Lord Of the Flies

Lord of the Flies

English: Cottages, The Green, Marlborough William ...

Lord of the Flies

“We shall do you. See? Jack and Roger and Maurice and Robert and Bill and Piggy and Ralph. Do you. See?” (Golding 178). The lord of the flies said this quote to Simon. It ominously declares that Simon is unable to escape from him. On hearing that, Simon is very frightened, he collapses and loses consciousness. From here, the lord of the flies tells Simon that evil lies within each human heart and soul. This quote clearly proves that evil is inherent and exist in every man. Also through this quote, Golding also tries to relate the savagery instinct that exists in every human soul with the evil which is inherent in every human being. The idea of evil exist on the island and the evil being within the boys is one of the main novel purpose of exploring the human savagery which is told by Golding that is strongly related to the evil that inherent in every human soul. Golding is said to pessimistic when writing this novel, he keeps foreshowing that evil certainly does exist within each of the boys, but the evil which is inherent in each of the boy’s heart and soul has not completely surface. Nevertheless, the evil side of the boys is slowly brought out as the story progresses. Savagery, which is most related to evil, is becoming more evidently pronounced than civilization. This shows that after a long time away from civilization world, human tend to lose contact with civilization, thus bringing out the savagery out the savagery and evil that exist in the heart and soul. This means that the evil is slowly gaining control of their mind and soul as the story progresses. In order to express the main theme of the Lord of the Flies, which is evil inherent in every man, Golding creates three deaths in the novel to portray the main theme of the novel.

The first death in the Lord of the Flies is the death of the boy with the mulberry patch on his face. This death shows that evil is inherent in mankind. “The little’un with that had a mark on his-face-where is he now. I tell you I don’t see him?” (Golding 60). This quote is said by Piggy when the boys tries to start a fire but the fire at the fire at the end turn out to be a disaster which burn down the forest. The boy with the mulberry patch on his face is accidentally caught in the fire and is burnt to death. This quote is very significant which initially expresses the main idea that evil exist in mankind. It is Piggy who first realizes that the boy with the mark on his face has gone missing. The rest of the boys didn’t care much when they heard of it. The evil in the boys shouldn’t be thoroughly blamed as the cause of the first death of the boy. The first death is unintentional. It is actually their mistake which causes the death of the boy with the mulberry patch on his face. As the leader, Ralph should take care of everyone’s safety. And make sure that everyone is on top of the mountain. Before Piggy realizes that the boy is missing, Ralph propose that they go up the mountain and start a fire as the smoke from the fire will caught the attention of ship passing by. Eventually, the fire gets out of control and the forest goes up in smoke and the boy with the mulberry patch on his face is burnt to death. The boys do not show any regret towards the death of the boy. “The boys look each at other fearfully, unbelieving.” (Golding 60). After they realize that the boy with the mulberry patch on his face has been burnt to death by the fire, the boys are shocked and appalled, and Ralph is ashamed. This is because as the leader of the group, he should have taken a good care of the group members, but he fails to do so. Instead of trying to recover the boy’s body, all the boys just pretend that nothing has happened and continue to carry on their daily lives as usual. As you see can see here, this dawn on the reader that the boys do not care about the missing boy with the mulberry patch on his face much. The death of the boy did not have an real impact on the rest of the boys. The regret in their heart is only temporary only. This shows that the boys not have a sense of responsibility for the smaller boys as the big boys should take care of the smaller boys. Although the first death is an accident but it clearly shows that evil exist in every human heart and soul. By using the first death of the boy with mulberry patch on his face, Golding successfully express the main theme of this novel to all readers that evil is inherent in every man.

