The Nature of Evil in Lord of the Flies Essay Sample

Are human beings capable of controlling their savage nature when removed from civilized society? In Lord of The Flies, William Golding provides an incisive insight into human behavior. A group of young British boys are stranded on an uninhabited island with only themselves with no adults, after their plane crashes. Over the course of time, these boys demonstrate elements of human nature beyond civilization as they are put in a society and environment with no rules, or punishment for their actions. Golding presents that this absence of the constraints of society, drives people from common sense into savagery. He uses symbolism, characterization, and character development to illustrate that humans are inherently evil. Initially the boys attempt to make rules to oblige by, however the rules are broken and the boys break into groups, consequently the island goes into chaos.

When the boys first find themselves on the island, Piggy finds a conch and Ralph uses it to summon all the boys together. Throughout the novel the conch becomes a powerful symbol of order. The boys decide on rules such as  “ Where the conch is, that’s a meeting. The same up here as down there.” (42) and you can only speak when you're holding the conch, this  Ralph remarks that it's similar to “hands up’ like at school” (31), it ties-back to their lives at school, which had strict rules so that they wouldn't be yelling over one another. As the boys realize the extent of their freedom the conch starts to lose its power and influence. 

Once the boys are gathered together Ralph suggests they ought to have a chef, and Jack believes he's the right choice.  “I ought to be chef, because I'm chapter chorister and head boy” (golding 18). But the boys decide against it, and instead appoint Ralph as chef because of his attractive appearance, mature age, dignified “stillness” of character, as well as he blew the conch that led them all together that embedded him with power in the boy's eyes, this infuriated jack. For a while he supports Ralph and maintains moral sense “we’ve got to have rules and obey them. After all we’re not savages” (42) Jack knows there’s a need for order, because of the society he grew up in. When Jack first encounters a pig he is unsuccessful at killing it. Golding wrote  “they knew very well why he hadn’t; because of the enormity of the knife descending and cutting into living flesh; because of the unbearable blood” (29) jack couldn't bear with himself to kill the pig but it gave him motivation and he felt the need to prove to the other boys he could do it “next time” (29). “kill the pig, cut her throat. Spill her blood” (72) Jack kills his first pig in chapter four with the help of the others who formed a ring around the pig. “We’ll go hunting everyday..” Jack claims that hunting is to provide meat for the group, he prioritizes hunting over anything else and soon becomes obsessed due to the satisfaction it provides to his primal instincts and doesn't have anything to do with contributing to the common good. Piggy raises a question  “Which is better - to have rules and agree, or to hunt and kill?” (200)

The imaginary beast is another symbolic figure that golding has implemented into lord of the flies that exhibits the change in human nature as an individual gets further away from civilization. Most of the boys believe there's a beast on the island, the littlun are the first to bring up “a snake-thing. Ever so big” (34). From that point on the fear and belief of the beast grows. They see different figures such as the one of the parachutist and assure it's the beast. The majority believe this theory, except for Simon ``what I mean is….maybe it's only us” (96), he proposes that possibly the beast is only a figure made up in the boys' minds. The boys laugh at the idea and suggest “maybe he means it's some sort of ghost”(96). Simon was the first character to recognize that the beast in reality isn't an external force, but instead represents the savagery of human nature. As for the other boys, their belief in the beast continues to grow stronger, as they become more savage. By the end of the novel Jake and his hunters kill a mother pig nursing her babies. After killing the pig they leave its bloody head, placed on a sharpened stick, as an offering for it. Simon confronts this pig head “fancy thinking the beast was something you could hunt and kill….you knew, didn’t you? I'm part of you?”(158) Though the boys think there's a beast lurking on the island, golding makes it clear it's nothing but a figure in the boys minds. This also acts as a confirmation that since their arrival on the island, the irritation fear has taken over there minds.