How appropriate is the concluding chapter as an ending to the novel Lord of the Flies?

         In the final chapter all the boys in Jacks ‘tribe’ are wreaking havoc on the island on the hunt for Ralph. When Ralph hides in a thicket the boys roll a large boulder down into the thicket, crushing everything in its path and narrowly missing Ralph. The boys work together to move it, showing that they all have an urge for exerting power over things. When Roger sharpens the stick at both ends and Ralph is told about it, it takes him a while to realise the absolute brutality which they are planning for. The stick sharpened at both ends was previously used to hold a sow’s head in the ground. This usage of the stick shows us how the boys are going to treat Ralph as an animal. The ultimate example of the boys’ capability of power is when they set the island on fire in order to kill Ralph. They do not think about anything else but killing Ralph. The power makes them feel good, but they only enjoy it because it is destructive.

         Ralph’s main aim, which was also backed by Piggy, at the start of the novel, was to keep as close to civilised ways as possible. This soon deteriorates and order is lost. In the final chapter civilisation is gone, along with Piggy, who was one of the main characters associated with order. Jack being the main characters with savagery in mind, makes all the boys into savages. “”I should have thought that a pack of British boys---you’re all British aren’t you? ---- would have been able to put up a better show than that----I mean-------“”When the Officer sees the boys and sees the island burning in the background he wonders what has happened, as he is a civilised person looking in on savage territory. He is partially annoyed with their behaviour. All the boys begin crying as they realise what they have done and are disgusted with it. This is the restoration of civilisation, and it came just in time before the savagery claimed another life.

         The innate evil within the boys is at its most intense, as they are determined to kill Ralph, and have no second thoughts about it. Simon discovers the beast being within them, but he is the only one to understand the concept. Golding builds the concept from the start, and explores it to its maximum point. “ Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart” Ralph, at the end of the novel, is suffering the evil of the others and is longing for a way out.

         My conclusion is that it is a very appropriate ending to the novel, as Golding sums up his main themes within it, and then contrasts them with the totally different real world. The difference between the to is so vast that I enhances the message that there is innate evil within everyone, even those who seem innocent. When order or rule is not in place, eventually civilisation will deteriorate to primitive savagery.