The Thing on the Stick

961 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Human nature in Lord of flies

The Thing on the Stick
What would happen if a group of school boys were stranded on an island, with no adults? What would they do? These are some of the questions posed in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, where a group of British school boys are stranded on a small, deserted island, and where order slowly breaks down into chaos and savagery. Even though the movie adaption of Lord of the Flies changes many elements of the story, they both still demonstrate the same theme of evil in human nature.
In the book, there is a scene where Simon is speaking to the Lord of the Flies, who is actually a pig’s head stuck on a stake, and it tells him that he is the evil inside of them all, and he is the reason why everything is going bad. Simon is severely dehydrated, when he comes across a pig’s head, and he hallucinates that the pig’s head is talking to him. “The Lord of the Flies laughed again. ‘Fancy thinking the beast was something you could kill, you knew didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s a no go? Why things are what they are?’ ‘You know perfectly well you’ll only meet me down there, don’t try to escape.’ The Thing on the Stick spoke again, ‘Come now, run along, go back to the others and well forget this whole thing.’” (Golding 143) This quote is from Simon’s imagined conversation with the pig’s head, who was the “gift” for the beast, and which represents the evil on the island. The Lord of the Flies also says that he is part of everyone, explaining how he, the evil, is in everyone, and goes on to say that the evil is what is responsible for all of the issues on the island. He also tells Simon to return to the others, and later, when he does return to the others, there is frenzy where there is...

... middle of paper ...

...le to go, far enough to turn on their friends, and doom themselves, and to murder others.
The Lord of the Flies says a lot about the nature of human beings, but perhaps its most lasting impression is of the evil that is inherently imbedded in every human being’s nature. During Simon’s encounter with the Lord of the Flies, it tells him that the evil is inside of everyone, and that it is the reason for the demise of order and civility on the island. In the movie, the boys discuss restraining or killing the unconscious pilot, for the reason that they are scared of him. Finally in the concluding hunt for Ralph, the people who used to be his friends want to killing him and put his head on a stake. Even though there are many changes to the plot in Lord of the Flies and the movie, they both still retain the same basic theme that human beings are, despite everything, evil.

Show More
Related

  • Lord Of The Flies Conch Quotes

    1167 Words  | 3 Pages

    The evil in man is seen in many parts of life and it could be only be brought out when they have the power and position to do it. In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding symbolism is used to show the theme of the Inherent Evil of Man through the conch, the Lord of the Flies, and the fire. The breaking of the conch shows how the boys forget authority and destroy their only symbol of civilization. The Lord of the Flies shows the violence of the boys, and the temptation of the evil Lord of the Flies. The fire shows how something used for rescue and hope is turned into something violent and evil. The fire burns down trees and parts of the island when the savage boys are trying to kill Ralph.

    Read More

  • Simon as Christ in Lord of the Flies

    873 Words  | 2 Pages

    The basic premise of Lord of the Flies is that humans naturally live in savagery and ignorance, without any idea of how to live together. The most terrifying death in the novel is that of Simon, who symbolizes the eyes of a blind and stumbling group of children digressing into savagery.  As Christ lived, so lived Simon, as Christ died, so died Simon.  Each died because human nature hates prophets, because humans naturally live in savagery and ignorance.

    Read More

  • Understanding the Symbolism in Lord of the Flies

    752 Words  | 2 Pages

    It tells Simon that he should not try to stop Jack’s new rule from gaining power, but alternatively to let the barbarity consume the island. How does the Lord of the Flies intend to stop Simon if he tries to spread his insight about the “beast” to the rest? Because the savagery is already within them, the boys who Simon would try to save, would not want to fathom the revelation. In short, even if Simon tried to tell the boys about the true meaning of the beast, they would not be ready to listen and would not

    Read More

  • Lord Of The Flies Microcosm Analysis

    1065 Words  | 3 Pages

    Whether people will deny it or not, it is certainly apparent that human nature is all too evil; for there is a demon that lurks in everyone, just waiting to come out. Humans can build civilizations and attempt to deviate themselves from such basic instincts, yet nevertheless, evil is not something that they can run from; it is not something that they can defeat. William Golding knew this, and so in his book, Lord of the Flies, he presents so by portraying a microcosm of a society in the form of little British schoolboys. Their plane, in an attempt to escape from the raging war, came to its own demise as it was shot down, leaving the boys stranded on an island they know nothing of. Ralph, later on the leader of the boys, and with the help of

