lord of the flies instinctive evil

According to Golding evil is intrinsic to all human beings and he implies this through the book The Lord of The Flies. This means that evil is in instinct to all humans and it is a nature that is suppressed inside of them and comes out into the light when triggered. As there is evil there is also good and it seen when the boys first come to the island as they all try to establish order and well being for themselves.

Jack Merridew is the prime example that evil is intrinsic to all human beings. From the beginning of the book Jack wants to be in a place of power one that he is not given but as the book unfolds Jack becomes a savage in trying to get there. Jack’s quick dehumanization and his lean to savagery shows that he has an inner evil nature. When Jack was made leader of the hunting tribe, his hunters and him brutally killed a pig after a few tries this being Jack’s first transition into savage living. Later on Jack becomes fed up with Ralph being chief and opts for the boys to remove Ralph as leader, but he later decides to leave Ralph’s tribe and create his own on the other side of the island. As his tribe grows he uses “the beastie” to instill fear and terror into the boys so he is able to earn their trust for his manipulative gain. Jack’s following step into savagery happens when his tribe and him are all dancing around the fire in when they spot “the beastie”. When in reality is only Simon who is coming out of the woods to tell the boys about his vision, they mistake him for the beastie and attack, which results in Simon’s death. In order for there to be evil there must also be good and that is seen in Ralph’s character. Ralph is chief to the boys and stands as a symbol of authority, he also carries the conch, which is his power over the boys. Ralph is one of the few boys who are level headed, he wants to have fun but only as much as he wants to get rescued opposed to Jack who is hooked on the idea of having no adults. With the help of piggy Ralph manages to maintain order until the boys divide, to only be left with piggy and Samneric. “Evil” in Ralph starts to take place when he is seen hitting a pig with a spear and feeling a rush of excitement run through his body after hurting the pig. Ralph’s biggest step into savagery is when he takes place in the group killing of Simon, in the midst of all the crazy dancing and demonic like chanting Ralph loses a grip of him self and joins the boys. After the incident Ralph tries to reason with himself and by terms of denial leads himself to believe that he did not participate in the killing of Simon. Little by little, bits of his sanity start to disappear as well as his stature of power that starts to disintegrate, showing that when there is good there is also evil.

There is also the idea that everyone is evil and good is only shaped by society. Roger from the beginning seems to harbor evil as a first instinct; unlike all the other boys he upholds no compassion or civility in the novel for anyone. Unlike Jack who lets evil take over and bring out his inner savage because he wants to be in power, Roger streams of blood thirst and only kills because it brings him joy. In the story Roger hides and throws rocks at a and purposely remains careful so he doesn’t hit him but receives satisfaction from his actions. Roger’s cruelty becomes very clear when he pushes the massive boulder out of impulse that ends up killing piggy.

The only preservation of good we see in the story comes from Simon and Piggy, both being wise and resistant to all the evil surrounding them. Simon is the voice of reason in the story and the only one who comes face to face with reality after having a hallucination; he tries to warn all the boys that there is no beastie but really that the beast is inside of them. Piggy is the intelligent boy who becomes Ralph’s second hand and even though he partakes in Simon’s killing he comes to terms with what he did without denying unlike Ralph and Samneric. In the end it becomes ironic that the only good are the ones who are killed.

In the Lord of Flies Golding illustrates intrinsic evil excellently, each and every one of the boys is good in way but hides an internal evil nature that has always but there. In ways evil was also be portrayed as a way of self-preservation and survival but nonetheless Golding strongly implies that evil is intrinsic to all humans.