The Major Themes

and Ideas in Lord of

the Flies

!Suring the early decades of the twentieth century both the

themes and the techniques of novel went through various
experiments, leading to a redefinition of the novel form. In the
eighteenth and nineteenth cmruries the rhcmes were social
themes in the main, and the plot patterns were constructed out
of the incidents which appeared socially significant. Freud's
revelation of the sutH:onscious mind as the guiding force of
man's conscious action, the loss of confidence in value system,
the disappearance of all coherence due to social and political
movements all over the world and the impact of the two
world wa rs resulted in dislocations in every walk of life and
the novels began to reflect those dislocations. Lord of th Flia,
a direct product of the writer's experience of the Second World
War, offers a number of themes which arc the by-products of
the writer's serious concern for the future of civilization,
rendered almost devastated by the cruelry of the Second Wodd
War. The major rhcmcs and ideas of the novel may be
categorized as follows: (1) the theme of evil, (2) the theme of
childhood, (3) the theme of human civilization in the
twentieth century, and (4) the Biblical theme or the theme
of sin and expiation.
The Theme of Evll In Goldlng's Loni of Ille Fila: An lnut9
DepqvllJ of M8n
The popular literature of ephemeral pleasure having been
ousted in the twentieth century by the literature of rcaliry,
William Golding was prepared to reveal his ideas about
man's

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70 LORD OF THE 'UES

evil nature at the cost of facing severe criticism. A brooder on

human destiny, Golding was obsessed with the large scale
massacre owing to the atomic wa r and revealed his deep
concern about what had gone wrong with our world. The
world in all its diabolical perversions is reflected in the
children's world on the uninha bited island. The abandoned
boys on the island 3re driven by the instinct for survival as
they search for food and arrange shelters. With all his good
senses Ralph was the natural leader and was accepted by all
except Jack who eventually became not only the personification -
of evil qualities but also the cruellest autocrat who attracted
others towards his ideals through temptations and terrors.
From the very beginning of the novel jack's cruelty and
his going against na tu n: are highlighted. Jack's intolerance,
bis material gr«d, his hankering for power are revea led as
the basic evil qualities that led ro murder and destruction.
While Ralph, prom pted by good sense, laid emphasis on
signal fire and maki ng shelters, Jack put emphasis on
hunting and merry· making and broke away from the order
created by Ra lph rn satisfy his sensuous pleasure. jack could
influence his group and beca me a successful h unter with the
help of his group. Breaking up law and order is a serious
offence according to Colding; he feels that man's evil nature
rema ins suppressed only when he is under discipline. Thus
jack' s inhermt evil nature was suppressed by the disciplined
school life and he hesitated for a moment to kill the pig that
had been trapped and yet, managed to esca, thanks to jack'
s hesitation. jack felt ashamed and his face ixcame white as
he found that be still held the knife aloft after the piglet tore
11

loose from the aeepcrs."' He said as an excuse that he was·

just waiting for a moment to decide where to stab. _The writer
comments, "They knew very well why he hadn'i:- because of
the enormity of the knife descending and cutting into living
flesh; beca use of the unbearable blood."' After a few days
jack was totally changed and was able to enjoy brutal killing.
Golding gives details of how jack and bis pa ny
enjoyed killing a sow that was surrounded by pigs.
jack was on the top of the sow, stabbing downward with his
11

