"Lord Of the Flies" - discussion of the dominance of evil Free Essay Example

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A discussion of the dominance of evil over good in William Golding's "Lord of the Flies"

In this novel Lord of the Flies, William Golding shows how our society suppresses the evil that is presented in all of us. Throughout this adventure Jack changes from a well mannered choir bo, who was scared to kill a pig, to a savage hunter who leads his band of hunters to kill everything in site. Jack was a load and strick choir leader and always seemed as if he would do anything to be leader, while Ralph was not severe or even very load, but he always wanted what was best for the group.

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Ralph uses the conch as a symbol of order and it is opposite to the pigs head (the lord of the flies) which attributes to the killing and sheer brutality of the hunters. Jack is the perfect example of a boy whose dark side took over when he was no longer bound down to a civil environment.

After being unable to bear killing a pig due to the horrific blood, he became eager to gain respect, almost redeem himself, by becoming a hunter. He was remarkably enthusiastic about hunting. He painted his face and got spears. He eventually cared no more for being rescued, because all he wanted to do was kill pigs.

The number of hunters kept on growing and he began to get other kids to hunt with him. They soon had a routine (the dance) and whenever they did thad they had to kill, because they got so pumped up when they did it.

Jack then began killing as if it were a luxury. They became savage hunters as evil took over; they killed almost as if it were a sexual performance for them. As this adventure began, Jack was the leader of the choir. He was a bully who always wanted to be the leader and be looked upon with the utmost resopect. When Ralph came along as a mild and sensible boy, and was chosen ahaed of Jack as the leader, Jack was furious. Jack wanted more than anything to become leader and he began an amoral reign as he let the evil within take control. He became a hunter and a bold dictator looking bot for order, but for fun. Ralph was searching for order, yet Jack's overpowering will to succeed Ralph as the leader led him to compleat madness. He now was an killer and had let his evil half take over.

By the end of the story he had become so evil, that he wanted to kill Ralph in order to destroy all remaining traces of a civil world. When Ralph had control and was leader, he had rules and he used the conch as a sign of unity. It was respected and was(what you could call the basis for their gouvernment.) It was used in order to remind the boys that they had to remain civilized. However, when Jack began his reign of terror he kept on indicatiing the insignificance of the conch and how it meant nothing. This he replaced byt he pigs head which he used to show how the hunting was a better way of life than being civil. The pigs head symbolized man's dark side and how evil lurks inside all of us. It reached it's climax when Roger had killed Piggy and destroyed the conch, therfore making the pig's head the dominerant symbol left for them to follow. It made them feel as if Jack and his hunters had complete control of everything which they did. Even Ralph was mystified when he came across it, for it reallt did terify him. It is truly masterfull how Golding shows how the evil side evolves and eventualydominates the good side. Jack shows how an ambitious choir boy can become a living terror because of his own will to gain respect. Ralph is a leader who wants to be freed (which is sensible,) yet he is overthrown by Jack who is dominant in his quest for glory. The conch showed the existence of discipline and untill it was destroyed there was always a sense that the kids had in the back of their minds to know right from wrong. Slowly, but surely, the pig's skull became the dominant image of this island which became a battlefeild of good and evil.