William Golding's Lord Of The Flies

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The Necessity of Evolution as Shown in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies Lord of the Flies is a compelling novel written to express author William Golding’s ideas on what true survival on a deserted island might look like. He expresses many ideas in this story contributing to psychoanalytic development, human nature, the loss of innocence, the darkness of man, and most importantly, evolution. The idea of evolution was suggested by “Charles Darwin…proposing that natural conditions ‘selected’ the best-adapted species and favored adapted changes” (Olsen). Throughout the novel, Golding uses multiple examples, shown through multiple boys, to emphasize his ideas on evolution, but his best examples are shown through Jack and the littuns, who regress…show more content…
In the beginning of the story, Jack has all of his choir boys marching orderly and following the rules he sets, even to the extent of one of his men passing out. William Golding emphasizes this point when Jack excitedly cries out “’We’ll have rules!...Lots of rules!’” (25). Jack quickly becomes a rule breaker when he states “’The conch doesn’t count on top of the mountain’” (33). Here Jack moves from civilization and government into savage behavior. Jack begins “to paint his face with mud and charcoal when he hunts” (“Plot Summary”). His “urge to hunt” (Olsen) is primitive, and his instinct is so unavoidable that it becomes the most important thing on the island to Jack. In the story, Jack displays savage behavior that may seem absurd because he values dead meat over rescue, but it is necessary, because if all the boys on the island sat around sipping tea and pretending like everything is just like it was back at home, then it would never lead to the unthinkable act of setting the island on fire which is the reason the boys got rescued. Golding uses his characterization of Jack throughout the story to emphasize that evolution is very much needed for survival, even if it is the form of…show more content…
“Just as in Greek mythology the grave of Dionysus is found within the temple of Apollo at Delphi, so in the story reason and emotion may battle with each other within the same character. Thus when Roger first throws rocks, his arm is conditioned by rational society to avoid hitting the littlun Henry. Later his emotions will overcome his reason and he will loose the boulder that kills Piggy” (“Themes and Construction”). Roger declined into a state enabling him to murder a fellow peer because he had so savagely devolved. When the hunters put on their masks it represents them evolving into another person-a person so faded from what they used to be that they were willing to rub pig’s blood on their face. Golding even proposes the boy’s knowledge of their deterioration when near the end of the novel it is suggested they bathe before they meet Jack and his tribe to remind them of where they came

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