The second death in the Lord of the Flies is the death of Simon, which is another progress in the novel to show the sign of evil truly exist in man. “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood! Do him in!” (Golding188). This quote is used as a chant and it shows that the boys have turned savage because the evil within them has slowly gained control of them. A storm is fast approaching and it is going to rain soon. Piggy urges Ralph to leave quickly because he fears that there is going to be trouble. Ralph tells the rest of the boys that there is going to be storm and what are their plans to stay out of the storm. He asks this question because he knows that Jack hasn’t build any shelter. By asking this question, he hopes to win back his authority as the chief. Jack tries to reassure the little’uns that is safe to follow him by ordering them to do the pig hunting ritual. The boys soon began to dance and chant wildly, this shows that they had turn savage. The storm begins and the rain starts to pour down. Suddenly, a figure emerges from the forest. It is actually Simon but the boys mistaken it as the beast. The boys are caught up of the mad dancing and they can not recognize Simon. They mistake Simon as the beast and start to chase him. Simon actually shows up to tell them the beast that the boy assume is a rotting crops. But Simon end up violently beaten up to his death. In a logic way of thinking, the boys can actually recognize Simon. Although it is dark, they can still assume that it was actually Simon through his size. This shows that in just a short time, the boys turn savage because of the evil inherent in them. In this case, they become so evil that they had strike Simon like an animal when they find out that they had actually kill Simon in the next morning. Ralph feel guilty as they are involved in the killing of Simon. Piggy denies involvement in the killing of Simon.. He even comes out with a reason they are scarred that night as the chanting volume rises. He also blames Simon action for climbing out of the forest in the dark. “That what it was. An accident.” (Golding 193) From this quote, we can see that the evil side within Piggy, like the other boys, is slowly surfacing. Golding, once again being pessimistic and brings out the main idea, that evil exist in man but to a higher degree this time.

The third death in Lord of The Flies is the death of Piggy. The death strongly shows that evil exists in man. The evil that exist in mankind now is at the highest degree. “The rock struck Piggy with a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist”(Golding 222). This quotes tells us that how Piggy gets killed. From the way he get killed, it shows that evil is inherent in every human and the evil is now at the highest degree. Ralph, Piggy, Sam and Eric go to Castle Rock in an attempt to get Piggy’s glasses back.. Ralph also brings the conch with him because he also wants to regain his rightful authority. While piggy is waiting down in Castle Rock, Ralph is denied entry by Roger. Suddenly, Jack appears and a group appears from the jungle, dragging a killed pig. Jack commands Ralph to leave the camp, while Ralph demands Jack to return Piggy glasses. Both of them broke into a fight after Ralph calls Jack as a thief. Sam and Eric are both taken as prisoners and they are tied up shortly after.. As the fight goes on, Piggy who was down there and hardly to be heard ask the boys whether is it better to be a pack of Indians or be sensible like Ralph. Roger, the torture specialist, rolls down a giant boulder down a hill. The boulder strikes Piggy right in his head. This is where Piggy deaths takes place. Here, we can see that Roger is a pure evil and is the most evil among the boys. The degree of evil that lies within him is at the highest level among the boys. After Piggy horrifying death, Jack does not show any compunction and self-reproach for Piggy’s death. To make it worst, he blames Ralph for everything. “I’m chief” (Golding 223). This quote is said by Ralph in an attempt to defend his position and he tries to regain his power as the rightful leader of the group. At the same time, Ralph too does not show much compassion and pity towards Piggy’s death because it is intentional. Instead of feeling sorry for Piggy, he still fights for his rightful authority and power in order to regain his status as the chief over there. Here we can also say that there is evil within the heart and soul of Ralph is slowly appearing as his reaction towards Piggy death is negative. Golding manages to strongly express that evil truly inherent in every man. This time through using Piggy’s death, Golding shows to the reader the highest degree of evil that may exist in man.

“They hate you, Ralph. They are going to do you. There are going to hunt you to-morrow” (Golding 232). From this quote, Sam urges Ralph to go away because Jack and the rest of the hunters will come after him. Again Golding’s idea is straight forward and clear that evil lies within all men. The evil within the boys is progressing throughout the story. From one death to another death, we can see that evil is slowly gaining control of the boys mind and soul. Golding has successfully associates the theme of the novel, linking it with solid proof, showing to the reader that evil is truly inherent in mankind.

Works Cited.

Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. England: Mackays of Chatham PLC, Chatham, Kent, 1999.

GradeSaver. "GradeSaver: Search." www.gradesaver.com. 17 September 2007. GradeSaver.17September2007 .

Sendan Kendatsuba

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