“There was a space around Henry....into which he dare not throw. Here, invisible yet strong, was the taboo of the old life. Round the squatting child was the protection of parents and school and policemen and the law. Roger’s arm was conditioned by a civilisation that knew nothing of him and was in ruins.”
As can be seen from the above quote, though Roger’s old civilised world is far away, he is still restricted by what society has impressed upon him - that it is wrong to cause hurt to another. This is why Roger does not actually aim for Henry when he is throwing stones, though his naturally cruel nature compels him to. Here, Golding is saying that without the laws and restrictions of society, those naturally inclined to harm would do so, creating widespread damage. But since these boys are far away from the old world, the influence of the bonds of civilised society soon wears off, leaving most of them to turn to savagery. Their fear of the beast, the absence of good leadership, and the lack of rules and consequences all play a part in the majority’s change from innocent school boy to brutal savage.
Fear of the ‘beast’ prompts the boys to feel a sense of disunity and lack of cooperation. In addition, it changes the initially happy atmosphere on the island into one of general fear. As Ralph says himself:
“Things are breaking up. I don’t know why. We began well; we were happy. And then... - then people started getting frightened.”
None of the boys, with the exception of Simon, understand this fear. However, Simon is unable to explain clearly to the group that the fear of the ‘beast’ is irrational, and is really the result of their fear of the unknown. The best he can manage is:
“What I mean is... Maybe it’s only us.”
Simon says that the ‘beast’ is really within them by saying that ‘it’s only us’, but the group does not heed him because he is not accepted within them. At this point, William Golding is using the fear of the beast to express the intrinsic cruelty and fear of man. The fundamental ‘essential illness’ of man has caused the boys to fear the beast, instead of realising what it really is.
If the presence of good leadership was present on the island, the fear of the beast would not have split the boys apart. But Ralph, the leader, is too naive and idealistic, without the capability to think and solve problems creatively. He also lacks foresight, and hence quickly dismisses the ‘beast’ as a nightmarish dream, before actually seeing the dead parachuter. In doing so, he has allowed Jack to manipulate the little’un’s fears, and to gain more power and influence. Jack therefore seizes power and eventually wins most of the boys over to his side, transforming them into savages like himself with hunting, war paint, the use of violence, and the tribal dances of savages.
The lack of rules and consequences allow the irresponsible and lazy boys to do whatever they want to, causing conflict between the boys. For example, when the building of shelters commenced, no boys stayed back to help build the last shelter with Ralph and Simon simply because there was no rule that made constructing the huts essential. So all the boys left to play or hunt, leaving Ralph and Simon to finish the shelter. When Ralph mentions this to Jack, this immediately causes conflict between the two, creating a certain barrier between them, that ‘the shouting and splashing and laughing were only just sufficient enough to bring them together again’.
More seriously, Jack and his hunters let the fire out by taking the twins with them to hunt, which denies the group the chance to go home when a ship passes by. If there had been rules and consequences about this total lack of responsibility, then Jack and his hunters would not have let the fire out. The author’s message here is that society’s laws and punishments are needed to instil the responsibility and accountability needed for a civilisation.
Ultimately, it is the innate capacity of evil within most of the boys that lead them to becoming savages. Though the fear of the beast, lack of good leadership, rules and consequences all play a part in the boys’ transition to savages, it is really the intrinsic cruelty in most of their natures that brings the savagery out in them. If Jack and his hunters never had the primal urge to hunt and kill, then it is probably that they would have survived without harming anyone intentionally - even with the fear of the beast and the lack of a society with rules, consequences, and good leaders. However, Golding says that since there is an innate capacity of evil within most people, we need all the rules, restrictions and laws of society to prevent us from becoming savages.
On the island - a microcosm of the world - basic human instinct and the intrinsic capacity of evil overcomes democracy, common sense and responsibility without society’s rules and consequences. Therefore, William Golding’s message is clear: human beings need the bonds of civilisation, for without it we are nothing but savages, abandoning all responsibility and acting upon primal instinct.
