The Forbidden Fruit Literary Analysis

The Forbidden Fruit
Selfishness is an innate human trait that when left unchecked, can cause the fabric of society to unravel. This is demonstrated in the allegorical novel The Lord of the Flies by William Golding, where a group of boys wrestle with their primal desires while attempting to survive on the island. The most obstructive person to this goal is a boy by the name of Jack. Although the group quickly comes together and divides the urgent tasks of their new society amongst themselves, Jack strays away from his. He instead pursues his own desire and takes responsibility for his own survival, rather than placing it in the hands of the group. He benefits from this quickly, causing more of the boys to follow in his footsteps. This leads to the eventual collapse of the boy’s welfare based society, as individuals begin to value their own wants over the group’s needs.

Initially, the boys were assigned to tasks that help the group’s well-being such as shelter building, gathering water, or in Jack’s case, maintaining the fire. He soon abandons his duty and goes off to have fun through hunting, causing the fire to go out and prolonging their stay on the island. This situation shows the initial benefit an individual can gain from selfishness, but at the cost of society’s advancement. Although he didn’t get any meat from this trip, he still got to enjoy the “brilliant world of hunting, tactics, [and] fierce exhilaration”(), while the other boys did boring yet important tasks. Through his denial of his critical responsibility, he creates a class distinction within the boys’ society where he is the “one percent” that is able to pursue wealth and prosperity, while being supported by the “working poor” (the other boys). While at the top of the hierarchy, Jack is able to start assuming control over the other