Lord of the Flies - Themes

Lord of the Flies - Themes

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War

The events of Lord of the Flies take place in the shadow of an unspecified war, the threat of which lingers always in the background. However, the writing of the book also lies within the shadow of World War II which had ended only eight years previously. The world was reeling from the two great wars that had already shaped the century and the legacy of the second had left us with the Cold War, a war of ideology. The symbolism of the Cold War permeates the novel from the atomic threat mentioned at the beginning, to the descriptions of Jack in red (his hair) and black (his choir robes). Jack embodies the threat of communism as manifested by the autocratic rule of despots like Stalin and Mao. Conversely, Ralph, Simon and Piggy represent ideals rooted in Western democracy, such as the initial election which pronounces Ralph as a sort of 'president' figure. These boys are much more thoughtful and civilised than those who eventually join Jack's tribe. Tough, as Simon's death shows, even democratic personas are not immune to the rallying cries of savagery.  The final scene where the British naval officer chastises the boys for 'playing' so violently is an irony, given the cruiser he has traveled on and its own business in the region.   

Innocence

The loss of innocence is something Ralph laments at the end of the text. In a way, the tropical island represents a garden paradise, an Eden upon which the innocent boys land. But as the story progresses, the island changes along with the boys, turning from a place of great beauty to a place of great danger.  Innocence is lost in the kicking of a sandcastle and the killing of  a suckling pig. The hunt, which begins as a quest for food, becomes an act to quell the blood-lust of the tribe. The death of Simon is terrible, but also exciting for the tribe, hence the cold later death of Piggy and the hunt for Ralph. These boys are allegories for soldiers in wartime, many of whom reach the front as innocents and even those who return can be said to never really come back at all.   

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Nature

How do we react to nature? The island is entirely wild, free from any mention of previous human habitation. For Ralph, who embodies the principals of British society, the reaction to this is to protect the group, to organise, to build shelters, almost as if he were trying to urbanise the environment. Jack, in contrast, tries to master the domain by becoming wilder than the animals he finds there. Jack reacts by giving in to the basest of instincts. Simon shows a third way, an attempt to harmonise himself with his surroundings as instanced by the woodland retreat that remains unsullied by his companions.   

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Civilisation vs Savagery

At the heart of Lord of the Flies is the question of how far we have advanced as a species. Enlightenment thinkers had long espoused Western culture as a bastion of virtue and reason, yet the wars that had ravaged Europe just a few years hence had robbed society of its illusions.  War had shown that there is a very thin line between so called 'civil' society and the savagery previously thought to be something that belonged somewhere in the colonies.  Golding's narrative shows that even with a group raised on, and brought together by. the virtues of education, the mask of civility can very quickly slip.  

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Fear and Evil

Golding's text asks whether Evil is inherent as is, perhaps, the case with Jack, or whether people are compelled to commit evil acts because they are motivated by other factors. In the novel, the notion of the beast is invented by the boys as an unknown menace which stalks the island. Though there is no evidence, the idea becomes a powerful motivator which is later manipulated by Jack. The idea of providing an outside agitator - someone to hang all hate on - would be very familiar to Europeans of that age. The Nazis had done it to the Jews. The allies had done it to the Germans. The West and the communists were doing it to each-other. Wars are made by stoking fear. 

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