule, people should abide by the rule, and there is no punishment or reward mechanism and executor. When someone is at a disadvantage because of the rule and finds no cost to themselves if they violate it, then the rule will be rendered useless and will be ignored. As Jack and Ralph later disagree in the book, the conch is no longer necessary when he says, “Bollocks to the rules! We’re strong–we hunt! If there’s a beast, we’ll hunt it down!” We will close in and beat and beat and beat–!”
Have you ever wondered about how an author writes a good story? One way is to use a unique style full of different literary devices, such as allusion, foreshadowing, imagery, irony, simile, allegory and metaphor etc. One of the largely used ones by the author in this novel is personification. Golding loved to give characteristics to non-living or non-human creatures. For example, in chapter 2, Golding describes “the flames, as though they were a kind of wildlife, crept as a jaguar creeps on its belly toward a line of birch-like saplings that fledged an outcrop of the pink rock” (34). He was also able to personify the smoke that comes out from a fire. Golding elucidates the “Smoke was rising here and there among the creepers that festooned the dead or dying trees. As they watched, a flash of fire appeared at the root of one wisp, and then the smoke thickened. Small flames stirred at the trunk of a tree and crawled away through leaves and brushwood, dividing and increasing” (34). Words such as “crept,” “fledged,” “rising,” “stirred,” and “crawled are all examples of personification used by Golding in the two quotes. Golding also included another literary device imagery in this novel to enhance the meaning of the work. For example, in Chapter 2, there is a use of imagery that portrays fire as something violent and savage: “On one side the air was cool, but on the other side, the fire thrust out a savage arm of heat that crinkled hair on the instant.” From this quote, Golding also foreshadows how barbaric the boys are in the later chapters.
Think about being in the position of one of the characters in the book. If I were in such a situation, I would probably join Jack’s troop and become a person like Sam or Eric. I do not think that, in this case, too many people will advocate for justice or agree with Ralph. Survival is the key on a no man’s island. Rather than wait for a rescue, I would satisfy myself and live every day as if it was the last. Following Jack, following the evil, is the only way to meet every day’s basic needs. This reminds me of a lesson about the “survival of the fittest,” where the fittest animal survives and produces offspring, but if it does not have enough ability to survive in an environment, it will eventually be eliminated. “At the beginning of man, nature is evil.” This sentence is reflected incisively and vividly in Lord of the Flies. Shockingly, a child can do such a terrible act, which, once again, highlights the theme of the story – the evil of human nature. This book’s content is thought-provoking because the author of this book was compassionate and tender, so the whole book is marked with an ellipsis and a question mark at the end. If I were the author, I would let Jack and Roger return home to correct their mistakes, reflect on them, and accept appropriate punishments. I would also want to let Ralph know how evil human nature is and the consequences of its harm to human life so that he can stop being arrogant, start to be humble, and never call other people names. Furthermore, Ralph should not sacrifice others to preserve himself.
Overall, I want to sum up the analysis by describing the society in the book and the author’s purpose for writing this book. Ralph has pursued democracy since his arrival on the island. However, he does not know that democracy is a very difficult thing to accomplish because all human nature is selfish. People always take themselves as the center unconsciously. Therefore, if we want to achieve democracy and think for all, we will inevitably encounter difficulties. Democracy is about respecting and protecting every individual’s or group’s opinions based on the principle of equality for all. However, this requires that we have social norms stemming from love, goodness, proper ethics, and morality that can be accepted and followed. Otherwise, everything will not operate successfully. Golding wrote this novel after World War II, and he clearly knew how evil humans could be when their savagery broke out. The author wanted to show us the idea that once people get removed from the restrictions of civilization, then the instinctual savage side of human nature will be revealed. Moreover, Golding portrayed Jack as a figure of Hitler, representing the savage and anarchic instinct of humans since Golding was inspired by World War II. After reading this novel, we can say that even in the dark, there will be faint starlight; no matter how big an ugly shell is, it cannot cover the heart of goodness; even if you are alone in the dark, the morning sun will rise on time to illuminate the dark earth. Friends, please believe that as long as you open your heart, the light will shine to warm you!
Fredericks, Sarah, and William Golding. Lord of the Flies. Salem Press, a Division of EBSCO Information Services, Inc., 2017.
