“We may stay here till we die.” – Piggy (Chapter One)
This quotation simply explains the pessimist outlook Piggy has. Out of all of the boys Piggy is the most vulnerable, but he has intelligence. He can see what is happening to them all. Sure enough, he does have a negative outlook for the future, but he knows what is going to happen. He can see it before his eyes. Piggy is not stupid. “They’re all dead, nobody don’t know we’re here” - Piggy (Chapter One)
Piggy obviously knows what he is talking about; sure enough he can’t talk about it very easily or make others understand but he understands himself. Of course Jack has to go and break down his self esteem. “You’re talking too much” said Jack Merridew “Shut up, Fatty” (Chapter One) with this being said by Jack, it is obvious that he is the arrogant born leader. He thinks he is better than everyone. And when Piggy tries to make a simple statement that led to a lot of truth, Jack felt undermined, and told him to shut up. Jack used ‘Fatty’ as a name that he knew would make Piggy feel useless and worthless; which of course portrays a very pessimistic view of human nature.
Within chapter two, there are more negative forms of human nature, within the first chapter, William Golding represents and explains his Utopia, describing and making us see how perfect it is. Yet when inhabited by young boys, how quickly it can be turned into the Dystopia it is soon to be known as.
A simple remark can make anyone feel awful about themselves, and of course it was Jack, the Chief, picking upon the most vulnerable again. “You’re always scared yah Fatty” – Jack
No one defends or backs up Piggy, they leave him; fearing Jack. This makes him even more arrogant.
As well as a development of characters which William Golding uses as a way to make us see the evil within us all, he used a considerable amount of other ways. For example: symbolism. Within any society you always have a creator, a destroyer, a peace maker . . . a symbol of evil or maybe fairness. And the author uses these symbols to make us see the pessimism of human nature at work.
The conch is introduced within the first chapter of the book, it is a symbol of fairness and peace; the fact that whoever holds it is allowed to talk makes us understand this. As you go further into the book, the conch is referred back to and always thought of as society itself. And when it is no longer used and forgotten about; society is finally broken down. Evil is at its most potential. The characters are symbols themselves; of course there is good in all of them; deep down. But on the surface there is a symbol of them all. Ralph is democracy, the creator and optimist. Jack is the destroyer, the arrogant hunter. Piggy is the more weaker and vulnerable character, whereas Simon is the peacekeeper; beauty of nature.
Pessimism of human nature has expressed in a number of ways, mainly through the expanding character growth. Through bullying and destruction; killing and hurting for unjustified reasons. It shows us that there is an animal in all of us; just waiting to be unleashed.
“Jack slashed at one with his knife . . .’green candles’ said Jack contemptuously ‘We can’t eat them. Come on.’” Jack doesn’t like anything that isn’t worth something; if you cannot eat it, then it doesn’t exist in his mind. He cannot take the beauty of something; just for its beauty. So Jack destroys it; the green candles are not worth anything. Golding uses symbolism here; the green candles are the beauty and wonder within life; Jack: the destroyer within life.
Destruction is a simple view of human nature, something beautiful and enchanting being destroyed for the fun of simply destroying. “Roger led the way straight through the castles, kicking them over, burying the flowers, scattering the chosen stones.” There is no need for this; why could Roger not go around the castles, flowers and stones? Instead he chose to devastate everything that the littleuns had been completing. What is even more frightening is the fact that he enjoyed destroying those castles; it makes him feel powerful and better than the younger children. “Maurice followed, laughing and added destruction.” Maurice follows Roger’s lead, showing the lack of consideration for anyone other than themselves. They think they are better than the littleuns, that they are a higher up race. The fact that Maurice laughs about is, illustrates the dreadful nature of humans that Golding explains to us. No one is there to stop these boys from hurting the younger ones emotionally or even psychically, and the worrying thought that no one will take care of them puts doubts on the whole human race as to whether or not we have any good in us at all. “They suffered untold terrors of the dark and huddled together for comfort.” This shows everything that I’ve just explained; no one cares for these littleuns, and they are probably the more vulnerable than any other character within the novel. The older boys treat the littleuns as a lower class of animal; now that there are no bounds of society, they don’t have to care anymore. It is now simply the survival of the fittest.
