The Beast In Golding's Lord Of The Flies
An Analysis of the Beast in Golding’s The Lord of the Flies
The Anglo American poet, W.H. Auden, once claimed that “evil is unspectacular and always human, and shares our bed and eats at our table.” The British author William Golding expresses this idea of inner, or innate, evil in his novel The Lord of the Flies. In The Lord of the Flies, a group of British boys, who have recently crashed onto a deserted but Eden-like island, to govern themselves, uses their pubescent knowledge of their former democratic civilization to horrendously unfruitful results. Throughout the novel, Golding regularly points out, sometimes explicitly and sometimes through symbolism, that the reason for their descent into bloodthirsty savages is attributed to his belief …show more content…
that all men are bloodthirsty savages inside, an inborn, genetic factor. The most prominent symbol reflecting this innate savagery is the beast, a fictional entity that wreaks fear and chaos within the ranks of British schoolboys. The beast, first mentioned in the early exposition of the novel, starts out as a passing fear by a young boy, who is laughed at by the population, but quickly evolves into a symbol of paranoia, and eventually is ascended into an angry deity whom the boys, namely Jack and his followers, try to please by offerings of crude sacrifices. The evolution of the beast as a symbol is a claim by Golding that man will act irrationally when they encounter something they know nothing about. The beast, in one of its manifestation, is also a symbol of the savagery that lies within all humans, an absolute evil that can not be cleansed. This is essential to the central intention of Golding’s novel, an illustration that man is an evil being inside. As the novel progresses, the reader can see that as the boys’ belief in the fictional beast is solidified by several unlucky occurrences, the savagery within them also grows stronger, which in turn undermines order and civilization, suggesting that evil is a more primitive and stronger force than civilization can ever be and that this force can only be contained by dispelled by the reappearance of proper civilization. In William Golding’s The Lord of the Flies, the beast and its various manifestations are a symbol that an absolute evil will come forward, should humans leave the rigid chains of society. The power of this absolute evil that Golding firmly believes in is illustrated when we examine the novel as a whole, seeing how a small seed of an idea such as the worrying of a small child can sprout into a vine that constricts and eventually uproots the order of the frail society that the boys have constructed. The boys’ growing belief in the beast comments on how man will discard all rational thought when faced with something that they have no knowledge about, resorting to irrational tactics in order to help appease that fear. The usage of a littleun as the first member to voice his fear of the beast only helps to compound the power of primal savagery. As the most uneducated member of the boys, the littleuns know the least about the world around them, making them incredibly susceptible to fear and superstition. The littleun, a boy with a mulberry-shaped birthmark, at first asks for the conch to address the assembly, but then is intimidated by the wave of laughter and jeers the older boys gave him. Eventually, after some coaxing from Piggy, he voices his fear of “a snake thing, ever so big,”(35). The fact that the littleun’s attempt to get ahold of the conch and address the group of boys were only met with mocking laughter by many of the older boys shows how small in size the littleun is compared to the older biguns, not only physically but intellectually as well, showing how easily man will come to irrational assumptions when faced with situations they have no knowledge about. This effect of irrational assumption is again observed, this time by two biguns, Samneric, when faced with a hanging figure, who in reality is a parachutist who had been killed while ejecting from a plane during an air battle happening overhead, is terrorized and supposedly chased down the mountain by the beast. When questioned about it, Golding again shows the reader how fear of the unknown will cause irrational assumptions, as Sameneric, hysterical, describe the beast as “furry, [with] eyes, claws… and how it nearly touched us.” (100). This irrational fear is exposed to the reader, who knows that the beast is no more than a dead parachutist and by Simon who “felt a flicker of incredulity—a beast with the claws that scratched…that left no tracks, yet was not fast enough to catch Samneric.”