Lord Of The Flies

“…Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart…” (202). At the end of the novel, Ralph weeps because he realizes how evil man can be without rules and containment. In Lord of the Flies, a novel by William Golding, a group of British boys crash on a deserted island with no adults or rules. At first they attempt to create a civilized community, but as time progresses, the inherent evil inside the boys’ begins to surface. The once democratic society quickly shifts to anarchy, where the boys’ lust for blood and power overcomes their morality and innocence. The collapse of their attempted community is a consequence of the boys’ inability to act towards the welfare of the entire group rather than their own selfish interests. The drastic change of behavior in the boys results because innocence and morality are torn away from them when they are placed in a situation without any containment of rules or authority.

The novel is a microcosm of what’s happe...