The Nature of Man in Lord of the Flies

William Golding, in his novel Lord of the Flies symbolically describes the degeneration of a civilized society. Embedded within the story of a group of young boys struggling to survive alone on a deserted island are insights to the capacity of evil within the human soul and how it relates to the defect in societies. After a plane crash that results in their inhabitation of the island, the boys establish a democratic society that thrives …

…a capacity for evil inside of their soul that is immeasurable and destructive. They never realise this and continue to break their 'morals', which were simply superficial rules of society that were fed to them unwillingly. They act upon these morals despite their own thoughts and emotions. The latter is the definition of civilisation. As it wears away layer after layer in Lord of the Flies, the true human soul is bared, naked and fearless.