(103). This false assumption shows a basic principle of human psychology, at least according to Golding, that humans will try to give their fears a physical form. Another point about human nature is made about Golding a short while after the mention of a beast. Jack jumped excitedly at the news and shouts that “this’ll be a real hunt!” (100), and manages to attract a significant amount of biguns to join him. The fact that most of the biguns, even Ralph, agree to join Jack on his hunt signifies that most of the boys believe that the beast is something that they can hunt down and slaughter, bringing about another point of human nature, that humans will give form to their fears without actually seeing the actual situation, as a way to give them options for dominating this fear. Eventually, this irrational behavior over the fake beast will give rise to the true beast inside of them. The beast can also be interpreted as a symbol of the innate evil that lies within humans. This is made apparent with the sow’s head, originally as a gift for the beast. Golding establishes that this evil is absolute, completely devoid of any good in his first images of the rotting pig’s head. Simon, when coming across the sow’s head, noted that “the pile of guts was a black blob of flies that buzzed like a saw”(138). The image of a pig’s head, decaying and being eaten away by flies, indicates the force it represents is a rotten and foul evil thing that cannot be reconstructed or revived by any means. Later in the novel, while Ralph, now alone after the murders of Simon and Piggy, comes across the pig skull, now completely eaten away, is suddenly stricken with “a sick fear and rage”(185). This wave of discomfort shows how the absolute evil that plagues us sickens us and is disturbing in every way possible. Ralph then, in anger, lashes out at the skull; because it gave him the impression that it was mocking him by grinning, only for it “lay in two pieces, its grin now six feet across”(185). This passage shows us that the evil cannot be destroyed and that any attempt to vanquish it will only result it growing more powerful. While Golding does present us with disturbing imagery that shows us the nature of this evil, the most disturbing part of Golding’s philosophy occurs during the conversation between Simon and the sow’s head, now manifesting into a Satan-like figure called the Lord of the Flies. The Lord of the Flies reveals itself as the true beast and mocks the boys for “thinking that the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!.. You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you?... I’m the reason why it’s no go? (143). The Lord of the Flies’ revelation is an explicit statement of Golding’s belief that evil exists within everyone, even a Christ-like figure such as Simon, as the Lord of the Flies is actually the evil side of his conscience. Golding also gives the readers a sense of the inevitability of this evil appearing without the constraints of society binding it by describing as “[the skull] gleamed as white as the conch ever did”(185), suggesting that the savagery is equal, perhaps even more powerful than order and civilization. Throughout the novel, the beast also reflects a reason to turn to savagery. As the boys’ beliefs in the beast grow, their savagery also grows, which in turn weakens civilization. After the sighting of the fighter pilot hanging in the tree, the boys abandon rational thinking and instead embark on hunts for the fictional beast. This is revealed by Jack who claims that “we don’t need the conch anmore. We know who ought to say things.”(102) Here, Jack insults the very centerpiece of their democracy itself, the conch, showing that he is willing to abandon order; in order to go on a hunt for the beast. Additionally, their belief that the beast can be something that can be hunted down and slain like an animal is reflected in their dance, Jack’s group now chanting “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!”(152) in a primitive war dance, before they leapt to the “beast”, Simon who had discovered the truth, and “screamed, struck, bit, tore.”(153). The boys also notice that “even in the rain they could see how small a beast it was”(153). This sort of killing in which the boys, now in trance-like state, ripped apart one of their own like savages, even when they realized that it was too small to be considered a beast, shows that they have truly abandoned all rational thinking, which reflects Golding’s belief that man will take any opportunity to appease his fears. Golding also voices his belief that man will not only attempt to give their fears a form, but attempt to appease them. This becomes evident after the slaughtering of the mother sow, where Jack commands the head to be cut off and put onto a sharpened stake, claiming that “the head is for the beast, it’s a gift”(127). This belief that the beast is a totemic god that requires a sacrifice to appease it signifies a complete solidification of the boy’s beliefs that the beast is not only a real entity, but a powerful one, causing them to embark on behavior typically associated with savages, eventually killing their own. While the beast is shown to be more dominant than the order that is given by the conch, Golding asserts that the appearance of an authority of organized society, in this case the naval officer, will contain the power of the beast.