knife. Roger found a lodgment for his

 nE MAJOR DIMES AMJ IOfAS IN LDllD OF DIE Fl.ES 71

point and began to push rill be was leaning with his whole
weight. The spear moved forward inch by inch and the
ttrrified squealing became a high-pitched scream. Then jack
found the throat and the hot blood spouted over the bands.
The sow collapsed under them and they wett heavy and
fulfilled u pon her,. (Ch. 8). The two incidents indicate that the
blood-thirsty nature of jack and his pa rty could be suppressed
only through rigorous discipline. These very boys were angel
likc when they were disciplined in a civilized society, but on
the island with no grown-up to boss the"" their beastly nature
came up. To quote &om the text once again, 11Each of them
wore the remains of a black cap and ages ago they had stood
in two demure rows and their voices had been the song of
angels• (Ch. 8).
Golding. however, did nor intend to ponray Jack as
basically nil. As he said in an interview, ..Jack has got all
the gallant elements-hunting, warrior instincts-that we like to
think of in the Knights of the Round Table. He is not really
bad. He is a ma n of anger, violmce and action and wants to
be a leader.,., What Golding wants to say is that the
traditional heroic qualities associated with leadershi p
contained genns of ml that were ignored earlier.
Advancement of science and technology made the rime ripe
for atomic explosion and aggravated the situation as a resulr of
which modem civiliz.arlon faces the threat of extinction. The
arrival of cruel autocrats vitiated the situa tion. Roger in
Lord of th Flis is one such autocrar--Golding calls him a
kind of Hitr figure-who is noted for atrocity and murder.
..But the Hitler figure is emerging and he is Roger. He just
comes to the surfag: by the time the book ends. It is only the
naval officer's stepping in which stops Roger from
dominating the whole thing as Hitler dominated what was lint
a reactiom partly against Communism. He dominated this
and turned ir inro the evil thing that it
became...1
Golding uied to make it clear that the sadistic narure of
Roger and Ma urice remained suppressed by the discipline and
order in their previous life, but on the island their dormant mt
nature got exposed. When the little boys were playing on the
 72 lORO OF THE FLIES

sands, building castles and decorating them with shells, flowen

and inreresting stones, Roger and Maurice came out of the
fo relieved of their duties at the fire. •Roger led the way
straighr through rhc c:asdes, kicking them over, burying the
flowers, scattering the chosen stones. Maurice follow
laughing, and added to 1hc destruction. The three linluns
pa used in rheir game and looked up. As it happened, rhc
particular marks in which they were interested had not bttn
touched, so rhey made no protest. Only Percival began to
whimper with an eyeful of sand and Maurice hurried away.
ln the other Ii.le
• Maurice had received chastisement for filling a younger eye
with sand. Now, though there was no parent to let fall a
heavy hand, Maurice still felt the unease of wrong-doing. At
the back of his mind formed the uncenain outline of an
excuse• (Ch. 4).
Golding made this display of cruelty in his novel to make
his readcn aware of the ttal nature of hu m3n mind. Al he
wrote, the Second World War taught us 11not fighting,
politics, or the follies of nationalism, but about the given
nature of man.•J He felt that the earth is being deteriorated by
man, and it can be saved only if ma n becomes aware of his
nature and changes it. Ma n has to be more humane, more
caring and loving, said Golding, •stumbling along,
haphazardly generous and p!lant, foolishly and meanly wise
until the rape of our planet is seen to be preposterous folly
that it is."4 The threat of atomic war and the stockpile of
lethal arms have broken the myth of progress, he affumed.
but ..universal guilt has come bade without bringing God
with it...1 He clarifies his ideas in several places.To quote
one such remark,
I am very serious. I believe that man suffen from an
appalling ignorance of his own naNrc. I produce my own
view, in the belief that it may be something like the
truth.. I am fully engaged to the human dilemma but sec
it as far more fundamental than a complex of taxes and
astronomy.'
Golding's novel, therefore, strives to expose the human
dilemma, one that explains, according to him, the chaos and
disorder in the present world.
 DE MAJOR MMES AN> IDEAS IN LDllJ OF 1HE RB 71
According ro Golding. the most alarming quality of evil
ii that it can amacr most of the people towards it, because
most people att prone to sensuous joys of life and are
reluctant to ntional dlinking. Golding also associates evil with
fear which often causes dangerous activities. In the novel,
me boys' fear for the unknown st ma kes than crazy
and irrational, and the fim murder on the island was
caused by fear. While enjoying mock-hunt the hunters
mistook Simon for the beast in darkness and caused his
death. They were so much obsessed with fear that they ceased
.ro be rational and failed to argue that the figure they were
attacking was very small. Jade, Ralph, Sam, &ic and Roger
had witnessed the dead body tied to a parachute and thought
that figure to be a beast. The boys should have estimated in
thei r minds that the approaching figure taken for the beast
was much smaller than the •bean' they had Sttn on the
mountain top. But they failed to argue logically-only Ralph
di but after the mishap--and became paniclcy.
Simon alone was without fear and therefore he
sought to delve deep beneath the surface reality and could
know reality.
Another important aspect of ml highlighted in the novel
is that it does not exist outside; only Simon could sauc the
truth about evil when he said that the beast might be •only
us" (Cb. 5). The other boys were a&aid of the beast outside:
the littluns dreamt of a beastly figure; the big boys including
Ralph and jack •saw" the beast on the top of the mountain.
They were in fact so mucli obsessed with the thought of beast
outside, that they were mistaken. They were lacking in clear
vision and capaciry of self-analysis. It was exposed to Simon
alone mat evil in the form of beast was mere illusion. Even
before he saw the figure, he doubted in the existence of a
beast, though he could not cxprcu his feelings properly. The
writer says, •simon became inaniculate in his cffon to express
mankind's essential illness. Inspiration came to him• (Ch. 5).
This observation shows that Golding rquated evil to •mankind 11
essential illness,.. that is, to the depravation in man's minct
lack of good will, sympathy and love for all-which give binh
to jealousy, hypocrisy.cruelty and hankering for marerial pin.
74 10«0 OF THE FUES

