Analysis Of Lord Of The Flies Essay — страница 2

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approaching their fort. “The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee…” (Golding 181) Through the death of these two characters, who clearly represent good, Golding portrays humanity in its natural state as an evil force not able to let anything good exist. The final character who realizes the truth about mankind is Ralph. Unlike the other two characters who reflect pure good, Ralph is composed of both good and evil. Even though Ralph sides with Simon and Piggy, and listens to their advice, he sometimes allows himself to be controlled by his darker side. While hunting with the wilder boys Ralph follows his instincts and releases the evil that is within him. “Ralph could hear a tiny chattering noise coming from somewhere-perhaps from his own mouth. He bound

himself together with his will fused his fear and loathing into hatred, and stood up.” (Golding 123) Ralph like the other two characters gains insight about the evil within mankind. This happens during Ralph’s personal encounter with the pig’s skull. “What was it? The skull regarded Ralph like one who knows all the answers but won’t tell…A sick fear and rage swept him…Then he backed away, keeping his face to the skull that lay grinning at the sky.” (Golding 185)During this event Ralph sees the evil plaguing mankind; unlike Simon however he does not understand it. He backs away from the skull in fear, not only because he does not understand, but also because he knows that part of this evil is within him. Ralph is similar to the previous two characters in one way;

he is despised by the tribe. Even though evil is contained within Ralph the tribe cannot let him survive because of the good he carries. It is only through luck that the last living protagonist manages to survive till a rescue ship comes. The arrival of authority figures is the only thing that saves Ralph from death, and the boys from completing their dreadful cleansing. Golding’s belief, as portrayed in Lord of the Flies, is that people are inherently evil; in his opinion it is only society that prevents people from acting out their natural, killer, instincts. Furthermore Golding refutes the belief that a balance between good and evil can be reached by having the boys remove any traces of good from the island.