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NOVELS: The Lord of the Flies |
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The Lord of the Flies is a novel
that takes a good hard look into the minds and
insight of the human psyche. Golding contests that
each man possesses an "animal nature" which seeks out
to destroy and kill without reason. This theory is
presented through the actions of Jack Merriweather,
the antagonist of the story. After a plane crashes on
an island in the midst of a nuclear holocaust, the
young boy survivors meet together and attempt to
establish some authority. When Jack is not chosen
over another boy, Roger, he attempts to gain support
from the other boys via enticing hunts and terror
tactics. In the midst of this power struggle lies
Simon, a quiet, reserved boy who is more interested
in nature than power. Simon is eventually killed by a
ruthless Jack because Jack and his hunters lost
control of the "society sanity" and regressed back to
the animal instinct which had until that point been
repressed. Simon is brutally slaughtered. Roger
nearly partakes in the killing, but his conscious
mind allows him to see what is indeed happening.
Roger's only companion, a brainy boy nicknamed
"Piggy" for his obesity, is the voice of
civilization. It was Piggy's request for a leader
that eventually led to the terror on the island. The
fictional "beast" they create best exemplifies the
boys' fear for the unknown and/or themselves. A
parachutist, killed by his descent, rests on top of a
mountain. The boys fear him and their fear in turn
releases the evil animal nature. Simon, who discovers
what the beast really is, loses out to the raw nature
of the boys when he attempts to divulge what they
really fear.
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