View of Society in Lord of the Flies

In Lord of the Flies, William Golding presents pessimistic view of society. He uses the story of a group of boys stranded on a deserted island to examine a multitude of specific social issues, such as leadership, sadism, and the role of intellectuals in society.
Taken together, this presentation of opinions on social issues brings the reader to the question of the nature of society. As to this question, Golding asserts that society is an inherently corruptive influence and illustrates this through the breakdown of social order on the island.

Golding begins his indictment of society with an illustration of innocence. One of first things that Ralph, the central character of the novel, does upon his arrival on the island is to strip himself of his clothing and go swimming. During this opening sequence,
Piggy rambles about eating candies in his aunt’s store. Even Jack first appears as a choir boy. Golding is careful in the novel to introduce each of the boys as the picture of innocence, emphasizing that they are children and nothing more. This is shown in the following quote, “ He (Ralph) patted the palm trunk softly, and, forced at last to believe in the reality of the island, laughed delightedly again and stood on his head. He turned neatly on to his feet, jumped down to the beach, knelt and swept a double armful of sand into a pile against his chest. Then he sat back and looked at the water with bright excited eyes.”
(Golding, William Lord of the Flies Wideview/Perigee page 10).

By doing this, Golding strips his characters of any motives that they may have for their actions down to bare human nature, as the author has shown them to be carrying no emotional baggage. Because of this, these innocent children become the perfect subjects for Golding’s test of human nature. Also, by establishing this innocence at the beginning, before the boys form their society, in such a concrete manner, Golding suggests that man begins as innocent, before entering society.

After establishing the boys as innocents, Golding wastes little time in mixing them together into a society. That natural state that they exist in upon arrival on the island is shattered by Ralph’s first unifying blow of the conch. Golding uses the scenario of the isolated tropical island to demonstrate the effects society has on individuals. One of the first things the boys do after assembling is to make fun of Piggy’s weight. Jack does this to impress and entertain the other boys. Ralph chimes in to impress Jack, as well as the