Inherent Evil: A Perspective on Golding's 'Lord of the Flies'

Lord of the Flies
William Golding the author of the novel “Lord of the Flies” which was published in 1954 was born on September 19, 1911 in Cornwall. In 1940 Golding joined the Royal Navy, where he served in command of a rocket-launcher and engaged in the invasion of Normandy. Golding’s experience of WW2 had a subtle ramification on his perspective of humanity and proficient of the evils of humanity. Golding refers to humans as “inherently evil” however some people would argue that there is no evil inside humans, but a certain circumstance might make the evil come out from within humans. Similarly this concept is brought out from the novel where a group of English schoolboys isolated on a tropical island after their plane has been

Failure of individual ethics is firmly portrayed in the novel where the author says “The theme is an attempt to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature. The moral is that, the shape of society must depend on the ethical nature of the individual and not on any political system however apparently logical and respectable.” The predominant theme of “Lord of the Flies” is civilization vs savagery. Throughout the novel Golding argues that people are essentially savage, attracted towards violence, however humans have been able to create civilizations as the years passed by. The clash between Ralph and Jack represents civilizations vs savagery. This is expressed through the boys’ attitude towards authority, where Ralph uses his authority to create rules, safeguard the group and implement the moral and ethical values, while Jack wants to satisfy his desires through power. When Jack creates his own tribe, he wants all the boys to not only help him but worship him. This is similar to how Hitler was during WW2, his desire for power made him think that he is the most superior and he went to an extent of killing the Jews without any valid reason claiming that they are not the right race. This suggests that Golding has been able bring out Hitler through Jacks actions. When Jack doesn’t identify the importance of society and disobeys Ralph’s authority, his true character emerges. Through this Golding brings out that savagery is an unavoidable fact of humans, civilization can help alleviate its growth. The Lord of the Flies is an annals of civilization leading to savagery in human nature, the boys who are shaped by the civilized British society become savages through apprehension, superstition and