Theme of Reversion and Evil in William Golding's "Lord of the Flies"

William Golding's Lord of the Flies is a parable speaking about how ordinary children revert to savagery when they are abandoned on a deserted island. At first, the children stick together and act reasonably, but then they divide into two camps: followers of Ralph, who believe in decency and civilization, and followers of Jack, who paint their faces, sharpen their spears and become hunters. Despairing of ever being rescued, the boys go to war with one another, with deadly results.
The novel deals with the evil deeply rooted within man’s soul. It stresses the fact that human nature is originally corrupt and tends to support evil in its worst form. About this, Golding himself has written that “The theme is an attempt to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature.” In this way, Golding seems to be a firm believer in the idea of the "Original Sin" that implies that all human beings are doomed to sin since their great grandfather Adam had disobeyed God.
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