A frightening way in which pessimism is conveyed within this novel; is the simple way that some of the more endearing characters kill or even hunt or hurt. They do not do it for justified reasons, but the reasons being for power, status and even more haunting; enjoyment. “Roger stooped, picked up a stone, aimed and threw it at Henry – threw it to miss.” Of course Roger didn’t hit the little boy; but the intent was there and he would have done it. The simple fact that he felt that conditioned by a civilisation that was falling apart; there would have been no stopping Roger. Also when Jack boats “’ I cut the pig’s throat’ said Jack proudly.” Jack, the more dominating character within the novel, is proudly stating that he killed a pig. In most societies killing is frowned upon; you are not supposed to feel happy when you kill. You can see that as you get further into the novel; these boys are no longer boys, they are savages. It is more to do with meat; he enjoyed the power of taking another’s life. Within the first chapters; Jack becomes obsessed with hunting; killing the pig. He denies his enjoyment but it is obvious in his eyes. He tries to justify the evil, to cover up the sin; Jack explains the need for meat; for the hunger. But there is more to it than that. “I was talking about smoke. Don’t you want to be rescued? All you can think about is pig, pig, pig.” Jack starts to obsess, and he forgets all about being rescued; his essential need to kill takes him over. He no longer cares about being saved. Jack is slowly becoming someone else, an animal almost; just to hide the good inside. “I went on. I thought by myself.” The madness came into his eyes again. “I thought I might kill.” Jack is being taken over by the obsession of hunting and killing; destroying nature. He is breaking away from the restraints of society, becoming increasingly more primeval.
“Jack and Ralph are two complete opposites; yet fighting for the same cause. They both want to be Chief; yet they both have opposing ideas of what being a chief is about. They walked along, two continents of experience and feeling, unable to communicate.” These boys work together to keep the rest of the boys together and alive; yet they can’t tear down the barriers of communication. The thought that everything could simply tear apart at the seams is fear-provoking.
William Golding doesn’t only use his characters to develop a sense of negativity. The descriptions of the island change throughout the novel. At the beginning; it is represented as a paradise; a Utopia in which these young boys can live and be safe. But as soon as you get deeper within this book; the surroundings and weather change just as soon as the characters do. The natural forces around the island present a different mood just as soon as something happens. The devices reflect the pessimism in the air just as you sense it yourself. Just as fights and issues occur on the island; the tension arises within the atmosphere. It is simply the author creating the mood; showing you the threatening power of nature and that it is always one step ahead of you.
Even from the first chapter it is clear things aren’t going to be easy. The Utopia hoped for these boys is just not there. And never will be. They have themselves to blame. Golding uses the rocks as a symbol for the destructive threat, the waves crashing along the rocks is a clear indicator that not all is safe on this island. When the boys decide to heave a rock over the cliff face; you cannot understand why they did it. They didn’t have to; it was a simple need for destruction. They wanted to destroy the rock; wanted to watch it go over the edge. That’s where it all started. Once again, you can see Golding is even from the start showing the pessimistic side to human nature.
“Seems to me that we ought to have a chief to decide things.” From the first pages; it is clear to the readers that the boys do not think of this as reality; but a game. And they are already taking the game to an extreme level. Ralph could have always said instead of chief; leader. Or captain. But chief has reasoning behind it. Without even noticing; the boys have put themselves down for a dictatorship. Chief is more primitive and indicates a level of ‘doing what your told’. A leader would lead the boys; a chief would tell them what to do. A sense of pessimism of human nature is conveyed through this language; they are no longer a group of boys. But a tribe of savages and they haven’t even realised.
There can be nothing more negative than the Dystopia these boys have created for themselves. Golding proved his theory within his novel ‘Lord of the Flies.’ William Golding saw the untold terrors of World War Two; he saw what humans could do to their own kind, how we can be heartless. How the need to kill can over power us into doing something inhumane. He knows what people are capable of; and it scared him; scared him enough to write this novel. To explain to us that there will never be a Utopia, or the perfect world. Simply because human nature will never let there be. A potential for evil is inside of us; and it is merely waiting to unfold.