Evil in Lord of the Flies Essay Example

In the novel, Lord Of The Flies, William Golding shows his perspective on man kind and how evil is created, some believe it's taught either by parents or society, and others believe man is born with it. At first glance the novel seems as though it was written for entertainment however William Golding had deeper thoughts in mind. William created his characters in the novel based on the thought process of mankind being born evil and that man embraces that evil as he becomes uncivilized. William believes everyone has evil in them, some more than others and man refuses to believe they are evil. Majority of evil within society is clouded by civilization and rules, once those rules are gone or ignored the savages within man come out and fear takes over making mankind do unimaginable things. Civilization and rules keep mankind from becoming savages with evil intentions. The idea of mankind being born evil is shown within the characters of the abandoned boys in Lord Of The Flies. Ralph, the chief, created rules with the help of Piggy in order to survive and Jack implied the rules, until he became power hungry and chose disobedience and fun over real work letting out the savage within him and many others following in his footsteps. Fear and power embrace the evil within mankind without civilization holding man together.

Lord Of The Flies is set in a place during war, and while flying home young British military school boys get shot from the sky landing on a deserted island with no adults surviving. In the beginning a boy named Ralph, a name which symbolizes civilization and democracy, takes the role of chief with a boy they call Piggy, which symbolizes intellect and rationalism, helping him. William uses this symbolism throughout the novel to show how without civilization and democracy man would destroy everything including themselves. Jack, whose name symbolizes savagery, used fear as his way to the top reassuring them with mind games. As time went on on the island, rules and a plan on how they will be rescued turned to lost memories. The fire for smoke, shelters for sleep and a conch as a symbol for who is in charge was destroyed. Everything was good, there was hope until “beasty”, as the little-uns called it, was created. 

Jack was always power hungry but he wasn’t born to be a leader. He used this need for power to become a hunter, the need to kill surged through him, he was destructive whereas Ralph, with the help of Piggy, was the protector with the need to keep the young boys safe. Together, Ralph and Piggy built huts and attempted to keep a fire going. Jack's destruction and new found hobby of killing pigs was the start of the savage within him coming out. Jack and his fellow hunters would paint their faces symbolizing them becoming savages. The power he felt transferred to Roger and together it went from simply killing pigs, to finding a beast, killing a sow and then to killing boys. Roger and Jack were unstoppable and this made the other boys reluctantly follow them afraid of what would happen if they didn't. 

Fear makes people do and believe crazy things. In the novel fear of the dark and the feeling of being alone creates the imaginative beast creating a fear within the boys. The fear within the boys and the need to kill this beast helped bring out the evil. Jack feeds this fear by promising to keep the boys safe “I know there isn't no beast “ 76, “We're strong - we hunt! If there's a beast, we'll hunt it down! We'll close in and beat and beat and beat - !" 99. Simon, whose name symbolizes goodness, was the only boy aware of who the real beast was. Simon's attempt to tell the boys that the beast was really within them led to his death before the words were heard. Fear took over in their society and the evil in all the boys was shown bringing great danger to each other. 

Civilization or rather the lack of civilization is an important role in this novel. As the boys became uncivilized forgetting who they were and the need to be rescued they showed a new side of them, they became savages. It started with painting their faces, hiding their identity. Then the need to kill took over, the dance and chant was the next sign of the evil within them being in control

The deepest meaning behind William Golding’s novel is that man cannot accept that evil is within him. When there is nothing good or positive in a person's life, evil overtakes them. Evil comes in many shapes and forms pushing you to do scary things. Evil within man grows because man will not accept the fact it's happening so therefore cannot stop it. As the boys lost any hope of being rescued, negativity took over creating hate and evil. The boys stopped caring about everything, each other, themselves, and they stopped caring about their appearance. They lived right beside the water but after a while they stopped bathing. The boys became selfish; they cared more about their own survival and being leaders than they did about helping each other, and coexisting together.

Being uncivilized and fear brings out the evil in all of mankind. A society led by fear and evil will eventually self-destruct and turn into a game of last man standing. Working with others, helping each other and keeping hope alive will help keep civilization together. In the end of Lord Of The Flies the boys took a moment and looked back at the island and the damage they had done realizing the beast, the evil, was them.