This is illustrated during the few lines of his appearance, in which “the ululation faltered and died away”(200). The appearance of this adult figure is enough to bring order back to the boys, silencing them in a way the conch did at the beginning of the novel. Even Jack, who is the leader of the savages, is silenced by the appearance of the officer, as he “started forward, then changed his mind and stood still.”(201) Jack, who has tried to take control and establish a tyrannical rule, is seen willingly allowing Ralph, who is a symbol of a democratic and orderly government, to take the position of leader. While the savagery on the island has died down with the appearance of the naval officer, the power of the beast is only suppressed with the image of the “trim cruiser in the distance”(202), a symbol …show more content…
that the naval officer is engulfed in the same violence as the boys. While the physical beast which the boys strived to hunt, the Lord of the Flies, only makes an appearance in Simon’s hallucinations, the effects of the beast are as powerful as the conch and fire, suggesting that the force it represents is every bit as powerful as those of the conch and fire.
The beast of Golding’s island is an argument by Golding about the deadly effects of the absence of a proper civilization, which provides necessities such as authorities, order, and most importantly rules. Without these benefits, man will begin to fear the forces that are outside of their control, the unknown, eventually resorting to irrational thinking and paranoia. It is this demonstration of irrational thinking in the boys that exposes what Golding claims to be the true beast, an absolute evil force that is rotten and corrupt to the core. As the boys’ belief in the beast is slowly solidified, this absolute evil inside of them festers, turning into savages that are merely shells of their former civilized selfs. Golding believes, however, that this beast that dwells within us can be contained by the reintroduction of society and authority, as shown by Golding’s
usage of a deus ex machina at the novel’s end, in which the reintroduction of an adult automatically dispels the savagery. According to William Golding, the boys’ fears of a beast running rampant throughout the dark jungle of the island was their fatal flaw, for in the end it was the Lord of the Flies running rampant in their hearts that was the true beast.
The Anglo American poet, W.H. Auden, once claimed that “evil is unspectacular and always human, and shares our bed and eats at our table.” The British author William Golding expresses this idea of inner, or innate, evil in his novel The Lord of the Flies. In The Lord of the Flies, a group of British boys, who have recently crashed onto a deserted but Eden-like island, to govern themselves, uses their pubescent knowledge of their former democratic civilization to horrendously unfruitful results. Throughout the novel, Golding regularly points out, sometimes explicitly and sometimes through symbolism, that the reason for their descent into bloodthirsty savages is attributed to his belief …show more content…
that all men are bloodthirsty savages inside, an inborn, genetic factor. The most prominent symbol reflecting this innate savagery is the beast, a fictional entity that wreaks fear and chaos within the ranks of British schoolboys. The beast, first mentioned in the early exposition of the novel, starts out as a passing fear by a young boy, who is laughed at by the population, but quickly evolves into a symbol of paranoia, and eventually is ascended into an angry deity whom the boys, namely Jack and his followers, try to please by offerings of crude sacrifices. The evolution of the beast as a symbol is a claim by Golding that man will act irrationally when they encounter something they know nothing about. The beast, in one of its manifestation, is also a symbol of the savagery that lies within all humans, an absolute evil that can not be cleansed. This is essential to the central intention of Golding’s novel, an illustration that man is an evil being inside. As the novel progresses, the reader can see that as the boys’ belief in the fictional beast is solidified by several unlucky occurrences, the savagery within them also grows stronger, which in turn undermines order and civilization, suggesting that evil is a more primitive and stronger force than civilization can ever be and that this force can only be contained by dispelled by the reappearance of proper civilization. In William Golding’s The Lord of the Flies, the beast and its various manifestations are a symbol that an absolute evil will come forward, should humans leave the rigid chains of society. The power of this absolute evil that Golding firmly believes in is illustrated when we examine the novel as a whole, seeing how a small seed of an idea such as the worrying of a small child can sprout into a vine that constricts and eventually