Elise Curren

 The Malice of Human Nature in Lord of the Flies

 A nuclear war displaces a group of English schoolboys on an uncharted island in William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies. Without adult supervision, the older boys must assume roles of power and authority in order to create a system of structure on the island. However, as Eric Hoffer in his article “How Natural is Human Nature” noted, “such power is never free from the tendency to turn man into a thing and press him back into the matrix of nature from which he has risen”. Lord of the Flies explores this “matrix of nature” through the symbolic essence of the war, and the downward spiral of the boys away from civility. Though life without adults at first provides a sense of liberation, this great vicissitude turns once-proper English schoolboys into savages, and all order is lost. Through the malevolence of the adults partaking in the atomic war and the boys on the island, Golding suggests that human nature is to blame for the conflict that exists in contemporary civilization.

Throughout their lives, the boys have been conditioned to believe that with maturity comes knowledge and superiority. Many of them perceive adulthood as a pathway to righteousness, and try to imitate adult behavior to maintain order on the island. Ralph and Piggy, two of the boys trying most to preserve civility, hold a particularly glorified image of adulthood. However, as the first signs of savagery emerge, the boys begin to question their success at modeling adult society and become exasperated with their inability to preserve order. They use their immaturity and ignorance to justify their failure. Piggy states, “‘Grown-ups know things’…the three boys stood in darkness, striving unsuccessfully to convey the majesty of adult life”. Here, Piggy suggests that a direct correlation lies between adulthood and knowledge, yet struggles to identify exactly what causes this link. Their belief in the “majesty” of adult life implies that they believe adulthood is something of grandeur, and as one matures they adopt a life of nobility. However, through the boys’ inability to fathom the “majesty of adult life,” Golding suggests that the “majesty” is tenuous. Simon, another one of the boys trying to maintain order, displays similar sentiments later on in the novel, when he meets the Lord of the Flies: a sow’s head on a stick. Golding writes, “the half shut eyes were dim with the infinite cynicism of adult life”. The sow’s head is a representation of the evils of human nature, and their pursuance of it drives the boys to savagery. “The infinite cynicism of adult life” refers to the deceptive image of adulthood that the boys had developed. In their previous experiences in the outside world, adults had conditioned the boys to believe that because of their immaturity, they are somehow inferior in every sense. However, Simon is disillusioned with this idea as he comes to the realization that adulthood as he knows it has been a false pretense. The boys doubt their abilities to create an orderly society because of their presumed inferiority. However, Golding suggests that their inability to maintain order does not stem from their immaturity, but from their humanity.

The egotism of the adults in the novel prevents them from seeing and recognizing their own hypocrisy. The atomic war in the background displays the same belligerence as the boys on the island, yet in a different form. As time progresses and order deteriorates, the boys begin to wish for adult guidance to reestablish order. They wish for “a message” from adults to validate their efforts at sustaining order. However, “a sign came down from the world of grown-ups, though at the time there was no child awake to read it. There was a sudden bright explosion and corkscrew across the sky; then darkness again”. The “sudden bright explosion” refers to the atomic war occurring in the background of the novel. The message from the adults is the atomic war, which validates the boys’ brutality. The occurrence of the atomic war in the background suggests that barbarism occurring on the island is not due to being displaced from society, but from originating from it. When the message is sent, there is “no child awake”, referring to the ignorance of the children. In a literal sense, the boys are sleeping, but in a figurative sense they have not yet come to the realization that their inferiority is simply a fabrication. The savagery of the adults and their failure to concede it is also reflected in the actions of the officer that rescues the boys. “The officer, surrounded by these noises, was moved…he turned…allowing his eyes to rest on the trim cruiser in the distance”. Upon arrival, the officer displays a condescending attitude towards the boys, dismissing their savagery to immaturity. He is “moved” by the sound of the boys crying as they begin to recognize how far they have drifted from socially-accepted behavior. However, as he “turned…allowing his eyes to rest on the trim cruiser”, the officer’s true hypocrisy is revealed. He pities the boys and their loss of order, yet turns to his trim cruiser, which symbolizes the savagery and disorder of the adults taking part in the atomic war. Despite the revelation that he has just made about the progression of English schoolboys to savages, the officer remains oblivious to his own hypocrisy. Golding uses the officer as a symbol of irony; despite condemning the boys for their savagery, the sailor turns to his ship, a reminder of the savagery of the adults. The atomic war and the events on the island are both illustrations of evil, just in different forms. The adults’ inability to recognize their own savagery prevents them from recognizing that the exposition of evil is not due to being distanced from society; it is society.

The display of malicious behavior from both the adults and the children reveals that savagery is the “matrix of nature from which man has risen”. Though adult society outside the island is seemingly orderly, the occurrence of the atomic war suggests otherwise. Throughout the novel, Simon displays a sense of knowledge and wisdom far beyond his age. He is the one to discover “the infinite cynicism of adult life”. Fittingly, Simon also proposes that “maybe there is a beast…maybe it’s only us”. Simon’s awareness of the hypocrisy of adults allows him to see the source of conflict in contemporary civilization. He suggests that “maybe it’s only us”—maybe the evil is simply a component of human nature. However, Simon does not deny the existence of the beast. He indicates that the draw towards barbarism is not tangible as the boys had thought, but the malicious tendencies of the human spirit. However, he is met with opposition from the other boys, who are naive and incapable of observing their own humanity. Piggy, who exhibits an elevated sense of wisdom, also recognizes the malicious inclination of humans. He states, “‘I know there isn’t no beast—not with claws and all that…there isn’t no fear either…unless we get frightened of people”’. Piggy recognizes that the greatest danger on the island is not a palpable being. Instead, the greatest danger to the boys is themselves. Throughout the novel, the evils of the human spirit are exposed and ultimately lead to the downfall of their newly-founded civilization. Though most of the boys assume that fear of the beast leads them to progress towards inhumanity, Simon and Piggy acknowledge that the savagery laid in the boys all along; it is simply brought out by liberation from adult rule. When the officer comes to their rescue, Ralph and the boys come to terms with their unsupervised behavior, and begin to lament their cruelty. Golding writes, “Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart”. Ralph attempts to cope with the inhumanity that has occurred on the island throughout the course of the novel. He seems to finally grasp the source of the chaos on the island as the “darkness of man’s heart”. He wept for “the end of innocence,” as he realizes that evil is not something that stems from immaturity, and it is not something he can escape by growing up. The impalpable, interminable beast that drives the boys towards savagery and the adults into war is simply the evils of the human spirit.

Though in contemporary society, adulthood is accompanied by privilege and power, the inscrutable force that drives humans to savagery is inevitable regardless of one’s maturity level. However, in Lord of the Flies, the adults outside the island refuse to acknowledge this. Golding uses the backdrop of the atomic war to parallel the behavior of the boys on the island, revealing that, although most often dormant through children’s perceived innocence and adults’ perceived maturity, the malice of human nature is always present. However, as the novel concludes, the children lose their innocence while the adults remain oblivious to their hypocrisy. Ultimately, Golding suggests that evil is not circumstantial. It is always present within the human spirit and is always capable of “turn[ing] man into a thing and press[ing] him back into the matrix of nature from which he has risen”.