Theme of Evil in Lord of the Flies (Book Analysis)

Evil is the violation of a moral code, and evil lies within us all. In the shadow of World War II, the world was left to wonder how such cruelty and atrocities are possible in a civilized society. How could such evil take root and escalate to such horrors, and how could so many turn a blind eye? In Lord of the Flies, Golding shows us that, without the civilizing influence of rules and authority, the boys succumb to an escalating bloodthirst culminating in murder and apathy for the fates of others that demonstrate the thin veneer that clouds the evil in all of us.  

In Lord of the Flies, the path toward evil starts slowly, "Roger gathered a handful of stones and began to throw them "(Golding, 000) at Henry and continues with Jack's bullying of Piggy. Even though these actions are minor infractions, we see them start to test how much cruelty can go unchecked in this new environment. As the book progresses, the acts of violence and evil challenge the bounds of morality until after one of the successful hunts, Jack's group starts to celebrate the kill, glorifying violence, which is the start of their slope down towards the path of evil.  

The violence culminates in Lord of the Flies with death and murder. Simon's unintentional death, where the boys feverishly attack The Beast, marks a new threshold for the violence. The theme of evil is personified in the beast, only for the boys to ponder, "Maybe there is a beast … Maybe it is only us" (Golding, 000). With Simon's death, the boys are left to grapple with what the consciences should be invoked, and this is a slippery slope to Piggy's intentional and brutal murder. The act of murder in Lord of the Flies is another stepping stone in the pond towards true evil, but it is the one where Golding ends his book. 

"The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it." - Albert Einstein, while there are a few key instigators of the violent acts, the group as a whole turns a blind eye. As Jack's tribe goes longer and longer without the rules and standards of civilization, they fall farther into savagery and, therefore, evil. The author shows us that without any punishment or any standards, we could fall back to such a state. When Simon is killed, Ralph and Piggy react to his death in different ways. Ralph is emotional distraught while Piggy tries to convince himself that "[they were] on the outside" and that "[they have not] done [anything]." (Golding, 174) 

Golding uses the moral decay of the boys to show us how civilization would devolve without rules, laws, and governance. The escalating hostility towards others, the cruelty and normalization of violence into the culture, and callous indifference towards fellow humans enabled the Nazi regime can be replicated even in children. The escalation of violence in Lord of the flies warns us; that when the comforts of modern life are taken away, when the structures of civilized society are absent, when we must struggle for our survival, we become nothing more than we truly are primates who know how to make fire.