Evil In Lord Of The Flies Essay

The theme of the Lord of the Flies is that man has an innate sense of evil hidden deep inside, and once the right time arises it can surface, resulting in both the destruction of man and nature. In the Lord of the Flies, a group of boys fleeing WWII are shot down and stranded on an uninhabited island. They try to continue a civilized lifestyle, but many of the boys turn into savages, killing two boys, until finally the survivors are rescued. The theme of man’s innate evil is symbolized in the story through the transformation of many of the boys into savages. William Golding expertly demonstrates this through the transition of Jack from human to savage, “... and for a minute became less a hunter than a furtive thing, ape-like among the tangle of trees.” (49) When Jack arrives on the island he is an orderly leader of a choir, but as the story progresses he becomes …show more content…
This savageness appears to only touch Jack and his choir, however Ralph and Piggy are also affected. At the feast where Simon is killed, Ralph and Piggy are present with the circle of kids that kill Simon. Under the right circumstances even good people can do bad things. William Golding further demonstrates the theme of the novel through his description of Piggy’s death, “The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments […] His head opened up and stuff came out and turned red.” (181) Piggy is killed by another boy turned savage named Rodger. Piggy’s death supports the theme as this is the destruction of man. Neither Rodger, nor any of his fellow savages felt any remorse; as savages they are insensitive to death. Golding shows this when he describes Piggy’s death in a short paragraph. This is uncharacteristic of his normally extremely descriptive writing style and symbolizes how the characters care less and less about human

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