Man’s Inherent Evil In The Lord Of The Flies By William Golding

Even when mankind feels civilized and at its best,” evil” will slip through. The times evil is shown in The book Lord of the Flies by William Golding is amazing. The people who choose to take power are the ones who show their true colors early on. But those who stay quiet rarely ever show evilness. But those who are louder and take charge are usually evil based on their actions. Adding to this at the start of the book people are already “Quiet”. This characters name is Piggy. Then as the book goes on ‘’evil”, this character is Jack. Even though people can keep the evilness inside it will always end up showing in the long run.

Jack Merridew's want for power allows him to have control of the boys or tribe as they may call it. His leadership was shown throughout the book and when they first meet on the beachhead. He leads the choir and the hunters. Jack's inner evil is shown early on when,” Jack had to think for a moment before he could remember what rescue was.” He said confused,” Yes of course all the same I'd like to catch a pig first...“Jack” (pg.46) Jack said this with confusion as his inner evil is shrouding his mind and making him second guess himself as he is a natural-born hunter and he lets that get in the way of the main factor of trying to get rescued. Ralph was telling the tribe early on they should focus on shelter which was not the best idea for jack who was wanting to hunt" You wouldn't care to help with the shelters, I suppose?" We want meat" And we don't get it" But I shall! Next time! I've got to get a barb on this spear! We wounded a pig and the spear fell out. If we could only make barbs.`` (pg.51) Jack's intent for hunting is already taking control and his loss for the basics of rescue and shelter are fading. Golding shows Jack's lust for power and hunting that he puts a lot of moments in for Jack that shows how power-hungry and blood lustful he is. Merridew's character or jacks, for now, wants power and enjoys feeling in charge.

Piggy is more of a ”quiet” person. Unlike Jack who wants power, he wants to stay civilized and is called the “voice of reason”, for his intellect and civilization. Piggy who's name was never revealed and was bullied in school. He used that and stayed civil and calm. Piggy shows how calm he can be even when forced by pressure, “How can you expect to be rescued if you don't put first things first and act proper. (pg,57) Piggy realized that if they can't start normalizing then things can flow like how they are supposed to. While everyone else is busy or panicked he realizes like hey we need to stay focused or we aren't surviving this. Piggy is sadly killed for only speaking the truth and trying to persuade the group to stay civilized,” The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee, the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments that ceased to exist…, Piggy fell 40 feet and landed on his back…, Piggys arms and legs twitched a bit like a pig after its been killed,”(pg,181)When piggy and the conch was destroyed it symbolized all of the little control and civilization that was still there is now gone. Piggy's character was smart and had wits. He was there being the voice of reason. He helped Ralph, being his advisor, and didn't go hard for power. He stayed quiet and tried to stay civil.

Going through the book Lord of the Flies man's inherent evil is always present even if it's quiet. The situation could be well controlled or worse than ever. Piggy and Jack are shown great with strong evil or even little evil shown. Jack's character wants power so deeply he turns into a savage character and piggy's character ends up being killed for not showing his inner evilness. Jack was powerful from the start and at the end of the book Jack and his hunter are chasing Ralph who flees. His power-lust makes him turn on people. Piggy was strong-minded and controlled his evil but he died in the end. William golding's great showing of man's inherent evil is amazing and a great part of the book.