Human Evil and Power Politics: a Study with reference to Lord of the Flies

Abstract

Since time immemorial, human beings have exhibited an unquenchable thirst for power which has often led mankind astray and eventually to the path of destruction. As a study of Sir William Golding’s best known novel Lord of the Flies, this paper explores the power of evil a group of children succumbs to, as they deviate from the path of rightness and degenerate into ultimate moral bankruptcy. They are far lost in darkness, away from the light and glory of innocence. Theirs is an irredeemable downfall from which recovery is impossible. The good that beckons the evil to surrender, is crushed and murdered by dint of being present in majority. This is what is happening today in the world around us. It is attempted to show how Golding offers the path of conscience as an alternative to make the world a better place to live in.