What Is The Role Of Internal Conflict In Lord Of The Flies

It is quite clear that conflict can trigger many emotions in a human. Conflict has a direct influence on the human mind and the way that people act. Written by William Golding, Lord of the Flies is a perfect example of how peoples’ decisions are influenced by a source of conflict. Different types of conflict push different significant events in the novel. External conflict tears the boys’ unity apart. Fear of the ‘beastie:’ evolves from internal conflict, and physical conflict worsens as the story progresses, creating a dangerous environment on the island. What appears as a democratic, organized government, soon turns into unorganized chaos. The chaos and incoordination was a result of external conflict. The collapse of the government and
the boys’ unity can be hinted halfway through the novel. Ralph calls an assembly and says, “Things are breaking up. I don’t understand why. We began well; we were happy. And then-” (115). This quote describes how the boys’ efforts in keeping the atmosphere of the island civilized is influenced by a source of external conflict. In this case, the external conflict is what they believe to be the beastie. The boys begin to diverge when Jack and Ralph share their opinions on what they believe is more important, hunting the beastie or fire. Jack expresses his opinion on how important hunting is and says, “I’m going off by myself. He can catch his own pigs. Anyone who wants to hunt when I do can come too.”(183). This occurs when you can see the two tribes beginning to form. After jack hunts a pig, they boys realize that Jack is right all along and decide to join his feast. Now the boys are completely separated. There are two distinct tribes; Ralphs’ tribe and Jacks’ tribe. This source of external conflict (the beastie) is extremely significant to the story because the beastie is what caused the boys to split into two tribes. The tribe that feeds its’ hunger off of savagery, and the tribe that maintains its civilization, and acts sensibly. It creates an irrational atmosphere among Jacks’ tribe, and a sense of awareness upon Ralphs’ tribe. Internal conflict is what creates the irrational fear of the beastie.
Internal conflict changes the boys’ mindset and causes them to think illogically. This internal conflict is what keeps the boys up at night, and what breaks their unity. It’s a fragment of their imagination; it’s a dead pilot. What started as a ‘snake thing’ evolves into a ‘ghost’, and then becomes a ‘monster’. The beastie washes away their sanity and becomes their worst nightmare. It is the thing they fear the most on the island. The boys’ image of the beast becomes worse, and worse. At the beginning the beastie is described as, “A snake-thing. Ever so big”(48) and towards the end, “The beast had teeth....and big black eyes.”(178).This contrast shows how the depth of their internal conflict grew. Internal conflict between them and the beastie is requited. The beastie influences their actions, and they influence the beasties’ image. For instance, as the boys’ fear of the beastie become more irrational, so does their image of the beastie. Perhaps the boys enjoy the beasties company, and perhaps it feeds their hunger for savagery. Internal conflict is always complex to comprehend, but one thing for certain is that it has an influence on the boys’
behaviour. There are several examples of physical conflict in Lord of The Flies.
The physical conflict seems to correlate with the boys’ image of the beastie. As the boys’ image of the beastie becomes more farfetched, the physical conflict worsens. A physical conflict seen near the beginning of the story is the boys’ re-enactment of the pig hunt. Simon is in the middle, and is used as the pig. What started out as a fun game, almost gets Simon killed. This is the first event in the novel in which savagery can be truly seen among the boys. The next major conflict took place on the beach. The two tribes, now being separated, have a feast together. When they hear something in the bushes while chanting in a circle, they immediately think it’s the beastie and tear him apart. The beast is described as small, and “was on its knees in the center, its arms folded over its face. It was crying out against the abominable noise something about a body on the hill. The beast struggled forward, broke the ring and fell over the steep edge of the rock to the sand by the water. At once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt on to the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore. There were no words, and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws” (219). While this scene took place, it was dark and loud. Considering the circumstances of this event, the event itself can be considered as an accident. The next physical conflict which took place involves death, but not accidental death. It was
Piggys’ murder .This took place while Ralph and Jack were duelling. This event is significant because now that Simon and Piggy are dead, Ralph is the only character left with a sense of civilization. Now Ralph is the only character who hasn’t conformed, and cares about getting rescued. Physical conflict clearly escalates when humans are deprived of their basic needs. At first Simon is injured, then he is killed, and towards the end, Piggy is murdered. The escalation of physical conflict can clearly be seen in this chronological scheme of events. The longer the boys have been on the island for, the more the physical conflict grew. As seen in the novel, conflict has a great impact on the plot of this story. Different conflicts push different events. In this novel, Lord of the Flies, conflict lead to the breakdown of the boys’ government, irrational fear of the beastie, and Piggys’ murder. William Golding has flawlessly displayed what conflict can do the human mind.

Conflict in Lord of the Flies.
Amanda El-Beheisi
Eng2D