The Symbolic Representation of Evil and Good in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies

Abstract

This Study sheds a new light on William Golding’s view of evil and good in Lord of the Flies. For many writers, critics and theorists, evil is a societal construct, while good is an internal one. Both are structured by external factors. William Golding, however, believes that man has an inherent potential for evil and that it cannot by any means be a cultural product as has long been thought. Man’s potential for good, on the other hand, is dictated by law, common sense, culture and from the fact that man’s social engagement with others is inevitable. In Lord of the Flies, Golding seeks to give answers to the philosophical questions: Can man live a lone? Can there be a life in the absence of law and order? What would become of people should there be no society or civilization? Golding’s central argument centers on critiquing the inherent potential of man’s capacity for evil in the absence of law and order. In this study, there will be an examination of Golding’s pessimistic view of good and evil in light of the modern literary definition of these polarities.