Lord of the Flies - How Does Golding Show Mankind's Inner Evil? Do You Agree with His Assumption That Man Is Basically Evil?

Lord of the Flies

How does Golding show mankind's inner evil? Do you agree with his assumption that man is basically evil?

Lord of the Flies is a book written by William Golding, influenced greatly by the events in World War II, when the news of the Holocaust and the concentration camps were materializing. Golding was shaken at the terrible nature of war and what humans can do to one another, not referencing the Holocaust or other wartime crimes, but for humans to be unaware ably evil. The book, Coral island, by Robert Ballantyne in 1857, which was a book about three boys shipwrecked on a pacific island and their victory over their situations, also influenced Golding, and the character names are similar to those in Coral island, Deliberately, as Golding says.

In the dictionary, the definition of Evil is that of morally bad or wrong, Characterised by anger or is malicious, Also one violating or inconsistent with the moral law.

Golding introduces the theme that evil, as a destructive force in man, society and civilisation is present in us all. Golding used the beastie, described by the little uns to represent evil that is part of human nature. After dusk, they describe that the beast lurks in the jungle, hunting and it wishes to overcome them. By day, the 'beast' disguises itself as creepers that innocently hang among the canopy of the trees. The vines may represent human nature in the daylight of civilisation, but in the darkness in a new environment, their real predatory nature surfaces. The little'uns scream in terror at the burning creepers during the forest fire "Snakes! Snakes! Look at the Snakes!"

this is said to be an allusion to the serpent in the garden of Eden, who stole innocence and brang civilization to its own physicality.

Golding shows man's inner evil many ways throughout the text, but one of the main ways he expressed this is through characters such as Jack and Roger.

Jacks first appearance was with his choir which was thought to be a dark creature, but it turned out to be a 'party of boys' marching in time in two parallel lines and dressed in strange clothing, possibly referencing uniformed military, seen to be evil from the beginning. Jack's warlike attitude is clear from the start as he volunteers his choir to be hunters and he also carries around a knife.

Jack wanted to keep rules, and agreed that they all had to co-operate "I agree with Ralph. We've got to have rules and obey them. After all, we're not savages. We're English, and the English are best at everything. So we've got to do the right things" but began to descend in to savagery and of an evil nature, and became a dominant and aggressive character, which is shown consistently with his disrespect for Piggy: 'You're talking to much...Shut up, Fatty.' Although Jack is eager to make rules and punish those who break them, he continues to break them himself when he needs to do things in his interest, his main interest is hunting, where the urge to hunt and kill for meat builds up to the overpowering urge to kill and control other living creatures. Jack dominates his choir with his militaristic attitude, and orders them around at his own will "Altos--you keep the fire going this week; and trebles the next---". Whenever Jack wants things to his advantage, he will twists Ralph's words; "He would have never got us meat" stating that hunting skills are a necessity for a successful leader.

Roger