The novel, Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, has an extremely enigmatic quality to its content so that the motives of the author are not straightforwardly expressed. In Usha George’s book William Golding: A Critical Study, George analyzes the purposes behind Golding’s work. George characterizes Golding as someone who “denounces the complacency of the modern man”, meaning that Golding is against the omnipresent and self-gratifying, almost narcissistic, quality of the humankind. It is this quality that is reflected in the way the humankind avoids looking past the "rash" that exists in each and every individual man. The "rash" George refers to symbolizes the beastlike qualities the boys feel periodically. It acts as the tip of an iceberg and underneath the tip lies something ominous. In the novel, the boys notice this "rash" but ignore it until it becomes a much greater threat. This threat is not surrounding them but inside of them and it is what George mentions as “perennial in the human condition”. George’s analysis of Golding’s works is validated through Lord of the Flies because the novel demonstrates the intrinsic malevolence of the humankind as well as the conflicting conventions that go against man’s instinctive nature. The perennial quality in the human condition is essentially the enduring and eternal inborn evilness of every individual. This trait displays itself vividly in Lord of the Flies and embodies in one of the boys on the island, Jack. He exemplifies the idea of the naturalistic evilness of man. On page 53 Jack states, “If you’re hunting sometimes you catch yourself feeling as if…you’re not hunting, but—being hunted,” This is one of the first instances where Jack expresses his beastlike qualities and in this instance, Jack’s tone of voice is one of desire, longing, and craving. The mood that is created after Jack made this statement to Simon and Ralph is that of puzzlement and contains a trace of fear because Simon and Ralph cannot relate to what Jack is feeling. It is also in this instance where the “rash” begins to itch. Jack, unlike Simon and Ralph, embraces the rash and lets himself to be subjugated by it. He eventually becomes an unrestrained beast which is shown through his demonic chants, torture, violence, and the donning of the face-paint mask which hides Jack’s sense of right and wrong. Ironically, the children on the island are not afraid of Jack but instead they think there is a physical beast on the island. In fact, there is a beast on the island, but it is part of the roots of man and takes no physical form. It is not only shown in Jack but in the other boys on the island as well. As stated by
