The Nature of Humanity (Lord of the Flies by William Golding) | Teen Ink

The Nature of Humanity (Lord of the Flies by William Golding) MAG

October 25, 2023
By TristanLyu GOLD, Beijing, Other
TristanLyu GOLD, Beijing, Other
14 articles 0 photos 0 comments

Lord of the Flies, an allegorical fiction written by William Golding, is based on the conflict between two groups of boys on an isolated island. The main plot is that Ralph and some other boys landed on an island after the plane crashed onto the island. At first, they were peaceful and often played with each other and have fun, but then they separated into two groups. Some boys were loyal to Ralph, following him to do everything that he asked them to do, while others betrayed him and followed Jack, an antagonist and hunter; therefore, this story teaches us about loyalty and betrayal, kindness, and evilness.

First, the story portrays loyalty and betrayal of the boys on the island. When boys separate into two groups, some boys remain still loyal to Ralph, their original chief, while others betray Ralph and become a hunter on Jack’s side. A hint of the betrayal of some boys started since Ralph had allocated the different tasks for the boys to do, especially when he led Jack to go hunting.

Second, evilness is a trait of the boys that contradicts goodness. Some boys in Jack’s group killed their friends and went hunting animals on the island by themselves, while they also robbed wood that the boys in Ralph’s group cut to make the fire. At night when most of the boys were dancing in the rain for fun, Simon found out that the beast that the boys were scared of is the dead body of the paratrooper from the same plane. However, the dancing boys thought Simon was the beast and killed him. This incident implies that the humanity of the boys on the island can be evil and such behavior completely wipes out their humanity. This will spark the readers’ sympathy for the boys and provoked the audience to ponder, “what is humanity?”

Third, the character Ralph is strongly civilized. He was the chief of the entire group.  Although many of the boys went with Jack, Ralph still tried to lead the rest in a civilized and kind way. “You haven’t got the conch,” he said. “Sit down.” When Jack robbed the glass, Ralph spelled out these words, showing that readers are more likely to feel his authority and civilization. The boys in Ralph’s group comply with whatever Ralph says to them. Ralph didn’t use “please” when asking others to do something. Instead, he was commanding to show his anger towards Jack. The audience can feel how powerful and prestigious Ralph is.

The story represents good versus evil through the nature of humanities. It described this from the Second World War that the author imagined when a group of boys were trying to escape the war in an airplane, and crashed on an island isolated from the rest of the world. Death is an abstract concept that everyone is afraid of, and when people are trying to survive in extreme conditions, kindness has been abandoned by people, instead, they revealed the authentic side of humanity.


The author's comments:

This article is a book review for the book Lord of the Flies.


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