In William Golding‘s novel Lord Of The Flies readers see a bunch of civilized boys

becoming savage murderers. With this plot Golding describes his lack of faith in humanity and
his belief that humans are born evil. Golding illustrates this through characterization.

In the beginning of the book two children, Henry and Roger, are on the beach playing. In
this scene we see Roger hesitating to throw rocks at Henry even though he clearly wants to do
it. Before throwing the stones Roger takes note of a metaphorical barrier described as “a space
round Henry, perhaps 6 yards in diameter, into which he dare not throw. Here, invisible yet
strong, was the taboo of his old life.“(62) this barrier is the rules and regulations Roger has been
raised to obey. This Inner conflict going on inside Roger is one of the first instances where the
author shows that the true nature of the boys is that of the savage animal, feral and wild.

Another example of Goldings believes is shown when the children have called a meeting
and a child named Simon, a shy kid, is trying to speak at a meeting. Laughter that follows a
statement from Simon cost him to become shy as he tried to “express mankind‘s greatest
weakness“(89). The weakness the author speaks of is none other than the theme of the entire
novel, humans are born evil. Simon is trying to warn the children of the assembly that the beast
isn’t a tangible monster that can be killed by spears or power. He warned us that the beast is
the inhumane evil, that is normally suppress by society, inside of all of them seeping out due to
their new found freedom on the island.

Through William Golding’s use of characterization the readers see that Golding believes
that humans are born with evil and the only reason it doesn’t shows because of societal
pressures we are exposed to since birth. The character development throughout the novel Lord
of the flies the reader seen a group of civilized children regressed to beasts that kill on impulse.
The character development throughout the novel lord of the flies the reader seen a group of
civilized children regressed to beasts that killed on impulse. Though this is a fictional story and
the regression was exaggerated, we do see the points brought up in this novel being displayed
in real life. One example of this is business leaders. They often become overrun by greed and
will destroy others to achieve success with the gains outweigh the consequences or in other
words the constraints of society are released. In everyday society William Golding’s beliefs are
proven right time and time again so maybe it’s time to step back and think about the beast
inside of us all.