Lord of the Flies Essay Example for Free

Lord of the Flies Essay Deep inside each individual is a psychological choice to be made between good and evil. In William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, this choice and its subsequent results are represented by Ralph and Jack. With no rules and no adults on the island to guide them, Jack gives into his evil desires. Whereas Ralph struggles to maintain a sense of humanity and constantly tries to strive to do good. Both started off as English schoolboys, but when left alone on the island human nature tends to make the choices. When the boys first land on the island they still have their childish innocence. They still remember their English upbringing. They work together to build a civilized community like back in the adult world they have suddenly been separated from. Even though Ralph was chosen leader, Jack agrees there is a need for rules, â€Å" I agree with Ralph. We’ve got to have rules and obey them. After all, we’re not savages. We are English, and English are best at everything. So, we’ve got to do the right things. † (38). But slowly his actions started to change. He realized there were no repercussions for his actions. He was free from punishment. He chose to give in to his evil desires. And when he painted a mask on his face, he lost all sense of humanity, his transformation into a savage was complete. â€Å"He began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling. He capered towards Bill, and the mask was a thing on it’s own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness. † (58). Jack used the mask to let out his evil desires and hide from shame. He was masking his the identity of what was a chapter chorist and head boy into a maniacal and manipulative savage. But, the mask can’t hide the fact that we are capable of evil. Evidently the only thing separating us is our choices. Whereas Jack chose to be evil, Ralph overcome his inner desires to do evil. Ralph was chosen by the other boys to be the leader of the group. Instead of using his new power for his own selfish needs, Ralph used it for the greater good of the group. Ralph solely survived to be rescued and made sure a signal fire was built. â€Å"Your only hope is a signal fire going as long as there’s light to see. Then maybe a ship’ll notice the smoke and come and rescue us and take us home. † (164). Ralph believe that a signal was their nly hope of being rescued which was true because that is all the boys had to draw any attention to the island. Ralph was not just thinking about himself when he was trying to get rescued because not only would he get rescued so would have everybody else, including Jack. While Jack did not care about getting rescued he worried more about how much bigger and more powerful his group was, and they also had become more evil. Ralph chose to align himself with Piggy to help him stay righteous. Ralph was voicing Piggy’s ideas while he was chief. Ralph used Piggy’s intellect to help him stay civilized and on the good side. Near the end of the novel, corruption and evil started to take over almost all the boys and Piggy dies. His death emphasizes the end of intellectuality and what is good in society. Ralph is left alone and he slowly starts to turn to savagery, in the last chapter. He is being hunted down like an animal by other boys and he has to act like an animal to survive. Before Ralph could fully turn into a savage, he and the rest of the boys are rescued by a British officer. Back in some semblance of society, Ralph realizes all of the boys in their own way gave into some type of savagery. â€Å"And in the middle of them, with filthy body, matted hair, and unwiped nose, Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy. † (186). In recognition of what Ralph thought was civilized, and in reality what actually was, Ralph wept because he also knew that Piggy was their only link keeping them somewhat civilized. When piggy died even Ralph started to turn to savagery, but fortunately for Ralph the fire that could have killed him, saved him. Clearly without help we cannot fully overcome the evil deeply hidden inside of us. Finally, we are all capable of good and evil, it’s a matter of choice. Our choices can lead to our corruption and they can lead to our salvation. Only with assistance are we humans able to over power the opposing forces not willing for us to do good. Humans possess the intelligence to distinguish between right and wrong, they must have discernment to choose for themselves what their morals are.