Lord of the Flies Themes

Themes

Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary
work.

Civilization versus Savagery

The central concern of Lord of the Flies is the conflict between two
competing impulses that exist within all human beings: the instinct to live by
rules, act peacefully, follow moral commands, and value the good of the
group against the instinct to gratify one’s immediate desires, act violently to
obtain supremacy over others, and enforce one’s will. This conflict might be
expressed in a number of ways: civilization versus savagery, order versus
chaos, reason versus impulse, law versus anarchy, or the broader heading of
good versus evil. Throughout the novel, Golding associates the instinct of
civilization with good and the instinct of savagery with evil. The conflict
between the two instincts is the driving force of the novel, explored through
the dissolution of the young English boys’ civilized, moral, disciplined
behavior as they accustom themselves to a wild, brutal, barbaric life in the
jungle.

Lord of the Flies is an allegorical novel, which means that Golding conveys
many of his main ideas and themes through symbolic characters and objects.
He represents the conflict between civilization and savagery in the conflict
between the novel’s two main characters: Ralph, the protagonist, who
represents order and leadership; and Jack, the antagonist, who represents
savagery and the desire for power. As the novel progresses, Golding shows
how different people feel the influences of the instincts of civilization and
savagery to different degrees. Piggy, for instance, has no savage feelings,
while Roger seems barely capable of comprehending the rules of civilization.
Generally, however, Golding implies that the instinct of savagery is far more
primal and fundamental to the human psyche than the instinct of civilization.

Golding sees moral behavior, in many cases, as something that civilization

forces upon the individual rather than a natural expression of human
individuality. When left to their own devices, Golding implies, people
naturally revert to cruelty, savagery, and barbarism. This idea of innate
human evil is central to Lord of the Flies, and finds expression in several
important symbols, most notably the beast and the sow’s head on the stake.
Among all the characters, only Simon seems to possess anything like a
natural, innate goodness.

Loss of Innocence

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 the sense of innocence that they possessed
at the beginning of the novel. The painted savages in Chapter 12 who have
hunted, tortured, and killed animals and human beings are a far cry from the
guileless children swimming in the lagoon in Chapter 3. But Golding does not
portray this loss of innocence as something that is done to the children;
rather, it results naturally from their increasing openness to the innate evil
and savagery that has always existed within them. Golding implies that
civilization can mitigate but never wipe out the innate evil that exists within
all human beings. The forest glade in which Simon sits in Chapter 3
symbolizes this loss of innocence. At first, it is a place of natural beauty and
peace, but when Simon returns later in the novel, he discovers the bloody
sow’s head impaled upon a stake in the middle of the clearing. The bloody
offering to the beast has disrupted the paradise that existed before—a
powerful symbol of innate human evil disrupting childhood innocence.

Read more about how the loss of innocence shapes characters in Khaled

Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner.

Struggle to Build Civilization

The struggle to build civilization forms the main conflict of Lord of the Flies.
Ralph and Piggy believe that structure, rules, and maintaining a signal fire
are the greatest priorities, while Jack believes hunting, violence, and fun
should be prioritized over safety, protection, and planning for the future.
While initially the boys, including Jack, agree to abide by Ralph’s rules and
democratic decision-making, the slow and thoughtful process of building an
orderly society proves too difficult for many of the boys. They don’t want to
help build the shelters, maintain the signal fire, or take care of the littluns.
The immediate fun and visceral rewards of hunting, chanting, and dancing
around the fire are more attractive than the work of building a sustainable
society. Near the end of the novel, even Ralph Is tempted by Jack’s
authoritarian regime, regularly forgetting why the fire and rescue is so
important.

Man’s Inherent Evil

The fact that the main characters in Lord of the Flies are young boys
suggests the potential for evil is inherent even in small children. Jack, for
example, is initially keen for rules and civility, but becomes obsessed with
hunting, frightened and empowered by the promise of violence. Jack’s desire
to control and subjugate proves more powerful than his desire for empathy,
intellect, and civilization, and Jack becomes a brutal and leader. Even Ralph
and Piggy, who both strive to maintain their sense of humanity, ultimately
join in on the mass murder of Simon, momentarily surrendering to the thrill
of violence and mass hysteria. While Piggy tries to ignore their participation,
Ralph is devastated when he realizes that he is no better than Jack or Roger,
and that he has a darkness inside as well.

Read more about the nature of evil in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The

Scarlet Letter.

