Good And Evil In Lord Of The Flies Analysis

Through common stories good and evil are both portrayed through antagonist and protagonist views, which creates morals and opinions, and how societies views have changed over time. In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, we are brought into a world that explores the issues of civilization and savagery. In this piece of literature, a group of British school-boys are stuck on a deserted island with no adults and they try to keep order and peace, but eventually they receive disastrous results. Golding essentially wanted to emphasize the clash of good and evil, by using symbols to establish this concept.

From the beginning of the novel, fire plays a very big significant role throughout the boy’s time on the island. Fire is very necessary for the boys’ survival on the mysterious island and for potential rescue. While they generally just eat fruit foods, there is no way that they can cook the meat that the hunters capture without the presence of a fire. It provides them warmth and safety, however the boys have a hard time continually having a fire going. Fire, in this story is a symbol of defeat, but also of hope. In the sense of defeat, throughout the story Ralph is desperately trying to keep the fire going, but that ends up being an impossible task for the careless boys to do. At one point, Ralph and Piggy spot a ship in the distance at the beach and discover that Jack let the fire go out and says to him “There was a ship. Out there. You said you’d keep the fire going and you let it out!” (Golding, CHAPTER 4). All of the boys had an opportunity to be rescued, but they missed it because the hunters were too careless and distracted to pay attention to the situation that they are in. At the same time, the fire in the story is...

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...ogether. Piggy was essentially the voice of reason on the island, so in that sense his glasses were very representative of his seeing things more clearly than the others. He had clear priorities, and good judgment, but he is rejected by the others for pointing out the reality of the situation that they are in. The breaking of Piggy’s glasses started the downward spiral to savagery. Piggy’s glasses however, were of a huge symbolic value that represented the knowledge and order that the boys came from, but they were also a symbol of destruction.

Golding, essentially challenges readers to take a closer look at the significance of the symbols that he used to show the conflict between good vs. evil. Evil will always be part of man’s nature. Golding’s novel was meant to show us that this evil should be acknowledged and not ignored, or there will be severe consequences.