Who Knows What Evil Lurks in the Hearts of Marooned Choir Boys?

The Lord of the Flies by William Golding is considered to be one of the most influential and often controversial pieces of literature from the 1950's. Published in the midst of the Cold War, this novel was perhaps a fulfillment of whatever prophecy convinced Golding to abandon the sciences at the Oxford College where his father taught in favor of studying the English language and literature in greater depth. Work in the independent theaters of "very, very far-off-Broadway theater," Royal Navy during wartime, and even the English educational system, were all in preparation for his masterpiece to come in 1954. Dissatisfied with wars between nations and within the school system, Golding made profound statements through the book. Success would finally accompany Lord of the Flies when, in 1959, it was published in the United States. Something about this book struck America - and the rest of the world - as frightening and truthful, insightful and dangerous, abhorrent and appealing. Why would a novel about a group of shipwrecked schoolboys on a deserted island, fighting for survival against the forces of nature, instantly become a classroom standard? So easily this plot line could have dissolved into the trash of 1950's pulp fiction, yet it easily maintained the dignity and importance of the great literature Golding held in high esteem. The forces of nature at work against the school boys of The Lord of the Flies were not just those brought in with the wind and the rain and hiding beneath the dense brush of the forest; the real forces of nature at work for these children was the darkness within their own hearts and the fear that accompanies it. This book is an examination of the inherent evil that is human nature, and the fear that controls every human's actions. Golding was able to convey this darkness and fear through his mastery of the English language; the vivid and visual writing style, execution of allusion and metaphor through characters and story elements, and portrayals of major plot events create a book that is not only readable, but also an important journey into the nature of every human.

The Lord of the Flies is a book that reads at a fast pace but remains in the mind for careful consideration. Not dissimilar from the works of James Barrie (Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, Peter and Wendy), this complex story has the air of the children's adventure book. Simple and descriptive chapter titles are fitting for the sans-serif type narration that clearly states the facts at hand. Yet this is not dull writing, but rather a style that utilizes vivid colors and images. For example, color imagery is common - pink relating to the innocent, black and red relating to the tainted, and yellow to the emerging innocent but messianic themes. The descriptions of that which are good and right in the world fall like baby's breath into the mind's ears of the reader, and the things which are unsettling scrape like poisoned sidewalk gravel. In fact, the simplicity of the sentence structure make the visual descriptions even more effective because they are so stark, almost as naked as the boys turning savage on the island. The use of color as a visual and metaphorical aid is highly important to the foundation of Golding's tale of evil within the hearts of men.

Light and dark become important factors throughout the book. It is Ralph that ponders, "If faces were different when lit from above or below-what was a face? What was anything?" (78) Use of the shadows to deceive occurs throughout Lord of the Flies. It is very much up to the interpretation of the beholder to decide who is showing his true face and who is showing a face meant to deceive, and also to understand that everything in the world around a person can only take on the meaning that he allows it to. It is the darkness on the island that keeps the physical incarnation of the beast masked from discovery by the boys. Not wanting to admit that the darkness and evil that was there on the island was actually themselves, they searched for a physical beast, and when the dead pilot was found hanging from a tree, he looked to the children to be an ape-like monster. The darkness allowed them to see a horrible creature onto which to vent all fears and avoid turning that fear inward.

This incarnation of the beast within the children and physically upon the island - and in fact the island itself -- are allegorical of the Christian mythology that so rampantly preaches about the inherent evil of man and his fear of punishment for that very nature. Golding's description if the island implies it to be a kind of Neverland / Eden. "Here at last was the imagined but never fully realized place leaping into real life." (15) But even from the title of the book, the reader knows that this paradise, and the new people that reside within it, are destined to fall. Golding has named his work Lord of the Flies after a (possibly mistranslated) title of Satan. Beelzebub, the mythical, rebellious, and powerfully dangerous beast of the Christian pantheon, tempted Eve within her Garden to taste things forbidden in exchange for knowledge and defiance, and forever she tainted all humankind with Original Sin. The boys attempt to weed out the evil in the form of a hunt for the body of the Beast, but the Lord of the Flies mocks their misled efforts. "There isn't anyone to help you. Only me. And I'm the Beast... Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!... You knew, didn't you? I'm part of you? Close, close, close! I'm the reason why it's no go? Why things are the way they are?" (142) In the Bible, the Beast is prophesied to come from the air and from the sea. From the air falls the physical incarnation of the beast in the form of the downed pilot; from the sea comes the plane-full of the boys themselves. It comes to be understood that while there may be a traditionally non-kosher swine head idol-offering standing as a visual representation of the beast, the true beast is the evil and corruption of the humans. When speaking of the Beast, Simon said, " 'What I mean is... Maybe it's only us.'... Simon became inarticulate in his efforts to express mankind's essential illness." (89)

The evil nature of mankind is not without some limitations however, because the fear of punishment for acts of wrongdoing remains within each person. In agreement with Ralph, Jack says, "We've got to have rules and