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Unit 27: William Golding — Lord of the Flies: Themes and Characterization

characters on the island-Simon and Ralph-each come to recognize his own capacity for evil Notes
indicates the novel’s emphasis on evil’s universality among humans.

Task Write about the nature of evil.

Even so, the novel is not entirely pessimistic about the human capacity for good. While evil
impulses may lurk in every human psyche, the intensity of these impulses-and the ability to
control them-appears to vary from individual to individual. Through the different characters,
the novel presents a continuum of evil, ranging from Jack and Roger, who are eager to engage
in violence and cruelty, to Ralph and Simon, who struggle to contain their brutal instincts. We
may note that the characters who struggle most successfully against their evil instincts do so
by appealing to ethical or social codes of behavior. For example, Ralph and Piggy demand the
return of Piggy’s glasses because it is the “right thing to do.” Golding suggests that while evil
may be present in us all, it can be successfully suppressed by the social norms that are
imposed on our behavior from without or by the moral norms we decide are inherently
“good,” which we can internalize within our wills.
The ambiguous and deeply ironic conclusion of Lord of the Flies, however, calls into question
society’s role in shaping human evil. The naval officer, who repeats Jack’s rhetoric of nationalism
and militarism, is engaged in a bloody war that is responsible for the boys’ aircraft crash on
the island and that is mirrored by the civil war among the survivors. In this sense, much of
the evil on the island is a result not of the boys’ distance from society, but of their internalization
of the norms and ideals of that society-norms and ideals that justify and even thrive on war.
Are the boys corrupted by the internal pressures of an essentially violent human nature, or
have they been corrupted by the environment of war they were raised in?

Did u know? Lord of the Flies offers no clear solution to this question, provoking readers
to contemplate the complex relationships among society, morality, and human
nature.

27.1.4 Man vs. Nature

Lord of the Flies introduces the question of man’s ideal relationship with the natural world.
Thrust into the completely natural environment of the island, in which no humans exist or
have existed, the boys express different attitudes towards nature that reflect their distinct
personalities and ideological leanings. The boys’ relationships to the natural world generally
fall into one of three categories: subjugation of nature, harmony with nature, and subservience
to nature. The first category, subjugation of nature, is embodied by Jack, whose first impulse
on the island is to track, hunt, and kill pigs. He seeks to impose his human will on the natural
world, subjugating it to his desires. Jack’s later actions, in particular setting the forest fire,
reflect his deepening contempt for nature and demonstrate his militaristic, violent character.
The second category, harmony with nature, is embodied by Simon, who finds beauty and
peace in the natural environment as exemplified by his initial retreat to the isolated forest
glade. For Simon, nature is not man’s enemy but is part of the human experience. The third
category, subservience to nature, is embodied by Ralph and is the opposite position from
Jack’s. Unlike Simon, Ralph does not find peaceful harmony with the natural world; like Jack,
he understands it as an obstacle to human life on the island. But while Jack responds to this

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