Lord of the Flies theme essay

Today’s essay is a level one response to Lord of the Flies’.

Describe an idea that interested you in the text. Explain why this idea interested you.

An interesting idea in William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies” is that man is inherently evil. This is interesting because Golding uses schoolboys to portray the idea, which is to show us that no matter what age or social class, given the chance, the primitive and savage nature of man will emerge.

On discovering their situation the boys go about trying to form some social order and a system of leadership. From this act we learn that the boys are still bound by the invisible force of the “taboo of the old life”, which held them within the boundaries of acceptable behaviour. However the boys eventually realise that mistakes and wrong-doings go unpunished as there was nobody with enough authority to punish them. The rein of civilisation was broken when this discovery was made, the beginning of an anarchic society had been established. Jack is the leader of this defiance for rules and law. He deliberately undermines Ralph’s position as “chief” and directs the boys to follow himself instead. Initially, we are lead to believe that Jack is just jealous of the position which Ralph holds but we gradually come to see that his want to be chief is not because of roles he had previously played, instead it is an insatiable hunger for power. Jack has great qualities which make him appealing as a leader such as the ability to promise what his followers want and the fact that he is an imposing figure. He uses the promise of meat and fun to win over the boys, whom he wants to use to create – in a sense – his own “army”.

This group of boys and their newfound freedom encourages them to commit acts they would never have dared under adult leadership. Among these include the pig hunts in which they take great pleasure and a disturbingly sadistic approach. This is a good example of the idea Golding is putting out to us as it shows the ease in which the boys kill a living animal using primitive weapons, such as spears. Before, in the outer world, these same boys were (as implied) innocent, refined and educated. However, once left alone without concrete rules or punishment, these aspects of their life no longer apply and their inner instincts take over.

Golding uses these schoolboys as an eye-opener for the reader to assert that even the young and innocent have a savage nature. Evil isn’t taught to a person, it is born within us and if we don’t have laws and rules controlling us, this evil will be allowed to escape. This is emphasised further by Ralph’s – the rational, reasonable character – momentary loss of control when he also is included in a pig hunt.

Man is inherently evil and if it is not controlled by strict rules with threat of severe punishment, this evil will run free and create immense chaos and disorder. This is the main idea in “Lord of the Flies”. Golding wrote the novel with an intention to teach us this and he does so in a interesting and effective way by using schoolboys as his main characters.