uproots the order of the frail society that the boys have constructed. The boys’ growing belief in the beast comments on how man will discard all rational thought when faced with something that they have no knowledge about, resorting to irrational tactics in order to help appease that fear. The usage of a littleun as the first member to voice his fear of the beast only helps to compound the power of primal savagery. As the most uneducated member of the boys, the littleuns know the least about the world around them, making them incredibly susceptible to fear and superstition. The littleun, a boy with a mulberry-shaped birthmark, at first asks for the conch to address the assembly, but then is intimidated by the wave of laughter and jeers the older boys gave him. Eventually, after some coaxing from Piggy, he voices his fear of “a snake thing, ever so big,”(35). The fact that the littleun’s attempt to get ahold of the conch and address the group of boys were only met with mocking laughter by many of the older boys shows how small in size the littleun is compared to the older biguns, not only physically but intellectually as well, showing how easily man will come to irrational assumptions when faced with situations they have no knowledge about. This effect of irrational assumption is again observed, this time by two biguns, Samneric, when faced with a hanging figure, who in reality is a parachutist who had been killed while ejecting from a plane during an air battle happening overhead, is terrorized and supposedly chased down the mountain by the beast. When questioned about it, Golding again shows the reader how fear of the unknown will cause irrational assumptions, as Sameneric, hysterical, describe the beast as “furry, [with] eyes, claws… and how it nearly touched us.” (100). This irrational fear is exposed to the reader, who knows that the beast is no more than a dead parachutist and by Simon who “felt a flicker of incredulity—a beast with the claws that scratched…that left no tracks, yet was not fast enough to catch Samneric.”(103). This false assumption shows a basic principle of human psychology, at least according to Golding, that humans will try to give their fears a physical form. Another point about human nature is made about Golding a short while after the mention of a beast. Jack jumped excitedly at the news and shouts that “this’ll be a real hunt!” (100), and manages to attract a significant amount of biguns to join him. The fact that most of the biguns, even Ralph, agree to join Jack on his hunt signifies that most of the boys believe that the beast is something that they can hunt down and slaughter, bringing about another point of human nature, that humans will give form to their fears without actually seeing the actual situation, as a way to give them options for dominating this fear. Eventually, this irrational behavior over the fake beast will give rise to the true beast inside of them. The beast can also be interpreted as a symbol of the innate evil that lies within humans. This is made apparent with the sow’s head, originally as a gift for the beast. Golding establishes that this evil is absolute, completely devoid of any good in his first images of the rotting pig’s head. Simon, when coming across the sow’s head, noted that “the pile of guts was a black blob of flies that buzzed like a saw”(138). The image of a pig’s head, decaying and being eaten away by flies, indicates the force it represents is a rotten and foul evil thing that cannot be reconstructed or revived by any means. Later in the novel, while Ralph, now alone after the murders of Simon and Piggy, comes across the pig skull, now completely eaten away, is suddenly stricken with “a sick fear and rage”(185). This wave of discomfort shows how the absolute evil that plagues us sickens us and is disturbing in every way possible. Ralph then, in anger, lashes out at the skull; because it gave him the impression that it was mocking him by grinning, only for it “lay in two pieces, its grin now six feet across”(185). This passage shows us that the evil cannot be destroyed and that any attempt to vanquish it will only result it growing more powerful. While Golding does present us with disturbing imagery that shows us the nature of this evil, the most disturbing part of Golding’s philosophy occurs during the conversation between Simon and the sow’s head, now manifesting into a Satan-like figure called the Lord of the Flies. The Lord of the Flies reveals itself as the true beast and mocks the boys for “thinking that the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!.. You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you?... I’m the reason why it’s no go? (143). The Lord of the Flies’ revelation is an explicit statement of Golding’s belief that evil exists within everyone, even a Christ-like figure such as Simon, as the Lord of the Flies is actually the evil side of his conscience. Golding also gives the readers a sense of the inevitability of this evil appearing without the constraints of society binding it by describing as “[the skull] gleamed as white as the conch ever did”(185), suggesting that the savagery is equal, perhaps even more powerful than order and civilization. Throughout the novel, the beast also reflects a reason to turn to savagery. As the boys’ beliefs in the beast grow, their savagery also grows, which in turn weakens civilization. After the sighting of the fighter pilot hanging in the tree, the boys abandon rational thinking and instead embark on hunts for the fictional beast. This is revealed by Jack who claims that “we don’t need the conch anmore. We know who ought to say things.”