Lord of the Flies

The concept that George R. R Martin is discussing is a concept that is greatly similar to that of Lord of the Flies’, a novel by William Golding. The novel discusses how a group of young English boys are stranded on a deserted island after their plane was shot down, and they try to figure out how to survive until they are rescued. Golding demonstrates how humans, when free of society’s rules, allow their capacity for evil to dominate their existence, through the use of symbols such as the pig’s head, the beast, and clay masks.

One of the most important symbols in Lord of the Flies is the pig's head. The pig's head is described by Golding as "dim-eyed, grinning faintly, blood blackening between the teeth," and is covered with a "black blob of flies.” (p. 137-138). Golding uses the pig’s head to personify the evil within the boys. This is shown mainly when Simon has a conversation with the pig in his own conscious and imagines the pig saying, "Fancy thinking the beast was something you could hunt and kill! Oh you knew, didn't you? I'm part of you?" (p. 143). After Simon wakes up and sees that what the boys thought was beast is actually a dead body of an airman in a parachute, he attempts to tell the boys about his new discovery. Although, when he arrived, the boys attack and bludgeon him to death. That shows how after the boys start to exist without society’s rules, they allow evil to control and dominate their actions and become savages.

Another of the symbols that was used to present the theme of the novel is the beast. The boys believed that the beast is an external source of evil. Though, in reality, it represents the evil present within them, which is causing life on the island to worsen. Simon begins to realize this even befor...

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... allow evil to dominate them when they become free of society’s rules. Throughout the novel, Golding uses many different objects as symbols to illustrate this theme. The first symbol was the pig’s head, which insinuates how evil is actually inside the boys. The second symbol was the beast, which in reality represents internal evil away from society, rather than an external source of evil such as the beast. The last symbol is the clay mask, which transforms the hunters into completely different people who act like bloodthirsty savages. Through the novel, Golding has shown a truly amazing glimpse into human nature. In the end, human beings are thirsty for power, and will stop at nothing to be powerful. And the most amazing thing is, even children are not immune to evil.

Works Cited

Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. New York: The Berkley

Publishing Group, 1954.