Good vs. Evil - Lord of the Flies

Goldings’ showed the boys’ decent into savagery with these two symbols to prove his point that even young boys can become evil. He also makes it a point, that without some form of authority, or organization, we would all end up with the same fate as Simon and Piggy. However, he also doesn’t completely disregard the idea of savagery, as becoming savage is ultimately what gets them rescued, implying that savagery and order are intertwined more than it may seem. In conclusion, Goldings’ message is that all human nature is corrupt, including boys that were innocent before the island, and boys that no longer be the same after the

One example of Goldings pessimism being shown in his book is the boy's descent into savagery without rules set up by others. At first they try to make rules of their own but there is no real backing behind any of them to keep them from disobeying.

Symbolism is prominent throughout the book, Lord of the Flies. William Golding’s stated purpose is “the shape of a society must depend on the ethical nature of the individual and not on any political system” (238). In the book, Golding demonstrates that when put into an environment without civilization, many will turn to evil. The nature within the individual, whether evil or otherwise, determines the nature of the society in which he lives. Light and dark is the most significant symbol that Golding uses to develop his purpose. He uses light and dark to represent good and evil, and civilization and savagery, and shows the stages of the descent from civilization into savagery.

To summarise, Golding is using the island as a microcosm for the outside world as he writes about how the boys use fire against the island and this can symbolise man’s destruction of nature. Golding uses a lot of different techniques throughout the story, but the technique he uses the most is, pathetic fallacy as in the weather, as he uses it in many different place to show the feeling of the boys and the island of what is happening at the time. For example, at Simon’s there is a wild storm going on but there is also a wild dance going on, this could also show how the island is shouting out to the boys to try and make them stop. When Simon is washed out to sea, the weather is very peaceful as if the island is respecting Simon and what he tried to tell the

Throughout Lord of the Flies, Golding shows his views of the inherent evil of humans. He shows how humans can be in such a savage state, practically mimicking the way of life of their prehistoric ancestors. He exemplifies this with acts of carnage carried on by the young stranded children. It all started with a slight urge to hunt down a pig and then continued on to murdering another human being. Golding shows his views best at the end of the book with the boys being rescued by a Navy crew, which would go on to war it self.

Golding uses the characters from Lord of the Flies just as Shakespeare did to prove that man is turned to evil. The narrative illustrates a story about a group of British boys who get stranded on a deserted island without any adults. This lack of a stable society and presence of leadership forces the boys to create their own, and this works for the boys for a while. The boys turn themselves into savages and begin to do evil deeds which continue to get worse until they are rescued. In the time between their rescue, the society the boys create devolves and turns them into savages although this was not always the case. When the boys first arrived, Ralph, the fair haired boy, attempts to lead them in a civilized manner, but through the influence of Jack, many of the boys become evil. Jack mutants against Ralph saying, “ I'm not going to be a part of Ralph lot... I'm going off by myself. He can catch his own pigs. Anyone who wants to hunt when I do can come too,” (Golding 127) in saying this Jack has made most of the boys on the island betray their leader which proves both Jack and his followers to be evil. The society the boys created glorifies violence and death:“... the boys… found themselves eager to take part in this demented… society.” (Golding 152). Jack, the leader of the violent tribe, often takes his followers on gruesome hunts on which they graphicly disembowel the kill, and after the hunt, Jack leads a chant while the other boys stand

After World War II countries were in shambles, overran with fear that was fueled by the abundance of hate and violence that stemmed from Germany. The plentiful amounts of evil William Golding was witnessing drove him to write Lord of the Flies. Form this, we can conclude that aspects of his story are an allegory to what Golding observed throughout the war. In his story, William Golding expresses the importance of a civilization’s nature to be ethically correct and explains that without the precise guidance, the natural savageness of humans can prevent society from thriving. Golding’s statement is correct because without society’s moral compass humans would revert to their savage nature, pray on the weak, and would be driven toward aggression.

The Lord of the Flies by William Golding is tale of a group of young boys who become stranded on a deserted island after their plane crashes. Intertwined in this classic novel are many themes, most that relate to the inherent evil that exists in all human beings and the malicious nature of mankind. In The Lord of the Flies, Golding shows the boys' gradual transformation from being civilized, well-mannered people to savage, ritualistic beasts.

Every human being is savage at heart, no matter how hard they try to oppress it. Evil is an instinct, a part of human kind, but what exactly is evil and what defines it? Mr. Golding believes that evil is intrinsic to human beings; he shows some examples of evil in the Lord of the Flies, in a form called bullying. Bullying increases the bully’s self-confidence, while it lowers the victim’s, in this case Jack harass Piggy to increase his self-assurance. Humans have two desires that conflict with each other: to live by civilization and to live by savagery. The civilized impulse we have is to live peacefully, morally, and by rules and laws. The savage characteristic we have is to act violently, using force to gain authority and power over

Knowing William Golding took part of World War II, we as readers can understand why Golding wrote Lord of the Flies and other survival-fiction novels. When the story was released in 1954, Golding described his book as "an attempt to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature." It is unmistakably obvious to anyone who reads this book that Golding is trying to exaggerate the good and evil in the boys on the island. Throughout the book, we learn that people, including children, are not pure goodness. Deep inside there is an evil constantly trying to rise to the surface of our minds. Golding proves that eventually the evil within us will destroy us. Golding saw in World War II what

‘Lord of the Flies’ is based almost entirely on Golding’s view that evil is an inherent force in every man, “man produces evil as a bee produces honey”. Golding acquired this belief while he was a soldier in the Second World War. From that point on, he became extremely pessimistic about human nature, calling it “the disease of being human”. This belief is shown very clearly, as he puts ‘innocent’ children on a deserted island, free of all corruption; free of an external threat, therefore with no need of an army; abundant in food and supplies, therefore with no need to steal. Therefore, what evil was left could only come from the

William Golding uses young boys on an island as an example to show that the world is

Lord of the Flies by William Golding is an explanation of the tendencies of human nature. It could be described as a classic good vs evil situation. Khalil Gibran’s poem Good and Evil puts forth a very similar message, of the power struggle between good and evil within ourselves. Both works ask us: what are the limits of the human spirit and how do we fight evil within ourselves?

Have you ever wonder what it would be like stranded on an island with a group of boys? Now that you have thought about it, did you think about how the boys would act if it was good or evil? While in the novel, Lord of the Flies, William Golding claims that human nature is evil but really the boys on the island go through a lot of unfortunate events. No matter how much evil the boys have in them they still have good within, which matters even when the good seems small in the face of evil.

Human nature can be complicated when faced with certain situations, and has both goodness and evil. William Golding, author of Lord of The Flies, has suggested in his novel the belief that evil with always predominate after the breakdown of law and order. However, this is not always the case, as shown by Ralph and the boys on an uninhabited island in the novel, Lord of The Flies. The actions of Ralph’s defiance towards Jack and his tribe, Samneric’s loyalty to Ralph, and Ralph’s rescue counter Golding’s belief and instead, demonstrate their remaining good on a wild, uncontrolled island.