The Lord of the Flies by William Golding-Essay

William Golding’s The Lord of the Flies depicts throughout the book about the breakdown of society as a result of human personalities, actions and arrogance. In the beginning of the book, Golding explains how Ralph, Piggy and the other children have learned how to deal and accept conflicts from their upbringing in society, of how “right” and “proper” it was. The “government” that the children establish is organized and brings equal rights to everyone by using the conch, but the system they first develop crumbles later on in the book. Golding’s theme of the breakdown of society is represented in the imagery, especially in conflicts, the deaths of Simon and Piggy, and the arrival of the British naval officer.

The imagery shown especially in conflicts is key to some of the actions taken by the boys on the island. This is exposed mostly between Ralph and Jack. The first conflict that rises between them is the argument about hunting and building their shelter. This is the second scene where the “madness came into his eyes” (p. 51). This foreshadows a possible kill of something. The next example is in the skies, where the pilot from the war plane that was fighting above the island, as the children slept, and the pilot dangles from the parachute, dead. The significance to the pilot was the one sign that the outside world was closely compared to the one on the island. It reminds the readers that there is a world war going on, and it commences a whole new perspective on the imagery in the book. The last significant imagery lies in the dialogue between Simon and the pig’s head, known as “the lord of the flies”. The pig’s head gives a sort of insight for Simon, basically trying to tell him to stop his curiosity, “or else….we shall do you” (p. 144), which foreshadows the outcome of Simon. At the end of their conversation, Simon was “in the pig’s mouth” (p. 144). In reality, he was either having a seizure and/or he passed out. The meaning behind this was that Simon was enclosed in lost reason and savage nature. Although, these three symbols are only three of the many different images behind the activities of the boys on the island, and can most certainly be observed differently.

The deaths of Simon and Piggy represent the human social world in a very strong point. In Lord of the Flies, he is noteworthy of the optimism and salvation of life in the book. Simon fills all the goodness on the island because he is looked up to as an adult figure to the children He always helped the ‘littluns’ by “pulling of the choicest fruits….and passing them down to the endless outstretched hands” (p. 56). On the other hand, Simon is brutally beaten to death by the all of the boys on the island, with an exception of Piggy, and Golding stresses the phosphorescence of the ocean as it carries him out to sea. In a whole, this means first that society cannot accept goodness in a large dose such as Simon himself, and second that it will overwhelm society, and in return, society will erase the complete goodness from itself altogether. Next, Golding intended to show that Piggy had an awesome gift of intelligent thinking, but then was cursed with a largely built body, glasses, and asthma. The glasses also represent intelligent thinking, and when they break, the symbology behind it means that intelligent thinking is becoming unstable. He introduces the conch as a major part of everyday life, representing equality among the others. He explains that they can “use it to call the others….have a meeting” (p. 16). Although, the same fate for Simon is for Piggy. Piggy, sadly, cannot accept that everyone has the same thought process as him. He uses choices between savagery and decency, trying to reason with Jack and his group, which doesn’t work. He ends up being hurled off the cliff behind him as a result of Roger launching a boulder at Piggy. Golding compares Piggy to the killing of a pig by the savages because “his arms and legs twitched a bit, like a pig’s after it has been killed.” (p. 181). The conch is also immediately eliminated, “exploded into a thousand white fragments” (p. 181) as a sign that the conch may be a part of Piggy. This whole scene states that society cannot accept intelligent thinking, for it will rebel if it did. In total, Golding seems to imply that society is nothing but mere rebellion and savagery, not accepting anything of morality.

The final significant theme that Golding is stressing is the arrival of the British naval officer at the end. Jack and his followers are hunting down Ralph, which seems to be all of the children at this point. Ralph is frantically running away from the savages as the island is being engulfed from the fire that they started. He doesn’t look up until he reaches the naval officer. The British naval officer is shocked by what Ralph had explained that “two were killed. And they’ve gone.” (p. 200). Jack runs to the scene and stops, returning to “a little boy who wore the remains of an extraordinary black cap” (p. 201). Golding reminds us at the end of the novel that the characters depicted in it are still small children. In astonishment to the actions taken by the boys, he tells the children that they could have been more responsible because they’re “all British boys” and they could have “been able to put up a better show” (p. 202). This shows that each nation, strong and powerful, are most certainly not modest on how they think that their society is created. When the strong countries go to another country which has inner conflicts of their own, the powerful nation seems to think that they are superior in comparison to the poverty-stricken country, when in reality, the same events are taking place in their country. The naval officer realizes how this is as he “allows his eyes to rest on the trim cruiser in the distance” (p. 202). Ultimately, this signifies that in a sense, adult life is much the same as the life of children.

Civilization, in a whole, provides many comparisons and differences. It is not mandatory for it to seem like the somewhat pessimistic Golding’s view on society, nor is it completely optimistic. It is not an upright way of life, nor is it barbaric. Society balances itself out, and it can be opinionated differently in different environments and countries, no matter how others may view them as. In the case of William Golding, however, the author definitely puts a very powerful and moving perspective on society and life altogether.