    Read More

  • Lord Of The Flies Comparison Essay

    1095 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the novel The Lord of the flies, William Golding illustrates the decline from innocence to savagery through a group of young boys. In the early chapters of The Lord of the Flies, the boys strive to maintain order. Throughout the book however, the organized civilization Ralph, Piggy, and Simon work diligently towards rapidly crumbles into pure, unadulterated, savagery. The book emphasized the idea that all humans have the potential for savagery, even the seemingly pure children of the book. The decline of all civilized behavior in these boys represents how easily all order can dissolve into chaos. The book’s antagonist, Jack, is the epitome of the evil present in us all. Conversely, the book’s protagonist, Ralph, and his only true ally, Piggy, both struggle to stifle their inner

    Read More

  • Savagery Lord Of The Flies Analysis

    1720 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout the story, the fear the boys have of the beast becomes incredibly strong. This ends up driving the boys apart, as seen when Jack organizes a feast for the boys to try to get people to join his tribe, separate from Ralph: “‘I gave you food,’ said Jack, ‘and my hunters will protect you from the beast. Who will join my tribe?’”(172). Everyone is afraid of the beast at this point, and Jack uses this fear to urge people to join his group of hunters. The fear of the beast in turn because a driving factor of the group tearing apart, leaving Ralph against angry savages by the end of the book. The beast therefore is a cause of the boy’s opening up to their inner savagery. The reason for this is explained when Jack gives the beast a physical being when he puts the head of one of the pigs he killed, and Simon, in an hallucination, hears it speak: “Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!...You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are?”(164). The pig’s head, or the Lord of the Flies, is a physical manifestation of the beast in Simon’s hallucination, and it explicitly states it is part of Simon. In other words, the beast is representative of the savagery and evil within humans, not a monster roaming the island. The only fear the boys have had is fear of what is within: their inherent evil. This idea is perpetuated when all the boys go to Jack’s tribe’s feast, and end up doing a pig dance, when an unsuspecting Simon comes stumbling into the area the boys are doing their dance in: “‘Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood! Do him in!’...The beast was on its knees in the center, its arms folded over its face… At once the crowd surged after it, poured down

    Read More

  • Lord Of The Flies Analysis

    1395 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Lord of the Flies by author William Golding is a tale of a group of boys who have been stranded on a deserted island as a result of a plane crash. The boys are faced with plenty of challenges that they all choose to make different choices for such as turning towards savagery for Jack and towards civility for Ralph, which ultimately brings the entire groups sanity to the edge. Within the novel there are plenty of themes, and most of them relate to the inherent evil that exists in all humans as well as the savage nature of mankind. In The Lord of the Flies, Golding shows these boys’ transformation from being a civilized group of boys to savage beasts due to their adaption to the freedom that they have in their new society, which connects

    Read More

  • Lord of the Flies

    755 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are two types of people in this world, good and evil. Some people think that evil comes to us from the surrounding society, others believe it is inside us and we are born with it. William Golding in the novel Lord of the Flies believes that all people are born with evil inside which needs to be restrained by a civilized society. In the novel, there is a stark contrast between the two societies set up by Ralph and Jack. Ralph is restrained by a civilized society, yet Jack is not restrained so his evil comes out at a faster rate. This shows through the personalities and the roles of each leader, in the different qualities in the second in command, Piggy and Roger. Most of all it is noticeable in Jack’s and Ralph’s values.

    Read More

  • Lord of the Flies

    658 Words  | 2 Pages

    One of the most important symbols in Lord of the Flies is the pig's head. The pig's head is described by Golding as "dim-eyed, grinning faintly, blood blackening between the teeth," and is covered with a "black blob of flies.” (p. 137-138). Golding uses the pig’s head to personify the evil within the boys. This is shown mainly when Simon has a conversation with the pig in his own conscious and imagines the pig saying, "Fancy thinking the beast was something you could hunt and kill! Oh you knew, didn't you? I'm part of you?" (p. 143). After Simon wakes up and sees that what the boys thought was beast is actually a dead body of an airman in a parachute, he attempts to tell the boys about his new discovery. Although, when he arrived, the boys attack and bludgeon him to death. That shows how after the boys start to exist without society’s rules, they allow evil to control and dominate their actions and become savages.

