In his novel, Lord of the Flies, William Golding is making a profound statement on human nature. He is expressing mankind"s essential illnesses through the boys on the island. Golding establishes that the nature of human beings is truly destructive, evil and savage.

             Before the boys arrive on the island is a beautiful tropical paradise untouched by civilization. When the boy"s plane crashed a "long scar (was) smashed into the jungle" (p.1, Chapter 1) The island has been scared just like the cities that have been scared by atomic warfare. The harm to the island was caused by a man made object which shows that it is man who causes destruction. No matter where man goes he always brings destruction. The boulders that the boys push over also represent man"s destructive nature and brute force. The boys have fun causing destruction to the island. They even pretend the bolder is "like a bomb"(p.25, chapter 1). It is evident that man"s feral nature exists even in their fun and games. Another example of man"s destructiveness is too look at the condition of the island when the boys first arrive and when they leave. In the beginning the island is described as a heavenly place full of life. In the end the island "was scorched up like dead wood" (p.224, chapter 12) looking more like hell. The boys totally destroy their island with their war. When the officer comes to rescue them he is not really saving them from anything. He will just be taking them back to where an even bigger war going on. Man can never truly be rescued because no matter where one goes, they can never escape who they are inside.

             Evil exists in all human beings. No one ever wants to admit that they are evil so they place the blame for all the evil on something else. In this case it was the beast. The dead parachuter was what the boys thought to be the beast. Simon was the only one who accepted the fact that the beast is really "only us" (p.