The Evil and Violent Nature of Humans

William Golding, in his novel, The Lord of the Flies, portrays what he believes is the true nature of human beings. Oddly enough, his evidence and beliefs are well supported through out his text, and his reasoning is very down to earth. In fact, Golding has portrayed his beliefs in this book so well, that have been compelled to take his side, and believe to, that humans are naturally evil. Golding's writing in this novel is very realistic, which has caused me to agree with him. Given the situation, I believe that a group of boys, dropped off on an island, in the middle of nowhere, would in fact fight for leadership, among many things, and have various disagreements that would eventually lead to savagery.

William Golding's book, The Lord of the Flies, is about a group of boys that have been dropped off on an island in the middle of nowhere. The boys were evacuated from their mainland, Britain, as their country is in the middle of a nuclear war. In fact, while in the plane, a boy overheard that an atomic bomb dropped on Great Britain, meaning that their past civilization is has been destroyed. The boys must then fend for themselves in the wilderness, but quickly band together as a tribe. They plan to build shelters, and they make a plan for rescue, among many things. But things soon turn from bad to worse as a boy is killed in a fire, and there is now word of a beast-like thing on the island. The beast proves to be their downfall, and the boys soon descend into savagery, due to the best, which is in fact, inside of them.

The beast is actually the evil nature of human beings. It causes the island to quickly turn into mayhem, as all of the boys are afraid of this beast-like creature. The boys are soon compelled to leave sacrifices for this beast, giving a small percentage of whatever they kill to this creature. All but one of the boys believe that the beast is a creature. The one boy that doesn't believe in the beast, has figured out what the real beast is. This boy happens to represent a god-like figure, due to the way he thinks. Sadly though, he is killed when he finally realizes the true nature of the beast.

The beast by this point has turned the whole island into a war zone. Everyone is focused on hunting, but not just of the beast. The boys longing for spilt blood continues until they are compelled to kill a boy, and go on a hunt for another boy. By this time they have reached complete savagery, and all seems to have been lost, when they are rescued by a war vessel.

The uniqueness about this novel is that it seems to represent several different things. Among them, the island represents the happenings in the rest of the world, as they take place in the novel. As the island has turned into mayhem, the rest of the world has reached anarchy, due to the nuclear war that is taking place. The happenings on the island almost seem to mirror the happenings on the rest of the world. So therefore, Golding has basically written a warning to mankind, that this is what could happen. He also says in this novel, that all democracy, at one point will fail, and given the circumstances, the true nature of human beings will show through, and that true nature is evil.

Note To Reader: This is just a quick summary of Golding's portrayal of the true nature of human beings in the novel The Lord of the Flies. Also, this is just one point and allegory in this book. In the near future I plan to write more on the allegories, points, portrayals, and progressions in this novel.