    Read More

  • Symbols and Symbolism in Lord of the Flies

    1720 Words  | 4 Pages

    One of the most important and most obvious symbols in Lord of the Flies is the object that gives the novel its name, the pig's head. Golding's description of the slaughtered animal's head on a spear is very graphic and even frightening. The pig's head is depicted as "dim-eyed, grinning faintly, blood blackening between the teeth," and the "obscene thing" is covered with a "black blob of flies" that "tickled under his nostrils" (William Golding, Lord of the Flies, New York, Putnam Publishing Group, 1954, p. 137, 138). As a result of this detailed, striking image, the reader becomes aware of the great evil and darkness represented by the Lord of the Flies, and when Simon begins to converse with the seemingly inanimate, devil-like object, the source of that wickedness is revealed. Even though the conversation may be entirely a hallucination, Simon learns that the beast, which has long since frightened the other boys on the island, is not an external force. In fact, the head of the slain pig tells him, "Fancy thinking the beast was something you could hunt and kill! Ö You knew, didn't you? I'm part of you?" (p. 143). That is to say, the evil, epitomized by the pig's head, that is causing the boys' island society to decline is that which is inherently present within man. At the end of this scene, the immense evil represented by this powerful symbol can once again be seen as Simon faints after looking into the wide mouth of the pig and seeing "blackness within, a blackness that spread" (p. 144).

    Read More

  • Lord of the Flies: Fear of the Unknown

    1000 Words  | 2 Pages

    On contrary from all the other boys on the island Simon, a Christ like figure in the novel, did not fear the ‘beastie’ or the unknown. “Maybe there is a beast....maybe it's only us” Simon explained. (p. 97) The fear of the unknown in the novel contributes to the boys’ terror of the beast, the beast is an imaginary figure which lays in all of the boys’ minds and haunts them. Golding uses the beast as a symbol of the evil that exists in every creature. "You knew, didn't you? I'm part of you? Close, close close! I'm the reason why it's no go? Why things are the way they are?" The sow head announced to Simon to be the “lord of the flies”. The “lord of the flies” is a figure of the devil, and brings out all the evil and fear in people. It wants you to fear it, but if you don’t believe in the “lord of the flies” nothing can happen to you. Therefore Simon didn’t fall into the trap, but the beast killed him, meaning the other boys on the island did. Simon discovered that the beast is in fact just a dead parachute man before he died and ran down to tell the boys about his finding. When Sim...

    Read More

  • Inherent Evil of Man Exposed in Lord of the Flies

    1054 Words  | 3 Pages

    The novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding used a group of British boys beached on a deserted island to illustrate the malicious nature in mankind. Lord of the Flies dealt with the changes the boys underwent as they gradually adapted to the freedom from their society. William Golding's basic philosophy that man was inherently evil was expressed in such instances as the death of Simon, the beast within the boys, and the way Ralph was fervently hunted.

    Read More

  • Lord of the Flies

    586 Words  | 2 Pages

    “A thing was crawling out the forest. It came darkly, uncertainly. The shrill screaming that rose before the beast was like a pain.” This so-called beast that emerged from the forest was Simon, one of the boys who was stranded on the island. After he emerged from the forest, Simon discovered what the “pig’s head on a stick” represented, his untimely demise and tribal chaos. This was also when the real Lord of the Flies that was stalking the boys on the island reared its ugly head.

    Read More

  • Symbolal Allegory In Lord Of The Flies By William Golding

    1156 Words  | 3 Pages

    The symbolical allegory “Lord of the Flies” written by William Golding, symbolizes through different characters of how humankind are evil from the core. The story of a group of schoolboys trapped on a deserted island takes more of a symbolizing story than it might seem. Each detail takes a position in the story to show the core of humanity. A group of young boys together without adult supervision causes the boys to slowly reveal their savage core. Being a part of the English society has taught them to make rules and follow them, but slowly as they realize that there are no grownups are there to stop them, the revealing of their nature begins. William Golding states in his interview concerning the theme of the book, “The theme is an attempt to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature.” (Golding 204). The human race has been evil ever since Adam and Eve sinned, but through the Bible, we try our best to cover the core of our hearts with rules and morality.

    Read More

  • Good And Evil In William Golding's Lord Of The Flies

    938 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout the novel, Lord of the Flies, the characters display a variety of good and evil. Goulding uses the actions of Ralph, Jack, and Simon to illustrate the nature of good and evil which is present in everyone.

    Read More

More about The Thing on the Stick

Open Document