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Darkness In Lord Of The Flies Essay

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In Lord of the Flies, William Goulding illustrates the presence of darkness in humanity. The boys’ depravity between this darkness and civilization is what brings them to their downfall. Golding’s incorporation of the darkness in humanity is initially introduced to the boys through Simons deep thinking and understanding of the world. Despite the controversy it might create Simon voices that; “Maybe there is a beast…maybe it’s only is” (Golding 89). Jack and his hunters blame their savage behavior as attempts to protect themselves from the “beast”. So, when Simon says, “maybe it’s only us” he is shifting the blame onto the boys; which is why his statement causes so much commotion. Meanwhile, boys like Ralph and Piggy are constantly …show more content…

However, at the end of the novel, the downfall of all civilization is explained in Ralph’s emotions. Ralph; “[weeps] for the end of innocence, the darkness of a man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy” (Golding 202). In civilization, people are sheltered and filled with innocence, so when Ralph weeps for innocence he is really weeping for the loss of civilization he tried so hard to establish on the island. The darkness of a man’s heart is the darkness in all of humanity that drove Jack and the other boys to kill each other. According to Rohitash Thapliyal and Shakuntala Kunwar, authors of “Ecocritical Reading of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies”, “The human instincts of aggression and self-destruction’ disturb the quiet rhythm of nature and turn it into a fiery hell” “Thapliyal and Kunwar 89). The idea that humans’ self-destructive instincts disturb nature coincides with the occurrences of Lord of the Flies. Jacks aggressive desire to hunt interferes with ecosystem of the island, the boys’ savage behavior causes Simon and Piggy to die, and at the end of the novel, the island is literally a burnt fiery hell. These human behaviors that are derived from the darkness within led to the downfall of civilization on the

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