Theme Of Foreshadowing In Lord Of The Flies

William Golding depicts the island the novel ‘Lord of the Flies’ is set on as a paradise that takes on an idyllic nature. It is pure and completely undamaged before the arrival of the boys and the scar created by the plane crash that brings the boys on the island. Much like the group of boys that are stranded on the island themselves, the island has two sides. The novel begins with the side that is seemingly innocent and free of evil but grows into the more dangerous, stormy side that implies further wounding and damaging. The sinister side of human nature is foreshadowed in the novel through the boys’ descent into savagery, the beast within mankind that gives anyone the capacity to do harm and the natural development of violence in the boys’

This becomes evident as Golding uses characterisation to portray the message through Simon, whom he paints as the only one of the boys who is truly moral because he is aware that the beast is inside mankind and simultaneously knows how to control his. As Simon suspects that the beast that they all fear is inside them suggesting that “maybe there is a beast, maybe it’s only us”, the symbolism of the beast foreshadows the evil presence in human nature. This is later confirmed when a dead pig’s head, a symbol for the Lord of the Flies, synonymous with the beast, taunts Simon, “you knew didn’t you? I’m a part of you. Close, close, close!”, so close that it is within. The point that because of the “darkness of man’s heart” anyone is capable of evil is also foreshadowed. Both characters that are represented as predominantly savage and the ‘normal’ boys share some form of foreshadowed cruelty. Although even Jack is reluctant at first to kill a pig, the “memories that crowd him of having outwitted a living thing, imposed his will upon it and taken away its life like a long satisfying drink” after his first kill clearly foreshadow the dark, cruel obsession of killing would consume Jack. The use of words Similarly, in Roger’s first act of pointless cruelty, he is “conditioned by the taboo of the old life, a civilisation that knew nothing on him and was in ruins” while throwing stones at the younger boys. While Roger is still lingering on the line of wrongdoing, the language implies the broken structure of civilisation, Roger’s further distancing from it and foreshadows who he really is and what he is capable of. Henry, one of the younger boys, as he becomes “absorbed beyond mere happiness exercising control over living things giving him the illusion of mastery” while simply playing on