Lord of the Flies by William Golding

¨Lord of the Flies,¨ by William Golding

    Good and evil are like the two sides of a coin and it's all up to the toss of the coin on what situation you may find yourself in.  In William Golding's  “Lord of the Flies” the theme most portrayed is good vs. evil, this theme is portrayed through the three main characters Jack, Ralph, and Simon.  Good is always in battle with evil whether it's through person vs person, person vs society, sickness vs. health, christ vs antichrist, and many more there is always going to be good and evil throughout the world.  

    First off Jack.  Jack portrays the evil aspect of good vs evil in William Golding's “The Lord of the Flies”.  Jack's main focus while he is on the island is killing the pigs, and hunting he wants this to be the other boys main focus as well. This became Jack's main focus the second he was on the island.  Ralph said to Jack, “I was talking about smoke!  Don't you want to be rescued? All you can think about is pig, pig, pig!” (page 54).  If Jack was stuck on the island any longer or the naval officer didn't show up when he did he would have ended up being focused on killing Ralph so he could permanently take his place as being chief, he might have even considered killing the other boys as well.  Thoughout the whole novel Jack wants to be the chief over the island, he wants the other boys to want him to be chief as well, he wanted to have total control, He wanted  all the other boys to be hunters like he is, and to be savage like he is. Unlike Ralph, Jack isn't focused on getting rescued “The best thing we can do is get ourselves rescued.” said Ralph, Jack had to think for a moment before he could remember what rescued was.” (page 53).  Jack's evil is shown within and through his actions and the way he reacts to the other boys on the island.  

    Opposite to Ralph who is the evil from good vs. evil, there is Simon who represents the good in William Golding's “The Lord of the Flies”.  While on the island almost every one of the boys turns to evil and to savagery except Simon.  Simon symbolizes purity, goodness, kindness, and childhood innocence.  Simon is the only one who came to the realization that the beast was a figure of imagination, that the beast was in the boys minds.  “Fancy thinking the beast was something you can hunt and kill!” (page 143).  William Golding has the beast/the boar's head tell Simon that the beast wasn't something living, or something the boys could kill and get rid of.  “You know didn't you?  Im part of you?  Close, close, close!  I'm the reason why it's a no go?  Why things are the way they are?” (page 143)  the beast was talking to Simon and told him that he was the cause of all the evil on the island.  Simon tried telling the other boys but they didn't believe him and they ignored what he was saying.  Simon never turned to savagery which allowed him to stay good instead of turning to evil.  Simon never allowed the evil to over power