Good vs. Evil in William Golding´s Lord of the Flies Essay Example

In the book Lord of the flies, there is a battle between good and evil. This battle takes place between a group of kids. The kids question themselves and ask “What are we? Humans? Or animals? Or savages? What're grownups going to think”(91). They don't know what they have become and they're fighting between being civilized and becoming savages.

One way the battle between good and evil is shown is between Piggy and Jack.

Piggy is fighting for civilization and working as a group but Jack wants all the power and to be the leader. When Jack asks the group for Ralph to be voted out of chief and they don't he says “I’m not going to play any longer. Not with you…I’m not going to be a part of Ralph’s lot—I’m going off by myself. I can catch my pigs. Anyone who wants to hunt when I do can come too” (127). In this quote, we see that jack has fallen into the darkness and is becoming a savage. After this happens many kids join Jack's “savages” this further creates separation between the kids and evil takes over more of them.

The embodiment of good is a boy named Simon. He is a christ-like figure and he is like a parent to the littluns. “Simon found for [the littluns] the fruit they could not reach, pulled off the choicest [and] passed them back to the endless, outstretched hands” (56). Simons would look out for everyone. When Simon discovers that the beast is not real and that the beast is just a dead pilot he goes to tell the boys. When Simon discovers the Boy's they are doing a dance and chanting “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!” they mistake Simon in the storm and darkness for the beast and they kill him. After Simons's death, they plummet further into darkness and evil. Simon was the last sign of goodness, he was a relic of when they first got to the island and they were civilized. When they discover the “beast” they killed was Simon and they make excuses and say it was an accident.

After jack leaves the group and Simon is killed darkness has taken over the boys. After the feast with Jack's “savages,” the rest of the boys join them and it's just piggy and jack left. When piggy and jack go to Jack's fort called castle rock they get into an argument with Jack. During the commotion of Jack and Ralph's fight, Roger pushes a boulder off the cliff crushing Piggy and the conch shell. The death of piggy and the conch shell represents the boys losing hope of being civilized and having order. After piggy's death jack shows no remorse and says “See? See? That’s what you’ll get! I meant that! There isn't a tribe for you anymore! The conch is gone — I'm chief”(181). Jack shows no mercy for Piggy and says Ralph will be next. They have been taken over by evil and are about to be fully savages. When Ralph is fleeing for his life he ends up on the beach where they encounter a military officer. The military officer asks if they are having a war and they say yes and explain what has happened. They then start to cry as they then realize what they have become and they are saved from the beast inside of them. 

The boys had a battle inside of them the battle was becoming savages, animals, or staying humane. This fight consumes the lives of Piggy and Simon. The boy let evil takeover and became evil while idealizing a nonexistent “beast”. They blamed this beast for the evil but the beast was really inside of them and they were the source of evil. They are saved from the hell that the island was by the Military officer Percival Wemyss Madison and their sins are erased. They were saved from the internity of being savages.