Lord of the Flies

The ending of the novel involves the rescue of a group of stranded boys from an island. While on the island, the boys descend into brutality and end up murdering each other. Ralph, who has represented order and civility throughout their island existence, weeps in tears for his dead friend Piggy and for his lost innocence. He now knows how violent and brutal man can be to man. As we are told by the narrator, "Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy" (Golding 1954, 184). This is extremely significant to the main theme. The boys are a group of young children stranded on an island. When the naval officer arrives, just in time to save Ralph from the other boys' savagery, he tells them he thinks they might have done something more adventurous. This is Golding's use of irony to underscore man's brutality to man. For it symbolizes that even young children on an island that represents virtually untold adventures, the boys have turned to brutality, c