The Beast Inside Of Us in Lord of the Flies Analysis Essay

đź“ŚCategory: Books, Lord of the Flies, William Golding, Writers
đź“ŚWords: 945
đź“ŚPages: 4
đź“ŚPublished: 24 June 2021

Imagine being stuck on an island with a bunch of people you do not know. For some, this may be terrifying, but for a group of pre-teen boys this could seem like the experience of a lifetime. Throughout this book we can see how the boy's first thoughts of the island are completely changed by the time they are rescued. In Lord of the Flies, author William Golding presents the mythological/archetypal idea of good vs. evil, in order to support the overall theme that without civilization people will turn savage, using the boys, the fire, and a beast. 

Ralph is one of the most important characters in The Lord of the Flies. Ralph is described as the fit, “fair boy” (Golding 7). When they first realize they are on the island he exclaims “No grownups!” (Golding 8), this indicates how he is excited to be stuck on the island alone, because the boys can do whatever they want and are “free from authority and rules” (Gomez). Ralph soon becomes the leader of the boys and splits them up into groups and gives them different jobs, such as keeping the signal fire going, making shelters, and going hunting. At first the boys seem happy to be doing these “grownup things” but shortly after they start to put off these jobs and just want to play in the water and on the beach. While Ralph feels like he’s losing control, he starts to realize that they may be stuck there forever and craves civilization, for example; brushing his teeth, cutting his hair, and taking a bath (Golding 109). At one point in the book Ralph realizes he was involved in the murder of another boy. When he talks to Piggy about it he says “I’m frightened. Of us.” (Golding 57), this displays how he doesn’t enjoy the uncivilized person he is becoming. He starts to become hopeless but never fully lets himself give into the innate desire to kill. 

Then on the other hand, there is Jack. Jack would be known as the power-hungry, bloodthirsty, one who turned evil and never looked back. Unlike Ralph, who learned how to suppress his evil urges, Jack completely succumbed to these desires. Jack and his followers “represent primitivity and wilderness” (Jian-gang), because they don’t want to be civilized and would rather behave like the animals that they are hunting. The reader can literally see the change in Jack when he makes a mask so he can be a better hunter, however this mask gives him a sense of confidence he didn’t have before and his barbaric side comes out (Golding). Towards the end of the book we see that there are two separate groups on the island, one who are trying to hold on to the little bit of civilization they have left, and the other who have turned into complete savages. Nearing the end of their time on the island “Jack sets the whole island on fire” in hopes of being able to kill Ralph (Islam 2). Jack doing this reveals how he is not thinking like a human anymore and doesn’t care about any repercussions his actions may bring. 

An additional thing Golding uses to show this idea is the fire. One of the first things the boys do at the beginning of the book is make a fire, in hopes of drawing a ship's attention. This indicates how fire symbolizes hope and rescue. However, as time goes on the boys start forgetting to keep the signal fire going which symbolizes how the civilization is also going away. The longer the boys are on the island it is shown that “the signal fire went out, we realized that the boys had lost their hope of being saved and accepted their barbaric life (Zhu 288). The fire that finally signals someone to the island is a fire created by Jack and his group to smoke Ralph out and make him stop hiding so they can kill him (Golding 195). This also shows that the fire has changed from a symbol of hope and rescue to a “destructive and deadly force” (Sparknotes).  

The final thing Golding uses is the beast. At the beginning of the book at one of the meetings a littlun speaks up and says “He wants to know what you're going to do about the snake-thing” (Golding 35), this is when the “beast” is first fabricated. The beast is clearly a made up thing but the boys don’t know this. The boys try to hunt and kill this “beast” and of course are clearly unable to find it. However, one of the boys (Simon) knows the truth that this is just made up but is never believed. Simon goes into the forest to try and prove to the boys that the beast is not real and encounters the Lord of the Flies, which is a pig head impaled on a spear. The head reveals to Simon that “I’m part of you” and the reason why “things are the way they are”, this shows how the beast (the innate evil) is inside of every human being (Golding 143). Since the boys have started losing their civility they have “naturally become beastly creatures” (Gomez). This reveals how the longer the boys are on the island the less civilized they will become. Then, at the end of the book when Ralph is being hunted he hears someone say “Roger sharpened a stick at both ends”, it took him a minute to figure it out, however he realized that this means Roger is preparing to kill (Golding 190). Through this we see that once the boys have let their “beasts” come out, it’s nearly impossible for them to behave like normal humans again. 

All in all, it is shown throughout the story that Golding believes without civilization and rules people are innately evil. Throughout the book he used the boys, the fire, and the beast to show this idea. If young boys can turn savage in a few months of being on an abandoned island then it must be inside of everyone.

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