FREE ESSAY ON GOOD VS. EVIL

GOOD VS. EVIL

The Lord of the Flies: Good vs. Evil
The constant struggle for survival of the young boys in The Lord of the Flies ultimately
results in innocence transforming into savagery. There is an on going battle between good
and evil which has always been the focus of William Golding's works.
"Stung by what he considers an unreal view of life, the novelist is too magnanimous to
stop at exposing the faults of another, but goes on...to tell the truth" (Cook 173). In
this novel, Golding uses intense imagery to "undermine our naive faith in the moral
progress we like to read into modern social society" (Baker 175). In all of Golding's
novels, he has a message or moral that he tries to get across to the reader. In Lord of
the Flies Golding tries to put the reader into a different world, "the intention is to
undermine our naive faith in the moral progress we like to read into modern social
history... We are urged to recognize that 'human nature' is dynamic and capable of
extraordinary transformations which may result in social good or ill" (Baker 175).
Piggy is incessantly used as a symbol of what is good and moral. During his death, he is
portrayed even as a righteous symbol of Christ. He is the representative of all things
acceptable and lawful. 
"The death of Piggy is an emblem of the Fall--the later reference to it makes that
interpretation indisputable. But the power of Mr. Golding's art depends also upon the
show--the shown significance of the 'grunt' (which 'means' more than the author's clever
sneer), the smashed conch and split brains.... The alert pupil is expected to register
through those carefully presented symbols the ultimate fragility of the boys' tenuous
grasp on sense, order and legitimate behaviour. That the falling Piggy, representative of
intelligence and the rule of law, is an unsatisfactory symbol of fallen man" (Capey
177).