Q3 - The Theme

The major theme of The Lord of the Flies is mentioned quite directly at the end of the book. In the last page of the story is is stated that "Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy." The first two reasons of Ralph's weeping is the main theme of the novel: the end of innocence and the darkness of man's heart.

This entire book is about the life of the boys who are stranded on an island by themselves. More specifically, this story describes the demoralization of people who are isolated from civilization and the corruption of humanity. At the start of the book, the boys are all what most civilized boys are like: slightly playful, reasonable, and a bit selfish. No signs of violence can be seen at all from this point. However, as time passes, most of the boys realize that there is no need to heed the rules they had to abide by when they lived in a modern society. Thus, the reason of maintaining rational thinking and ethical lifestyle is gone; the wall that had kept the boys from listening only to their instincts as savages has been destroyed. During their time on the island, the boys, with Jack as their leader, learn how having power over others is sweet, and that power can be easily achieved by force, which naturally leads to violence.

This desire for being superior of others is what guides Jack and the boys to become what they later become: savages. Then, why did this happen? That is one of the main points that this book is addressing. This happened because Jack and his followers felt pleasure in violence, being better than others, and harming people physically. Apparently, Ralph and Piggy did not successfully escape from this instinct of savageness, for they also joined the dance of killing, the dance that was to murder Simon. So, it seems like everybody in the book except Simon seems to have this secret joy in evil. Simon, the only one who seemed to have no evil in his heart, was killed by the others, which might as well have been an inevitable outcome.

The darkness in man's heart is the love for being better than others, which often results in violence: a physical procedure of harming other beings in order to feel more superior than them. This darkness that lurks within probably most humans is also what the Lord of the Flies in the book represents. It is not something that can be escaped from, because it is part of everyone. Ralph later realizes this, and he weeps for this inescapable chaos. He also weeps for the end of innocence: the ability of being ignorant of all the evil within humans and being able to believe in the good of people. Now that he has discovered the darkness that presides in himself and all the other boys, because he witnessed the deaths that were outcomes of that evil, Ralph can never again return to when he never knew that evil. He must now face that darkness forever, even when he returns to the heart of the adult society. This realization of evil that lurks within all men is what ends innocence, and this theme is what the whole book is based on.

Now, why would a teenager need to know of such a sick truth, of such an awful existence of evil within ourselves? It would be better to not know, to be ignorant of it, so that we can never discover it, therefore innocent for all our lives. No, that is not a good thing, and that is why we need to know this theme: the evil within men's hearts and the end of innocence. I have stated above that this darkness is not something that can be escaped from, because it is part of everyone. In the book, the Lord of the Flies says to Simon that the beast is not something you can kill. Surely, it can't be killed in a biological way, but I believe that it can be diminished in a moral way. Simon possessed innate goodness, even when he knew the Lord of the Flies and its truth. This is because he was able to face it, know it, and still be the better of it. Even though he was killed, Simon is morally the better of everyone in the book. We need to know this darkness in us; people must identify this evil and know it from top to bottom and become the better of its natural savageness. It is stated in Tuesdays with Morrie by Morrie himself that you can't escape from something without even knowing what it is. Teenagers living in 2008 should know this theme so that they do not fall as victims of this terrible evil within us; to defeat the beast we must know the truth. Therefore, this theme must be known by teenagers who live in 2008 in order to prevent the destruction of morality and society.