ipl-logo

How Does Golding Present The Evil In Lord Of The Flies

651 Words3 Pages

Lord of the Flies Essay Level 4 In Lord of the Flies, Golding illustrates how everyone can be turned back to their animal savage instincts. As a matter of fact, even young and innocent boys can be turned into murderous savages in only a matter of months. It can be argued that Roger’s sadistic behavior in Lord of the Flies demonstrates how all humans will revert to their primal instincts when left to their own devices. This is shown through Roger crushing other boy’s sand castles early on in the novel to eventually killing, torturing, and sodomizing the other boys towards the end. Initially, Roger reveals his cruel behavior by merely crushing the littleuns’ and castles and throwing stones around the boys. This demonstrates Golding’s theme of savagery as Roger realizes he can now do these things without punishment from adults or civilization. This is verified by the quote, “Roger led the way straight through the castles, kicking them over, burying the flowers, scattering the chosen stones” (Golding pg. 60). Yet, Roger’s evil is still slightly …show more content…

This is shown through the killing of Piggy, which is confirmed by the citation, “’the rock struck piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee’ ‘Piggy fell forty feet and landed on his back across the square red rock in the sea” (Golding pg. 181). In addition to the death of Piggy, Roger also tortures Samneric. This is verified by the passage, “the yelling ceased, and Samneric lay looking up in quiet terror. Roger advanced upon them as one wielding a nameless authority” (Golding pg. 182) soon after the torturing of Samneric, Roger plans to murder Ralph in a similar way to the death of the sow; this is illuminated by the citation, “Roger sharpened a stick at both ends” (Golding pg. 190). These horrendous acts of violence depict Golding’s philosophy of people reverting back to their animalistic instincts when parted from

Open Document