Lord of the Flies

The remote setting and isolated situation of William Golding's Lord of the Flies allow for a focused examination of basic human tendencies. The characters of the novel exhibit fundamental flaws of human nature and are ultimately unable to transcend these flaws in order to create a peaceful, harmonious society on the island. Lord of the Flies isolates what is basic to man by segregating the child characters from the grown-up world, and employing this devise permits Golding to effectively symbolize the failings of society at large. The failings of society remain a constant throughout history, and Golding states the theme of Lord of the Flies "'is an attempt to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature'" (Epstein 204). The novel presents Golding's belief that "'the shape of a society must depend on the ethical nature of the individual and not on any political system however apparently logical or respectable'" (Epstein 204). The various defects of human nature that characters in the novel possess all generate from one elemental psychic force. Describing this basic force and examining Golding's depiction of this force within characters of the novel, particulary Ralph, illustrates that the defects of the individual do account for the evils that plague society and supports Golding's thesis as a plausible explantion of the human condition.

In his "Notes on Lord of the Flies," E. L. Epstein explains that the novel manifests "a modern picture of the p

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potential to "save" the other boys from their destructive behavior, and the "true source" of his ironic and tragic murder is "in the defects of the species" (Baker 28). Ralph and Jack are typically considered antithetical: Ralph is rational and hopes to preserve an ordered society on the island; Jack is irrational and focuses his energies on hunting and killing. Bernard F. Dick argues that Ralph and Jack are not absolutely antithetical, and that the forces they represent are better understood in terms of a moral "polarity" (7). Although Ralph struggles to maintain order on the island, he is also subject to the basic defects of human nature and succumbs to the pressure of "fear and blood lust" under certain circumstances (Hynes 16). Ralph is conscious of a tension within his being, but he does not fully understand it or have the ability to articulate it. He admits to Piggy that he "'somtimes'" doesn't care about the fire going out and wonders "'what 'ud become of us?'" if he "'got like the others'" (Golding 139). He doesn't understand "' what makes things break up like they do?'" (Golding 139). Hynes argues that Ralph "provides the most consistent point of view, because he most nearly speaks for us, rational, fallibl

Category: Literature - L