What Is The Evil In Lord Of The Flies

The destruction that occurs on the island is due to the natural instinct of humans to destroy and tear down one another. In Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies Golding uses three major symbols, the conch shell, fire, and the beast support his theme that mankind is evil. The conch represents the order in humanity until it brakes and all hope is lost. The fire represents the hope to be saved yet in the end it only destroys. Lastly, the beast represented the fear of the unknown and is the origin of violence throughout the novel. The three symbols show the humans natural instinct to overrule and destroy one another no matter how young. The boys on the island suffer through the loss of innocence that they come to the island with and by the end of
The beas plays a huge role and is a imaginary fear from the start. Simon is the only boy who understands that they are all beasts inside. Meaning that he understood the evil witrhin each of them. Golding directly tells us that they are evil when The Lord of the Flies says “There isn’t anyone to help you. Only me. And I’m the Beast. . . . Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill! . . . You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are the way they are?”(158). When this is said all the evidence and clues come together to form the conclusion that the beast is the evil within us that cannot be take out or removed because it is apart of each and everyone of us. The Lord of the flies is a physical symbol of the beats however the boys’ behavior mentally brings the beast into existence. The beast makes the boys make rash decisions, act violently, and turn against one another, the death of simon is an example of this. Simons death was horrific and gruesome. Simon was injured and was crawling down the mountain, when he reached the bottom the boys started vigorously attacking him while shouting “ Kill the beast!Cut his troat! Spill his blood!”(168). They were so caught up in the chant and the fear of being killed first that they did not notice they were killing one of there own. Ironically simon was coming down to spread the word that the beast is not real and there is no need to fear it because the only beast they should fear is themselves because there is a beast inside each and every one of them. The “existence” of the beast has brought out the evil within them and turned them against one another. Golding has clearly proven his point that mankind is