William Golding's novel 'Lord of the Flies' highlights an important idea of 'innate evil'
through the descent of the boys, who are isolated on the island, into savagery as
democracy collapses. His portrayal changed my opinion about the essential
goodness of humanity and helped me to agree with Golding’s view of innate evil
inside human heart that will be revealed in the absence of rules and laws of the
society.
The Lord of the Flies is a novel set on a desert island, where some English school
boys crash land and have to fend for themselves, showing us the uncomfortable
possibility of a dystopian society, rather than the utopian one we expect from a
novel. The Lord of the Flies is a response to the 19th century novel, The Coral Island
and tells the story not of English boys triumphing over savages, savagery and the
environment, but captured and ultimately overcome by savagery.
Golding's use of chronological narration portrays how in the beginning Jack wants to
follow the rules of civilised society, yet later in the novel turns to savagery. Jack's
descent into savagery helped me to change my opinion about goodness of humans
into believing that darkness inside human heart is exposed in the absence of civil
laws and rules. At first, Jack wants to hold civilised meetings as he said 'we've got to
have rules and obey them' as well as 'we're not savage' shows he is influenced by the
society to live by rules which hide his instinct of savagery. We are notified 'Most
powerfully there was the conch'. The conch symbolises democracy as we learn that
at the beginning of the novel the boys sustain a powerful democratic society where
the conch serves a useful purpose of making the children follow the rules. Golding
emphasises symbolism of conch to clarify his idea that human beings are
conditioned to live by rules, act peacefully and follow moral commands. Yet in
extreme conditions where rules and laws are absent, humans’ innate evil will be
revealed, exemplified by Jack changing considerably as the boys increasingly ignore
the conch and in the end “the conch exploded into a thousand of fragments and
ceased to exist”. He was unable to kill the pigs at the beginning because 'the
enormity of the knife descending and cutting into living flesh; because of the
unbearable blood' the morals from the civilised world which he used to follow held
him back from killing pigs. However, the civilisation on the island starts breaking up
when Jack said 'we don't need the conch anymore'. We understand savagery is
starting to take over because the conch represents democracy. Jack's attitude of lack
of respect for the conch and rules shows the value of the conch has diminished. His
innate evil soon reveals. Obsession with hunting and his insistence on 'we want
meat', determines his inner evil and bloodlust as his gets satisfaction in slaughtering.
'Kill the pig! Cut her throat! Kill the pig! Bash her in!' we are stunned by children's
barbaric behavior and how Jack is turning into blood thirsty killer. His thinking
becomes sadistic when he tortures the pig for his own amusement and game.
Golding's intention is to show that when isolated on the island and put to the
extreme situation, the darkness in human heart is very easily exposed. Even if we are
shocked by Jack's descent into barbarism, we realise the element of truth in
Golding's assumption of evilness getting exposed when civilisation rules are
abandoned. We watch seemingly decent people looting and rioting on the streets
when there is chaos. This was apparent when Iraq had no government after Saddam
Hussein was toppled. Even after Christchurch earthquake chaos, when the police
were busy in the rescue work, there were opportunists who engaged in looting. Thus
the characterisation of Jack to which we can relate to real life strengthened my idea
about humanity's weakness being highlighted in the absence of law.
Throughout the novel Golding relies heavily on symbolic imagery of the fire to
encapsulate his idea that man can be destructive in the absence of rules and order.
This symbolism strengthens the idea of innate evilness in human heart and helps me
agree with Golding’s view. The fire represents both being rescued and destruction.
Ralph maintains the fire burning to attract the attention of passing ships as a sign for
the chance being rescued. This signal fire represents a connection of the boys to
civilisation. Yet at the beginning 'The flames, as though they were a kind of wild life'
portray the fire going out of control. It effectively foreshadows that the boys will
turn into savages on the island without adults. When Piggy, holding the conch,
appeals that they should make more smoke on top of the mountain, Jack retorts 'The
conch doesn’t count on top of the mountain'. This shows that without rules man can
be destructive and helps strengthen the idea that societal constraints are a learnt
behaviour that is imposed by the system rather than human nature. Jack's innate evil
allows him to live wildly in this condition of anarchy. This is clarified when he is
fixated on hunting and lets the fire go out. We realise that Jack has lost his desire to
be rescued and has accepted the savage life on the island. After serving in World
War two Golding had developed a dark view of European civilization by what he
witnessed. He discovered what one human being is really able to do to another. Even
well educated and “supposedly” educated people like doctors and lawyers carried
out crimes against their own equals. He remarked that “man produces evil, as a bee
produces honey.” Thus in Golding's view, the human impulse towards civilisation is
not as deeply rooted as human impulse towards savagery. His purpose to use Jack’s
character was to highlight the innate evilness in human heart that gets manifested in
the absence of rules and laws.. As children we are taught to believe in goodness of
humanity and we are usually protected from the harsh realities of life. As we grow,
we experience and learn about cases like Bailey Junior Kurariki who at the age of 12
viciously attacked Michael Choy, a pizza delivery boy unprovoked and killed him. This
could only be explained by Golding’s view of innate evilness of human heart. Time
and again we read about real life Jacks in the society all over the world reinforcing
the notion of darkness in human heart that is manifested when the chance arises.
To conclude, Golding has illustrated that innate evil of human heart will reveal when
there are no rules and law. His portrayal of the boys becoming savages on the
isolated island saddens me and reluctantly I have to agree with his opinion that evil
lies within all humans and is hidden by societal influence as we have been moulded
to live with rules Because he has made a strong case by using powerful symbolism
and characterization. Unfortunately even our society has people like Jacks which
further give credence to Golding’s view making me agree with him.
Excellence