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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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