Themes in "lord of the Flies"

William Goldning’s Lord of the Flies is an allegorical novel where literary techniques are utilized to convey the main ideas and themes of the novel. Two important central themes of the novel includes loss of civilization and innocense which tie into the concept of innate human evil. Loss of civilization is simply the transition from civilization to savagery; order to chaos. The concept of loss of innocense is a key concept to innate human evil because childhood innocense is disrupted as the group hunted animals and even their own. Through the use of literary techniques these ideas are seen in the passage where Simon confronts the “Lord of the Flies.”

The central concern of Lord of the Flies deals with the fall of civilization to the awakening of savagery. The conflict seen in this theme is explored through the dissolution of the young boys’ well mannered behavior as they accustomed themselves to a wild, barbaric life in the jungle. The concept of innate human evil takes an important role in this theme because as the boys grew more savage the beast that they feared grew within themselves. This innate human evil is the beast that destroys civilization as savagery claimed its position. In the passage the “Lord of the flies” indicates the presence of the beast within the boys. ‘Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!’ said the head/You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? (Pg. 143).

To make this point clear Goldning utilizes symbolism of the beast and anthropomorphism of the “Lord of the Flies.” The beast that frightens all the boys stands for the primal instinct of savagery that exists within all human beings while the “Lord of the Flies” is the bloody, severed pig’s head which represents the devil or a symbol of evil. To emphasize fear and evil Goldning seems to use a lot of repetition in this passage alone. For example the “Lord of the Flies” constantly warns “we shall do you? See?.” This is to make Simon quake with fear and show the intensity of the confrontation between them.

As the boys on the island progress from well-behaved, orderly children longing for rescue to cruel, bloodthirsty hunters who have no desire to return to civilization, they naturally lose their innocence that they possessed earlier in the novel. But Golding does not portray this loss of innocence as something that is done to the children; rather,