Lord+of+the+Flies+Essay

"Which is better - to have rules and agree, or to hunt and kill? The last words of of "Piggy" in William Golding's Lord of the Flies. These are the words that best sum up the book and its message about human nature. This deeply symbolic book uses a group of boys stranded on an island to outline human nature, society, and moreover: evil itself.

Golding uses Piggy, the pudgy smart kid, to represent science and rational thinking. When they first grouped he was the one who thought to cound everyone. Piggy was the one with the idea for the signal fire, he was the only one who seemed to make sense of everything. He was the only one to dispel the "beastie" in an even remotely convincing way, saying "life is scientific, thats what it is. In a year or two when the war is over they'll be traveling to mars and back. I know there isn't no beast" He has the only technology on th eisland, the only thing that can make fire. He is the only tie to civilized life.

Ralph is the good guy in the story, the leader. He is the one who is driven by good, and tries to keep order, succeeding at first, but ultimately loses all control. The conch, the appointed symbol of authority, starts losing its vibrant color as jack starts parting ways with Ralph, and is destroyed right as the island begins to plunge into Hell. Ralph holds things together, for a while. He creates the fire, builds shelters, and does everything for the good of the others, just as a good leader should. But the closer the end got, the less sure he was. "There was something good about a fire. Something overwhelmingly good." He was forgetting what he had stood for all along. He was struggling to stay hopeful after jack had dismantled the group.

Jack represents power and unrestrained authority, bloodlust and evil. As soon as the wall of rules cracks, he is the one to widen the crack. At first he is hesitant to kill a piglet, though he slowly mutates into a ruthless murderer. His preoccupation with slaughter prevented rescue, drove him to overthrow Ralph. When he became chief, became a god to the others. In his mindless power surge, he lost all humanity he once had. "ralph sharpened a stick at both ends." THe final statement telling of Jacks lost sanity, his intention to display the decapitated head of another human.

Lord of the Flies by William Golding begs the question: is it better to be orderly and constructive, or to be chaotic and destructive? A book about not only boys on an island, but society as a whole.It illustrates human nature, and the struggle between good and evil. Without order, everything turns to Hell.