Golding's experiences during rhe Second World War taught

him that these black holes in human mind caused the
World War and he was convinced that unless and until these
holes are covered up with human feelings, civilization is
exposed to the tbttat of extinction. The island in Lord of
th Flis is the
replica of the planet on which men had been living since ages
exploiting all its resources, and Yeft without any thought for
future they arc leaving it on the verge of destruction. The rwo
groups in the novel-the bunters• group led by Jack and
Ralph's group of bo rendered as parody of the organized
society of the adults who are engaged in destroying the other
group and in effect dig the grave for the enrire race.
Golding's concept of evil is anistically expressed through
symbols. The •witch-like cry" of the bird, rhe ..skull-like"
coconuts, and the ..snake-clasp• of Ralph's belt create an
annosphere for me display of me evil in the very first chapter.
In the second chapter, the make-image which is always
aissociatcd with evil is introduced through the dream of the
5111all boy. Golding deliberately uses the word 'scar' to
denote a aaggy rock, for the word •scar· obviously refers to a
wound that suggests a sense of threat. When rhe boys go out
to explore the island, rhcy see a boa t like thing on the sea and
the writer describes the place where the plane bad crashed onto
the island. •Beyond the falls and cliffs thtre was a gash visible
in the trees; there were the splintered trunks and then the
drag, leaving only a fringe of palm between the scar and the
sea" (Ch. 1). When Ralph, Jack and Simon cxplottd the
island, they found a rock as large as a small motor car. Jack
leaned against the rock and pushed it4 MThc great rock
loitered, poised on one toe, decided not to return, moved
through the air, fell struck, turned over, leapt droning through
the air and sm:1shed a deep hole in the canopy of the fortst.
Echoes and birds flew, white and pink dust Ooat the forest
funhcr down shook as with the passage of an enraged
monster; and then the island was still" (Ch. 1). One of the
boys described the sound as "like a bomb." The dtseription of
pushing the rock and thc- reference to bomb are suggestive of
evil. In fact the most horrible incident in the novel-the
murder of Piggy who stands for

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 1ltE MAJOR nlWS NII l>W W tORD OF HRS 71

nrionaliry and intelligence and whose death is laid out in

hardest tones-was done by pushing the rock. Though the
pushing in the fint chapter did apparently no harm, it
creared a deep hole in rhe canopy of the forest and it is
suggested that such a playful gesrure, roo, can cause huge
destruction if it is nor conuolled by common sense. The
Casde Rock is represenred u symbolic of human evil. Jade
and his pa ny took shelter in the Castle Rocle which was
treated as a fon and which reminds one of the concentration
camp used during the World War. The Castle Rocle was
being guarded by savages who were painted out of
recognition. 11They carried spears and disposed themselves
ro defend the enttance.,. It is in front of this Castle Rock thar
Roger, one of the guards, pulled a huge rock &om which
Ralph managed to escape but Piggy could not. jack ukcd
his group to be vigilant so that no other could enter the fon.
Thus the Castle Rock becomes the centre of the malicious
activities of jack and his pany.
Simon's confrontation with the lord of the flies-die pig's
bead on a stick-reveals Golding's attitude to evil more
clearly. The use of fantasy helps the writer to project bis
ideas in an interesting way. Evil allures man first through
temptations and then through threatening. At first, the pig's
head asked Simon to ioin the orher boys and be merry.
Then, it threalall Simon and tells thar if be does not ioin
jack•s group he will be killed.
•There isn't anyone to help you. Only me. And rm the
beast."...
•fancy thinking rhe beast was something you could bunt
and kill!•..You knew.didn't you? rm pan of you1
Clote,
dose, close!I'm the reason the reason why it's no go? Why
things are what they are?" (Ch. 8)
Simon resists temptation and be is never afraid and so he
remains u113ffed by ml. It is yet suggested that being a
human Simon cannot altogether deviate himself &om evil.
•Simon found he was looking into :a vast mouth. There was
blaclcness within, a blackness that spread•••Simon was inside
the mouth" (Ch. 8). With the help of these symbols, Golding