(102) Here, Jack insults the very centerpiece of their democracy itself, the conch, showing that he is willing to abandon order; in order to go on a hunt for the beast. Additionally, their belief that the beast can be something that can be hunted down and slain like an animal is reflected in their dance, Jack’s group now chanting “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!”(152) in a primitive war dance, before they leapt to the “beast”, Simon who had discovered the truth, and “screamed, struck, bit, tore.”(153). The boys also notice that “even in the rain they could see how small a beast it was”(153). This sort of killing in which the boys, now in trance-like state, ripped apart one of their own like savages, even when they realized that it was too small to be considered a beast, shows that they have truly abandoned all rational thinking, which reflects Golding’s belief that man will take any opportunity to appease his fears. Golding also voices his belief that man will not only attempt to give their fears a form, but attempt to appease them. This becomes evident after the slaughtering of the mother sow, where Jack commands the head to be cut off and put onto a sharpened stake, claiming that “the head is for the beast, it’s a gift”(127). This belief that the beast is a totemic god that requires a sacrifice to appease it signifies a complete solidification of the boy’s beliefs that the beast is not only a real entity, but a powerful one, causing them to embark on behavior typically associated with savages, eventually killing their own. While the beast is shown to be more dominant than the order that is given by the conch, Golding asserts that the appearance of an authority of organized society, in this case the naval officer, will contain the power of the beast.
This is illustrated during the few lines of his appearance, in which “the ululation faltered and died away”(200). The appearance of this adult figure is enough to bring order back to the boys, silencing them in a way the conch did at the beginning of the novel. Even Jack, who is the leader of the savages, is silenced by the appearance of the officer, as he “started forward, then changed his mind and stood still.”(201) Jack, who has tried to take control and establish a tyrannical rule, is seen willingly allowing Ralph, who is a symbol of a democratic and orderly government, to take the position of leader. While the savagery on the island has died down with the appearance of the naval officer, the power of the beast is only suppressed with the image of the “trim cruiser in the distance”(202), a symbol …show more content…
that the naval officer is engulfed in the same violence as the boys. While the physical beast which the boys strived to hunt, the Lord of the Flies, only makes an appearance in Simon’s hallucinations, the effects of the beast are as powerful as the conch and fire, suggesting that the force it represents is every bit as powerful as those of the conch and fire.
The beast of Golding’s island is an argument by Golding about the deadly effects of the absence of a proper civilization, which provides necessities such as authorities, order, and most importantly rules. Without these benefits, man will begin to fear the forces that are outside of their control, the unknown, eventually resorting to irrational thinking and paranoia. It is this demonstration of irrational thinking in the boys that exposes what Golding claims to be the true beast, an absolute evil force that is rotten and corrupt to the core. As the boys’ belief in the beast is slowly solidified, this absolute evil inside of them festers, turning into savages that are merely shells of their former civilized selfs. Golding believes, however, that this beast that dwells within us can be contained by the reintroduction of society and authority, as shown by Golding’s
usage of a deus ex machina at the novel’s end, in which the reintroduction of an adult automatically dispels the savagery. According to William Golding, the boys’ fears of a beast running rampant throughout the dark jungle of the island was their fatal flaw, for in the end it was the Lord of the Flies running rampant in their hearts that was the true beast.