Mankinds Evil Exposed in Lord of the Flies Essay -- Lord of the Flies

Mankinds despic sufficient Exposed in Lord of the Flies Despite the progression of politeness and societys attempts to suppress mans darker side, moral depravity proves both indestructible and inescapable reverse to culturally embraced views of humanistic tendencies towards goodness, to each one individual is susceptible to his base, innate instincts. In William Goldings Lord of the Flies, seemingly innocent schoolboys evolve into bloodthirsty savages as the latent evil within them emerges. Their regression into savagery is ironically paralleled by an step up fear of evil, and it culminates in several brutal slays as well as a frenzied manhunt. The graphic consequence of the boys unrestrained barbarity, emphasized by the backdrop of an external war, exigently explores mankinds potential for evil. Dismissing the detonation of an atom bomb and the assertable deaths of their parents as merely an unusual problem (14), the schoolboys selfishly indulge in their lush jungle environs. The overwhelming glamour which spreads over them (25) momentarily eclipses their waken need for domination. At first, the boys express this necessity through the seemingly devoid heaving of rocks and the belittling of gluttonous, who is physically inferior. Had these actions occurred in the boys English homeland, they would have been certain as ordinary,childish behavior. However, under the guise of innocent excitement, the boys derive an unimaginably reddened pleasure (18) from exercising control over living things (61). Ominously, their craving for world-beater is a presage for the blood that is to be shed. This blood which had initially been so unbearable (31) is now lusted after it compels Jack... ...lightenment is a condemnation rather than a liberation, because the knowledge of evil go forth forever remain as a scar upon his mind. Now that Ralph truly understands the darkness of mans heart (202), he will recognize it in all its forms an d disguises, falling heir to Simons role of the common carrier of truth and condemnation. The constant possibility that he may succumb to indwelling evil may instill Ralph with an further sense of anxiety and despair. This distress marks the end of his innocence (202), and Ralph will never be able to return to his former state of carefree happiness. Only death, the end to each individuals experience of the human condition the same death that liberated Simon and Piggy can free Ralph from the enlightenment and curse of his insight. Work Cited Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. bare-ass York Harcourt, 1962.