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76 LORD OF THE FLIES

suggests the all pervading nature of evil and expresses his

concern for irs outcome.
Golding was disill usioned by the World War and by rhe
British withdrawal from Empire. He found Britain as well
as the world outside wou nded by shell-shock and rra wnarized
by atomic explosions and concen t ration camps. War and
destruction during 1930s indicated the triumph of the irrational
and the beast in man. The school boys who were crash-
landed on the island carried with them something of the adult
world.
Thq brought with them not only me memory of houses,
streets, T.V. sets, but also of jet-liner, cruiser, machine-gun,
bom bing and firing. A serious concern (or all chese evils led the
author to analyse the causes behind those current affairs,
and he came to believe that the current affairs which made
him so concerned are prompted by the basic human nature.
He explained this search for the root cause of the malaise
as a wrirer•s real job:
The distinction becwttn them (current affairs) and the
general human background is vague; felt by the novelist
rather than defined. But what is apparent to him-dare
one say 'to him rather than to most'?-is that current
affairs are only expressions of the basic human condition
where his true business lies. If he has a serious, an
Aeschylean, preoccu pation with the human tragedy, that is
only to say that he is committed to looking for the root of
the disea instead of dri bing the symptoms. I can•t help
feeling that critics of this Acsch ylcan outlook are those
who think they have an easy answer to aM problems simply
beca use they ha ve never looked f urther than the rash
appeari ng on the skin.7
To be brief, Golding was almost obsessed with the existence of
evil in man's nature and laid emphasis on the recognition of
this nature on the basis of whiclml one may take steps to
eradicate it. Again, he is not concerned with human nature in
a panicular time or with a particular cast of socicry. though
occasional references are taken from the contempora ry (mid
twentieth century) world and the boys in the novel arc all
British school boys. Golding, however, avoided marking any
 TIE MAJOR 1l&ES Nil IDEM t.I LORD OF THE RB 77

specific qualiry of British boys and the boys with their fun
and wantoMess might as well belong to any other modem
civilized country. According to Golding evil does not emerge
out of some political or other sysmns and hence, removal of a
pacular system docs not msure removal of evil. To quote
&om the •Presentation Speech• by the Swedish Academy,
•Golding inveighs against those who think that it is the
political or orhcr systems that create evil. Evil springs from the
depths of man himself-it is the wiclccd ness in h uman
beings that creates the evil systems or that changes what
from the beginning is, or could be, good into something
iniquitous and
· destructive. " (www.Nobcl.sc/litcr aru rc/1983/prcscntation·
speech.html.) Thus, evil for Golding is moral evil, be it
hankering for power or deceitfulness. As it exists inside man's
heart, it has to be eradicated by man's conscious will to be
morally uplifted. Hence man has to be aware of bis evil nature
first. Simon alone could perceive of this evil nature as be
developed an objective impartiality based on his purity. Ralph
bad to pay price through his sufferings in order to get at that
truth. The novel ends with Ralph•s realization of the essential
evil in man's nature and Golding's views are best revealed
through Ralph's racrions.
n.n.m.af Chlldhaad In Lord of,,, Fiia:Potwadal
of Chllclren
Golding's Lord of tht Flia is a novel about the
activities of some school boys who ra nged between six and
twelve and who had been dropped by an aeroplane on an
uninhabited island. The subject maner of the novel shows
similarities with the adventurous stories of the boys written in
the nineteenth century. Th stories are romantic tales which
focus on the c:xplorarion of the unknown land by the boys
who are far
&om the Christian notion of 'original sin.' Within the text of
Lord of the Flies, both Coral Island and Trusure lslmul have
hem relo1cd to by the characters to point at the element of
advenrutt. But Lord of th Flis is a reconstruction of
Ballanrync's Coral Island in which three school boys of
Imperial Britain explore an uninhabited island which becomes
a paradise for them These boys-Ralph, Jack and

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Peterkin-

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