Evil in Lord of the Flies Essay Example

Evil or good…can one exist without the other? Or do you need both to survive? William Golding published Lord of The Flies in 1954, a fictional novel illustrating the slow demise of multiple English boys marooned on a deserted island. The book argues how isolation and selfishness can cause savagery in humanity, which in this case resulted in deaths. Some 66 years later, Rutger Bregman revisits this story and compares it to another real-life situation. The situation of 6 young Tongon men also marooned on an island and how they survived by cooperation.  Bregman disagreed with Golding’s version by stating “I remember feeling disillusioned afterward, but not for a second did I think to doubt Golding’s view of human nature”(RLOTF). By this, he states that not all of humanity is set out to be evil, but rather that humans will learn to rise above evil and do the right thing.

Lord of The Flies begins with a plane crashing on an island with a large group of young kids surviving. To be able to create order, the group holds a vote to see who will lead. The candidates are two kids named Jack and Ralph, both seem to have the most knowledge out of the group. Jack, seen as an aggressive and pugnacious kid, states with arrogance “I ought to be chief”(22). But even with this attempt, he still was outnumbered and was silenced when he tried to rebel. This interaction shows how his selfish attitude was not accepted and how he dealt with the situation. This is important because it quickly shows a difference in relationships among each other which plays a vital role down the road. Ralph, with characteristics as a leader, isn’t perfect either. After more time spent on the island, Ralph begins forgetting important things. For instance, a character named Simon leaves for a while and “Ralph remembered what had been worrying him”(132). Meaning that he forgot that he forgot Simon was gone.This shows that the more time they spend on the island, the more they lose touch of society and in this case it was Ralph forgetting. This matters because this takes a toll in everybody’s minds and slowly creates more and more savagery within them. 

When Ralph was elected as the leader everybody got a certain job. In this case, a few of these jobs were the hunters, shelter workers, and fire builders. The main form of order among everyone was in the form of a conch, one can only talk if one has the conch. One of the most important jobs was to keep the fire going all of the time to let any possible nearby ships know they were there. As the group became more selfish and savage, jobs were not being done, and eventually, chaos started. Because of selfishness, these boys were not able to work together and eventually turned on each other, ending in multiple deaths and injuries. But, eventually, they get rescued by a naval officer who saw the smoke. In comparison, Bregman’s story is about a similar situation that really happened.

Bregman tells a story of a group of Tongan boys who decided to go on a fishing trip via a boat which ended up being consequential. After being lost at sea for several days, they finally locate an island and quickly inhabit it. As soon as they got settled, the group came up with a plan which included “to work in teams of two, drawing up a strict roster for garden, kitchen and guard duty. Sometimes they quarrelled, but whenever that happened they solved it by imposing a time-out. Their days began and ended with song and prayer. They tended their flame so it never went out, for more than a year.(RLOTF). “ This shows how the boys were able to work together to create a structure that they were able to abide by for 15 months. This really mattered because this played a huge role in their survival and eventually being rescued.  A huge factor in their survival was finding the right food to eat and being smart with conservation. Bregman talks about how “they survived initially on fish, coconuts, tame birds (they drank the blood as well as eating the meat); seabird eggs were sucked dry. Later, when they got to the top of the island, they found an ancient volcanic crater, where people had lived a century before. There the boys discovered wild taro, bananas and chickens (which had been reproducing for the 100 years since the last Tongans had left)”(RLOTF). Finding the remains of civilization was so important because this helped them live longer. This is a real-life example that can be compared to the book but, there is a huge difference between the two.

While Golding’s beliefs were supported, Bregman doesn't fully agree with his opinion on how humans are inherently evil. Bregman states how he “learned what an unhappy individual he had been: an alcoholic, prone to depression; a man who beat his kids. “I have always understood the Nazis,” Golding confessed, “because I am of that sort by nature.” And it was “partly out of that sad self-knowledge” that he wrote Lord of the Flies”(RLOTF). This shows how Golding was on the evil and radical side of thinking which caused him to apply his mental state into the characters in his book. This matters because it’s an illustration of how dark people can be.  Bregman follows by stating “It’s time we told a different kind of story. The real Lord of the Flies is a tale of friendship and loyalty; one that illustrates how much stronger we are if we can lean on each other”(RLOTF). Meaning that we as people prioritize the success of the group over ourselves as individuals because we cannot survive on our own. 

When interviewing one of the boys, he said “Life has taught me a great deal,” it began, “including the lesson that you should always look for what is good and positive in people”(RLOTF). This coming from one of the survivors shows that if one were to seek positivity, one will reap the benefits.

In conclusion, we as humans are not set out to be evil, but rather that we as humanity will learn to rise above and do what is right. There are major differences between these two stories where one is fictional and the other is non-fictional. This demonstrates the differences on how cooperation and order play a huge role in survival. But, the main question is can evil exist without goodness? Someone has to experience both evil and goodness to make a choice for humankind’s survival.