But the character of Simon suggests humans can resist their inherently
violent tendencies. The only boy who never participates in the island’s
savagery, Simon has the purest moral code and is able to remain an
individual throughout Lord of the Flies. While the others consider him weak
and strange, Simon stands up for Piggy and the littluns, helps Ralph build the
shelters, and provides thoughtful and insightful assessment of their
predicament. Simon recognizes that the beast Is not a physical beast, but
perhaps the darkness and innate brutality within the boys themselves. After
a terrifying conversation with the Lord of the Flies, Simon recognizes the
paratrooper as a symbol of fear and the boys as agents of evil, and runs to
tell the others. But Simon is never able to properly explain this to the other
boys before they beat him to death in a frenzy of excitement and fear.
Dangers of Mob Mentality

Lord of the Flies explores the dangers of mob mentality in terrifying scenes of
violence and torture. Early on, the boys sing “Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill
her blood,” after a successful hunt, elevating their shared act of violence into
a celebratory chant. By coming together as a mob, the boys transform the
upsetting experience of killing an animal into a bonding ritual. Acting as one
group, the boys are able to commit worse and worse crimes, deluding one
another into believing in the potential danger posed by the beast justifies
their violence. Similarly, the boys use warpaint to hide their identities as
individuals, and avoid personal responsibility. Ralph, Piggy and Samneric
both fear and envy the hunters’ “liberation into savagery.” Their desire to be
part of the group leads to voluntary participation in the ritualistic dance and
brutal killing of Simon. The mob’s shared irrational fear and proclivity toward
violence results in a devastating act of ultimate cruelty.

War and the Future of Mankind

Set during a global war, Lord of the Flies offers a view of what society might
look like trying to rebuild after a largescale manmade catastrophe. In their
attempt to rebuild society, the boys cannot agree on a new order and
eventually fall into savagery. Ralph comes to realize that social order,
fairness and thoughtfulness have little value in a world where basic survival
a struggle, such as after a devastating war. The paratrooper who lands on
the island reminds the reader that while the boys are struggling to survive
peacefully on the island, the world at large is still at war. Even in their
isolation and youth, the boys are unable to avoid violence. In their descent
into torture and murder, they mirror the warring world around them.

Ralph

The novel’s protagonist, the twelve-year-old English boy who is elected

leader of the group of boys marooned on the island. Ralph attempts to
coordinate the boys’ efforts to build a miniature civilization on the island until
they can be rescued. Ralph represents human beings’ civilizing instinct, as
opposed to the savage instinct that Jack embodies.
Read an in-depth analysis of Ralph.

Jack

The novel’s antagonist, one of the older boys stranded on the island. Jack
becomes the leader of the hunters but longs for total power and becomes
increasingly wild, barbaric, and cruel as the novel progresses. Jack, adept at
manipulating the other boys, represents the instinct of savagery within
human beings, as opposed to the civilizing instinct Ralph represents.

Read an in-depth analysis of Jack.

Simon

A shy, sensitive boy in the group. Simon, in some ways the only naturally
“good” character on the island, behaves kindly toward the younger boys and
is willing to work for the good of their community. Moreover, because his
motivation is rooted in his deep feeling of connectedness to nature, Simon is
the only character whose sense of morality does not seem to have been
imposed by society. Simon represents a kind of natural goodness, as opposed
to the unbridled evil of Jack and the imposed morality of civilization
represented by Ralph and Piggy.

Read an in-depth analysis of Simon.

Piggy

Ralph’s “lieutenant.” A whiny, intellectual boy, Piggy’s inventiveness

frequently leads to innovation, such as the makeshift sundial that the boys
use to tell time. Piggy represents the scientific, rational side of civilization.
Read an in-depth analysis of Piggy.

Roger

Jack’s “lieutenant.” A sadistic, cruel older boy who brutalizes the littluns and
eventually murders Piggy by rolling a boulder onto him.

Read an in-depth analysis of Roger.

Sam and Eric

A pair of twins closely allied with Ralph. Sam and Eric are always together,
and the other boys often treat them as a single entity, calling them
“Samneric.” The easily excitable Sam and Eric are part of the group known
as the “bigguns.” At the end of the novel, they fall victim to Jack’s
manipulation and coercion.

Read an in-depth analysis of Sam and Eric.

The Lord of the Flies

The name given to the sow’s head that Jack’s gang impales on a stake and
erects in the forest as an offering to the “beast.” The Lord of the Flies comes
to symbolize the primordial instincts of power and cruelty that take control of
Jack’s tribe.

The Naval Officer

The unnamed British naval officer who rescues the children at the end of the
novel. He is a paragon of traditional masculinity and he represents the
abrupt return of civilization in the midst of the boys’ barbarity, though the
true nature of the officer’s civility is questionable.