Lord of the Flies: Golding’s attempt to delineate the reality of human civilization || By- Sanjeedeep Mishra (2022)

 

In Lord of the Flies, William Golding has tried to portray mankind’s essential illness and has traced the emergence of evil. The group of boys inherited the island in state of innocence, they set up authority and order but later ignored the voice of authority and violated the rules. From humans, they became animals and then savages. They soon were liberated from the shame and consciousness. They tried to find beast everywhere, the air, the water, but in reality, just like Simon, one of the boys said, “Maybe there is a beast… maybe it's only us.”

 William Golding’s Lord of the Flies is about Evil, and it recounts a quest for order amidst the disorder that evil causes. Golding stated in his interview concerning the theme of the book, “The theme is an attempt to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature.” R.M. Ballantyne’s The Coral Island being the first major influence, “Paradise Lost” was the second major influence in Golding’s work with the common theme of “Fall of Man”.

The Typhonic element of human nature was introduced in the novel, with the introduction of Jack Merridew. Jack is prone to blush when he is angry and frustrated. During Ralph’s election for being the chief of the group of boys in the island, Jack’s face “blushes with mortification”. Golding again describes his face on the Second Vote, “Jack turned red in face” because he has been outwitted. Thus, blushing appears to be the manifestation of wounded pride. Jack was ambitious and carried an overwhelming desire of to be the chief. After his second parliamentary defeat, he reacts to it by creating a new clan and waging war against Ralph’s. Jack who earlier could not endure to cut the flesh of the pig because of the unbearable blood, now “grabbed Maurice and rubbed the stuff over his cheeks” From here, it is a short step to the murder of Simon during one of the orgiastic ritual dance, to the killing of Piggy by the sadistic Roger that “slight, furtive boy whom no one knew, who kept to himself with an inner intensity of avoidance and secrecy.” – and the plan to cut-off Ralph’s head and transfix it on the stick sharpened on both the ends.

In the name of “fun n’ games”, Jack soon gets the majority of boys in the island (leaving Ralph, Piggy, Sam and Eric) into his clan and reverts them into pure savagery. Wearing of the paint as mask is the first sign of masking themselves from shame and guilt. Later, the orgiastic ritual of “Killing the Sow”, while chanting "Kill the pig! Cut her throat! Spill her blood!", marks the successful transition of the boys into savagery. In the episode of killing of the sow, Golding presents a wide range of expression of male lust including, the sexual. Golding thinks that the drive-in man towards conquests and destruction is conjectured in a parallel way in sexual realm, which is clear from this episode.

Golding depicts Simon as a saint, a Christ like character, as he revealed in one of his interview. A saint is as Chesterton revealed, “a medicine because he is an antidote. He is mistaken for poison because he is an antidote.” Simon’s insight into the beast offers the boys the possibility of salvation on the island. He later discovers the novel’s truth about man’s fallen nature and the true identity of the beast.  But, just like Christ, Simon meets the similar fate.

With Henry, a child whom the society deems to be as an innocent, seeks to gain mastery over little creature. Even though he can be distinguished from Jack in terms of the magnitude of power, it is still terrible. Golding tries to delineate mankind’s essential illness in the lines below,

“This was fascinating to Henry. He poked about with a bit of stick, that itself was wave-tom and whitened and a vagram, and tried to control the motions of the scavengers. He made little runnels that the tide filled and tried to crowd them with creatures. He became absorbed beyond mere happiness as he felt himself exercising control over living things. He talked to them. Urging them, ordering them. Driven back by the tide. His footprints became bays in which they were trapped and gave him the illusion of mastery.”

Golding has attempted to assess the interaction between the man and society in Lord of the Flies. The development of society depends upon on the nature of man. The defects of society therefore can be traced back to the defects of human nature. By choosing children as the protagonists of the novel, Golding is trying to emphasizing that evil is inherent in man’s nature, society tames our base violent instinct and the childhood only serves to veil it. 

 

 

 

References-

1.     White, R. J. (1964). BUTTERFLY AND BEAST IN “LORD OF THE FLIES.” Modern Fiction Studies, 10(2), 163–170. http://www.jstor.org/stable/26278635

2.     Bufkin, E. C. (1965). Lord of the Flies: An Analysis. The Georgia Review, 19(1), 40–57. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41398168

3.     Lloyd Grove, January 12, 1986, The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1986/01/12/golding-lord-of-the-novel/274c53ca-e802-4f4a-94b0-8246563f6223/