Man's inherent evil

Question 1

“Maybe there is a beast… Maybe it’s only us.”

Answer 1

• Simon suggests that the beast is their own inherent evil rather than some physical thing
• Darkness lurking in the hearts of the boys

Question 2

“Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!… You knew didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are?”

Answer 2

• Lord of the flies tells simon how the beast that is the darkness within humankind cannot be killed
• Here, Golding uses dialogue to point to his larger allegory, to answer “why things are what they are.”

Question 3

“His mind was crowded with memories; memories of the knowledge that had come to them when they closed in on the struggling pig, knowledge that they had outwitted a living thing, imposed their will upon it, taken away its life like a long satisfying drink.”

Answer 3

• Jack relishes what he feels after a particularly satisfying hunt
• Golding makes a connection between Jack’s thrill of the hunt and his desire to commit violence