Does Golding Think That Man is Inherently Evil? “Man is the cruelest animal.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche. Sir William Golding, a man who survived World War II and transformed his life into that of a nobel prize-winning writer, was no stranger to the idea of inhumane behaviour. He wrote the novel Lord of the Flies, which is about a group of boys that have survived an airplane crash and are currently stranded on an island with no adults. Over the course of the story, the boys go from being civilized human beings to barbarous savages, a transformation the author likely witnessed during his tenure in the navy. Golding suggests that people are inherently evil. In Lord of the Flies, the survivors of the airplane succumb to their wicked nature. The first example of that is the sinister celebration of killing the pig, at which the boys dance like savages and chant, “Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood” (Golding 2006, Ch. 4, p. 75). The fact that small children repeat such a malicious phrase implies a lack of humaneness. Another example of their malevolence are their unnecessary acts of violence. The first instance of this is torturing Wilfred. When Roger questions Jack’s motive for punishing the younger clan member, he does not get an answer: "But didn't the chief say why? … I never heard him"(Golding 2006, Ch. 10, p. 159). Further along in the book, Piggy is brutally killed by Roger. Once again there is not an ulterior motivation for committing such a deed, Roger simply feels “a sense of delirious abandonment.” (Golding 2006, Ch. 11, p. 180) Finally, in attempting to kill Ralph, the horde burns nearly the whole island to the ground, an act so destructive and warlike, yet at the same time so meaningless, that it could only be done by humans.
Despite that humans can be evil and destructive, they can also be benevolent creatures. Children usually symbolize