In Wiliiam Golding's book The Lord of the Flies, two running themes are innocence and the loss of it and the fear of the unknown. Another way to describe the fear of the unknown could be man ultimately reverting back to an evil and primitive
nature. The cycle of man's rise to power and his
inevitable fall from grace is an important point that book proves
again and again. Lord Of The Flies symbolizes
this fall in different manners, ranging from the illustration of the
mentality of actual primitive man to the reflections of a corrupt
The novel is the story of a group of boys of different
backgrounds who are marooned on an unknown island when their plane
crashes. As the boys try to organize and formulate a plan to get
rescued, they begin to separate and as a result of the dissension a
band of savage tribal hunters is formed. Eventually the stranded
boys almost entirely shake off civilized
behavior. When the confusion finally leads to a
manhunt for Ralph, it shows that the boys have backpedaled and shown the
underlying savage side existent in all humans, despite the strong sense
of British character and civility that has been instilled in the youth
The novel shows the reader how easy it is to revert back to the evil
nature inherent in man. If a group of well-conditioned school boys
can ultimately wind up committing various extreme travesties, one can
imagine what adults, leaders of society, are capable of doing under
the pressures of trying to maintain world relations.
In the novel, Simon is a peaceful lad who tries to show the
boys that there is no monster on the island except the fears that the
boys have. Simon tries to state the truth that there is a beast, but
"it's only us" (Golding 11). When he
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