In the novel Lord of the flies, Golding associates civilization with inherently good and savagery with inherently evil; but believes humans are inherently evil. In the novel Lord of the flies by William Golding, Ralph is the one who has order, leadership, and civilization. Piggy has the scientific and intellectual aspects of civilization. Jack represents savagery and the want to have power. Simon has a natural human goodness. Roger is brutal and has bloodlust.
The author uses the characters to prove his point of view. The main thing that shows the humans are evil is their lose of innocence and they want to get back to civilization. The boys start out in chapter three as carefree and fun. For example on page 64 “Ralph climbed out of the bathing pool and trotted up the beach and set in the shade beneath the palms. …Simon was floating in the water and kicking with his feet, and Maurice was practicing diving. ”Throughout the novel they built huts and tried to maintain some form of civilization. We need shelters” (pg 51). At first their hunting started out as a way to get there food, than later on in the novel hunting become more of a game than a way to survive. ”Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Bash her in”(Pg 75) Golding may use children to show how humans lose their sense of civilization if not kept in check; he doesn’t mean it only happens to children. He is trying to show that its is something that exists within everybody and the only things that keep it in check is civilization and innocence.
In the beginning, the meadow is beautiful and peaceful, But when Simon comes back later on in the novel, he sees the sevarded sow’s head on a stake in the middle of a clear spot “Simon discovered that he had spoken aloud. He opened his eyes quickly and there was the head grinning amusedly in the strange daylight, ignoring theflies, the spilled guts, even ignoring the indignity of being spike on a stick” (pg 137). When the head is offered to the beast it changes the meadow. Which changed the children’s innocence.
Another symbol of the natural evil in the beings is the pigs head on the steak. Which the Simon calls ‘lord of the flies’ because it is covered in buzzing flies. Thus the physical of the beast; it symbolized the power of evil that brings out the evil/beast within each of the boys. This pig at a later point in the novel speaks to Simon about the evil within, calling it fun; this is the point within the novel were it becomes the most important image. This is shown on pg 144, “I’m warnming you. Im going to get angry. D’you see? You’re not wanted. Understand?
We are going to have fun on this island! ” This is also the first major turning point in the boys and their being overcome by human nature and evil. Which ultimately leads to demise of some of the boys. In the end of the story the boys are rescued. However it is not exactly a happy ending. For the last part of the story Ralph is hiding in the woods away from the other boys so as to save his own life. The boys are resued by an officer of the navy. This is officer is so shocked at how the boys have gone from civilized to a bunch of wildly savage hulagums. Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the true,… “ He is even more shocked that these at one time where British boys. These are many examples where we can see what Golding is trying to tell us. He is trying to press upon his belief that the way of savergy is natural and primal verses the way of moral and rightous behavior. He feels that ‘good’ is forced upon humans and bent because of civilization. This story is just one big example that shows he belief that if we are left to our own nature than this world would be one of cruelty and savagery with no end.
