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In Golding’s ‘Lord of the Flies’, a group of British boys are trapped on a desert island after a plane crash and must fend for themselves. In this story, many aspects of societal problems are explored. Some symbols may be interpreted as civilization versus savagery, mob mentality, the issue of government, and more. Golding uses the setting to introduce key themes relating to the island's initial idyllic presentation, the effect of the heat, and the seclusion of the island.
Golding uses the deterioration of the initial idyllic presentation of the island to suggest that humans are inherently corrupt. From the moment the schoolboys arrived, it was made clear that they began to destroy the natural amity of the island. As we are introduced to Ralph, we find that “all round him the long scar smashed into the jungle...”. This suggests that even the entrance of the plane had left a permanent ‘scar’ on the uninhabited island, showing that the schoolboys’ presence was having a deteriorative effect on this new place, which Golding immediately highlights. With similarity to the Garden of Eden, we uncover that throughout the story, the once pure and untouched location becomes bastardized due to the actions of the outsiders, who are a representation of mankind’s evil by nature.
In ‘Lord of the Flies’, the author uses heat and its effects to imply that ungoverned life on the island is paradoxical. The writer makes it seem in some parts of the story that the boys are in some sort of wonderful paradise: “This is our island. It's a good island. Until the grown-ups come to fetch us we'll have fun”. As the protagonists in the story are young boys, this would be every kid’s dream. Towards the beginning of the book, the author pays more attention to the excitement and newness of the island, however, he later draws more attention to the reality of being trapped on the island: “He knelt down and the arrow of the sun fell on him. That other time the air had seemed to vibrate with heat; but now it threatened”. This quote evinces that the heat is portrayed as the reality of the boys’ experience on the desert island. This is because the British schoolboys came from a cold and dull country to a hot, tropical island where the heat was originally new and manageable, but over time became merciless.
The author illustrates the conflict between civilized society vs savagery through the seclusion of the island. In the first chapter, when the boys begin to get hungry, Jack was presented with an opportunity to kill a pig and did not bring himself to do so. The fellow boys “...Knew very well why he hadn’t: because of the enormity of the knife descending and cutting into living flesh; because of the unbearable blood”. We find that Jack's inability to kill the pig indicates that (at this point) the ways of civilization are still stronger than the instinctive savagery that is being awakened. Being separated from a governed world causes them to lose their innocence much sooner because of their isolation, especially as they know that they will eventually have to hunt to survive.
In conclusion, in ‘Lord of the Flies’, I think that Golding through the setting presents his view of humanity and mankind. He illustrates in this novel that our ability to behave peacefully, be civilized, and live without a higher power governing us is not a part of human nature. In this story, it is made clear that Golding portrays humans as savages who may be controlled by our aggressive instincts.
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