In "The Lord of the Flies" William Golding has attempted to position readers to see that society is destined to failure because of the defects of human nature. He has done this through the characters in the story and their response to certain events.
The 2 boys Ralph and Jack represent the two sides of order, rules and civilization. Through his development of these two characters and through events in the story Golding highlights the negative aspects of human nature and shows the society breaking down.
Golding's mythical beast also backs up the argument of human nature causing society's demise. It is he "beast in us all" which, when unleashed, breaks down society.
Piggy and Simon both represent positive aspects of society and are killed by other characters - the negative human traits causing death of necessary traits of a successful society.
The various characters responses to events in the story such as the conch shell, the fire and Piggy's glasses, all contribute to showing that defects in humans cause society to fail.
Lord of the Flies
English: Cottages, The Green, Marlborough William ...
GoldingsRalph represents leadership, order, rules and civilization - He is representative of a culture that the boys are used to where leadership is used for the good of people, especially protection of the 'littleuns' who represent people ruled by government. However this order breaks down quickly due to the non-conforming Jack who also wants to rule but with different ideals. He is not democratically elected but is a self-elected dictator, denouncing Ralph's leadership, demanding to be the leader to fight the beast. "im chief". This causes a split between the boys with Jack's tribe showing all the negative traits of human nature and having the larger following. His tribe shows cruelty in its treatment of other humans, pleasure in slaughtering pigs, bloodlust in painting their...