As soon as the children land on the island, which should be paradise, one begins to see the selfishness in all the children. The ‘littluns’ wish only to play and gorge themselves on fruit; Jack and his hunters do not want anything to do with the building of shelters or anything of the sort, they wish only to hunt. Each child puts their own wants and needs ahead of the needs of the group. This selfishness eventually leads to the abandoning of the signal fire and the splitting of the group. The selfishness and disregard of others is the root of the major problems on the island.
Almost as soon as the signal fire was built problems with its upkeep began. The group in charge of both hunting and the fire chose hunting over the fire. While the group is out hunting, the fire goes out and a ship passes the island. After the ‘beast from the air,’ the signal fire on the mountaintop is completely abandoned. The forsaking of the fire symbolizes the boys’ acceptance of their life as savages on the island. At their core, the boys do not want to return to civilization with its rules and adults.
The argument that civilization is an unnatural state for humans to live in is hinted at in the novel. As soon as the boys realize there are no adults present on the island, they wear only the minimal clothing necessary, let their hair grow wild, and abandon bathing. The novel portrays savagery as an instinct much more inherent than civilization.
Examining the treatment of the ‘littleuns’ by the boys in charge can give one a timeline of the boys’ descent into savagery. In the first chapters, a guardian is always left with the ‘littleuns’ to take care of them. Very soon the older boys tire of taking care of the younger boys and begin to ignore them. By the end of the novel, the ‘littluns’ are completely abandoned by the older boys or used as play things, teased and tortured.
The idea that humans want power over those around them is confronted throughout this work. In the very first chapter, an election is held in which both Jack and Ralph are nominated, Ralph prevails. Jack will not have anyone be his master; he ends up splitting the tribe when he goes off and forms his own hunting oriented tribe on his own. An example of the human being’s predisposition to want to control others is evinced in the sequence in which Henry, a ‘littleun,’ traps small sea creatures in bays giving him ‘the illusion of mastery.’ No matter what the age or background, humans seem to want control over those around them.
The most shocking allegation regarding the human psyche in this tome is the notion of innate evil. This innate evil will, if given the opportunity, turn a perfectly civilised being into a cruel, bloodthirsty savage. The boys from the church choir become the vicious hunters. They ferally torture and slaughter animals; they turn on each other without reason. This fundamental evil also seeks to destroy all traces of civilisation surrounding it. When Piggy goes with the conch, the symbol of political legitimacy and democracy, to the rival tribe’s settlement at Castle Rock, the innate evil wills the boys at the top of the fort to throw stones and jeer at Piggy and the others who have come in an attempt to salvage their civility. The savage boys force a boulder off of the top of Castle Rock destroying Piggy, the conch, and what still remained of the instinct of civilisation.
The novel, Lord of the Flies, can be seen as nothing less than a severely pessimistic view of human life. The novel teaches the lesson that there is no good in the core of humans and when they attempt to be good and civilised, they will be killed among the adaptive savages. In the novel, the characters did succumb to their innate evil side; they became savages. If we believe this view of human life there seems to be no hope for our kind.
