Lord Of The Flies : The end of innocence and the "darkness of mans heart" are a consequence of the savage instincts in all people.

Lord of the Flies is a novel written by William Golding about a boy and his savagery. In the near future England is threatened by an outbreak of nuclear war. A plane full of English boys crashes on a deserted island alone and isolated. Over several months they show their true nature and are no longer what they used to be. The island has taken its toll on the young boys. Because their guidelines and ties to civilization have been shattered by the plane crash, they have nowhere to turn but others around them and what is inside them. The end of innocence and the "darkness of mans heart" are a consequence of the savage instincts in all people.

The main theme of the novel is the instincts to live by rules and to viciously obtain any desires you have, not unlike that of World War II. "Roger gathered a handful of stones and began to throw them.

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Brain and Instincts

Lord of the Flies

Yet there was a space round Henry, Perhaps six yard in diameter, into which he dare not throw. Here, invisible yet strong, was taboo of the old life. Round the squatting child was the protection of parents and school and police and the law" (62) This describe the beginnings of Roger's cruelty to the littleuns, an important early step in the group's decline into savagery. Roger wants to torment Henry, the littlun, by hitting him with stones, but the remainder of social behavior are still to strong to completely give in. He feels constrained by "parents and school and policemen and the law," that enforce laws and rules. During wartime, soldiers sent out to battle are told to do what normally is wrong. They are sent out with society's rules about how it is wrong to kill another human being...