How does William Golding show evil at work in Lord of the Flies?

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How does William Golding show evil at work in

‘Lord of the Flies’?

In the novel, Golding concentrates a lot on the subject of evil and how the children are evil on the island. I believe that he does this to show how humans can have evil within them, and how it can be brought out in certain situations. I also believe that he has focused on evil a lot in the novel as he has entitled the novel ‘lord of the flies’ which is the means ‘Beelzebub’ which is commonly used as a word to describe the devil.

        In the beginning, Golding immediately brings in the subject of evil as early as when the ‘party of boys’, known as the choir joined the group of children, they were wearing ‘long black cloaks’ when everyone else had taken there clothes off because of the heat, they were described as a ’creature’, a ‘shadow’ and that they looked like ‘darkness’. I believe Golding has used this sense of black to suggest that they are evil.

        Another thing that I believe that Golding has used in the novel to show how some humans are evil is that Jack took an instant dislike towards Piggy as Piggy was ‘intimidated by this uniformed superiority’, before he knew anything about him and then went on to bully him throughout the rest of the novel. Jack constantly called him ‘fatty’ until he found out about the name Piggy and made everyone laugh at him. Piggy was always an outsider after that incident.

        I feel that another way in which the novel implies that there is evil on the island is the setting of the ‘scar’. This is because the area is unattractive and it is given a name of something that is generally unattractive and something that is unusual – scar. I believe that Golding has used this to suggest that bad things have happened to the island and bad things are going to happen to the boys also.

        Another way in which Golding incorporates evil within the novel is when a child was killed because of the lack of control the boy’s had over the fire. It also took them a while before that they noticed he was missing and it was Piggy who noticed it. There was also no real sorrow for the boy and they carried on life as if nothing had changed, which shows that they didn’t really care about him. I also feel that this shows that the island is unforgiving.

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        I believe that the jungle is another symbol of evil that Golding used. The jungle is often described as the ‘heart of darkness’. I believe that this is because there is always something of an evil nature that happens in the jungle or is to have said to have happened in the jungle, as it is the jungle where by the ‘snake-thing’ is supposed have been seen. Also, it is deep in the forest where the pigs are hunted and killed by the children in a savage manor.

        Another symbol of evil that Golding uses in the novel is the ...

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A good attempt at answering the question. Logically structured and remains focused on the essay question using topic sentences at the beginning of paragraphs. Some perceptive comments and textual references enhance some simplistic explanation. ***