William Golding wrote the novel Lord of the Flies with the intent to include
certain elements of moral behavior for readers to absorb. He utilized specific
symbols found scattered in the novel to portray his intended message to all
those who read his work of Literature. The author builds his message into
the novel in the form of adventure. The actions done by characters in the
novel eventually create Golding's message to the reader.
It can be said that Golding describes the moral of the book in relation to
the scientific mechanics of society. This is found as a major theme in the
book, which is actually fear. The boys on the island view this ideal in the
form of the "beastie". The "beastie" is an unseen figure
on the island, which is symbolized of the dead parachutist. This fear, however,
represents the potential evil found in humans. Yet, this evil is only brought
about amongst specific environmental conditions, which Golding synthesized
in the book.
The most interesting aspect and probably the most influential characteristic
of the story is found to be the age of the characters. The author successfully
attempts to show how capable the aspect of evil is among human beings. However,
Golding perfects this idea as he used children, who represent purity and innocence
in a normal society. Through the use of children, the reader finds that barbarity
and savagery can exist amongst even the smallest and most innocuous form of
human beings.
One can interpret that Golding is trying to represent human nature in its
entirety. It is obvious that Golding is showing all levels of human capability
in terms of psychology and science. The reader sees that humans exist in higher
levels, such as present day activity, as well as the lowest form, which is
represented by Lord of the Flies . The author creates a situation, which includes
factors that are capable of forcing humans to fall into lower forms of mentality.
A very important concept of the story is the fact that in the society which
was created on the island, order is a needed tool for existence. The concept
of order is found to be a key issue as the society which Golding created contained
no order. This book accurately shows how the absence of order results in an
alteration of moral behavior. In Lord of the Flies , morals can be seen in
the form of aggressive behavioral actions. Such actions include the murder
of Piggy. Obviously children would never come to such decisions or actions
against one another under normal societal conditions. However, Golding creates
a barbaric civilization in which children do such actions.
Lord of the Flies can be considered a classical novel. A classic in the respect
that the author creates special circumstances under which abnormal actions
and functions mutate into everyday activity. All of these concepts and ideals
are generated by Golding to finally produce a novel of both perplexity and
perfection.
Everything about Lord of the Flies is thematic. The story revolves around
a question: Is unshackled freedom a good thing? Golding's obvious answer is
the need for civilization, its rules, laws, and expectations. (Ironically,
the nearly blind Piggy was the one boy who could "see" this most
clearly.) Yet, while Ralph personifies law, cooperation and democratic choice,
it is Jack's reliance on charisma, brute force and authoritarian rule that
wins out on the island.
Chilling words from Golding's Notes reveal the final irony of this book:
"The officer, having interrupted a man-hunt, prepares to take the children
off the island in a cruiser which will presently be hunting its [own] enemy
in the same implacable way. And who will rescue the adult and his cruiser?
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