The Relevance of William Golding s Lord of the Flies

People are manipulated by society. This is the underlying theme in William

Golding s novel Lord of the Flies. Throughout the story, Golding uses symbolism to show how people are manipulated by society. Each character in the novel represents a different part of man as he has evolved throughout history. Golding show how man started out simple, but was eventually manipulated by civilization. This idea can not only be seen in the story, but also throughout the course of mankind. Events such as themurder of the Jews by Hitler, the extermination of millions of American Indians by the

U.S. government, and the murder of millions of unborn babies by people who claim to be pro choice prove that manipulation of the people allow events such as this to occur.

Ralph enters the story representative of the innocence of man. However, Ralph s innocence is balanced by Piggy, who is representative of intelligence, Jack, who is representative of the power hungry man, and Simon, who is representative of spiritual man. These four characters represent the four parts of man which balance off to create man. Throughout the story, Golding shows how Ralph, who represents innocence, is manipulated by the other boys, who represent society. Golding uses the boys, especially Jack s group, to show how through evolution society has degressed. For example, the

killing of the sow represents mans lowest crime, incest. Once man performed this crime, nothing ever got better. In the story, from the point where the sow is killed, nothing ever gets better. Golding constantly uses symbolism throughout the novel to represent the evolution of man.

In the novel, Golding also shows how mankind is manipulated by appearance. Jack and his group of boys dress themselves with war paint. The reader recognizes these boys as savages. However, the reader recognizes the soldiers who rescue the boys as heroes when in all actuality they are savages. These so called heroes arrive on gunboats with guns at their sides. The reader recognizes them as heroes because they save the boys. However, this does not cover the fact that these men are actually savages. Society does

not recognize soldiers as killers. However, soldiers purpose is to kill. If a soldier does not kill, he is a bad soldier. It is obvious that the nature of a soldier is to kill. Golding shows in his novel that evil exists in man. When man performs evil small deeds such as Jack and his soldiers did, he will be able to progress to a higher degree of evil. When man reaches the highest possible degree of evil, he manipulates evil so that society will not recognize evil. This occurs because it is easy to manipulate society.

Humanities vulnerability to manipulation can be seen by exploring events in human history. First, the manipulation of man can be seen in the so called Americanization of the Native American Indian. The American frontiersmen slowly pushed the Indians further and further to unwanted lands in the West. However, when these lands became coveted by homesteaders, the Indians were pushed even further West. When there was no where else to push the Indians, the American military decided to exterminate them. America was able to do this by portraying the Indians as bloodthirsty savages. America

manipulated the people and caused them to believe that the Native American Indian was evil. Next, the manipulation of man can be seen in the extermination of millions of Jews by Adolph Hitler. People knew what was happening, but they refused to acknowledge the fact that it was going on. Hitler started out by removing the Jews from their homes. Then, he forced them to wear the Star of David. After that, Hitler forced the Jews into

concentration camps. Finally, Hitler ordered the extermination of the Jews. He was able to succeed at this because of his eventual progression to the next highest degree of evil.

He manipulated the people. Finally, we can see the manipulation of man in the murder of millions of unborn children. In the U.S. Supreme Court case Wade vs. Roe, it was decided that abortion was a legal act. The reason abortion was legalized was because the

defenders of abortion made an issue out of Civil Rights. They did not mention abortion was murder. They manipulated the Supreme Court into believing that banning a person from having an abortion was a violation of that persons civil rights. Pro Choice people manipulated the American Supreme Court and American Society.

Society has manipulated man ever since the beginning of evolution. Golding uses symbolism in his novel to portray this idea. The manipulation of man is easily seen by observing past events such as the Americanization of Indians , the Holocaust, and the abortion of millions of unborn babies.