“The pile of guts was a black blob of flies that buzzed like a saw. After a while these flies found Simon. Gorged, they alighted by his runnels of sweat and drank. They tickled under his nostrils and played leapfrog on his thighs. They were black and iridescent green and without number; and in front of Simon, the Lord of the Flies hung on his stick and grinned. At last Simon gave up and looked back; saw the white teeth and dim eyes, the blood—and his gaze was held by that ancient, inescapable recognition. In Simon’s right temple, a pulse began to beat on the brain” (Golding 123).

The outbreak of World War III drags the world into chaos: atomic bombs shatter societies and tear everyone apart. In William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies, a group of boys land on a deserted island after a plane crash during this imaginary time of war, and the island gradually washes away their outer shells of civilization, revealing their savage and evil nature within. Among the sea of savagery, the boy Simon remains pure and wise, who immerses himself in nature and sits in the open space where Jack and his group kills a sow, lays out her guts, and pierces her head on a stick. In this passage from Lord of the Flies, William Golding argues that just like the flies are innately drawn to filth, the boys are innately drawn to the dark sides of humanity, including violence, savagery, and cruelty, which constitute the “inescapable” nature of all humans and the “lord” that controls everyone.

To start the passage, Golding depicts the wanton and greedy flies to be inherently attracted to filthy enjoyments, which is similar to the boys, who are inherently attracted to sinful excitement of violence and cruelty. As the flies smell and surround “the pile of guts,” the guts become “a black blob of flies that [buzz] like a saw” (Golding 123). Golding metaphorically likens the guts to “a black blob of flies,” vividly demonstrating the massive number of flies crowding together, leaving no space on the surface of the guts for them to be visible, indicating the greedy and disgusting characteristics of the flies. The metaphor also underscores the flies’ uncontrollable addiction to bloody and filthy guts, highlighting their savage and cruel nature, which is just like the boys. Golding’s simile of “[buzz] like a saw” audibly illustrates the unpleasant noise the flies make, adding another negative hue to the nature of these creatures. Being a tool of destruction, the saw symbolizes aggressiveness and violence, which are attributed to the characteristics of the flies as well as the underflowing atmosphere among the boys. After the flies “[gorge]” on the guts, they “[find] Simon,” “[alight] by his runnels of sweat and [drink].” The verb “[gorge]” personifies the flies as greedy people, emphasizing their craziness for the guts, revealing their savagery within, which mirrors the nature of the boys. Including “[gorge],” the series of verbs “[find],” “[alight],” and “[drink]” together further personify the flies, making them conduct the human behaviors upon Simon, the real human who lacks power in this situation, which creates irony. The flies symbolize the savage boys and gain more power of control than Simon, foreshadowing that the boys may gain absolute control over Simon and conduct cruel deeds over him. By depicting the flies drinking Simon’s sweat after eating the guts, Golding emphasizes that the flies are so greedy that they are not able to resist any filthy enjoyment they crave; they are innately addicted to blood and stink that the guts cannot satisfy them, which is like the boys, who are not able to resist their dark human nature but instead are gradually dragged into savagery and cruelty. When they finish drinking Simon’s sweat, the flies “[tickle] under his nostrils and [play] leapfrog on his thighs.” The verbs “[tickle]” and “[play]” personify the flies as adorable children having fun; moreover, the word “leapfrog” builds the connection between the flies and the boys more explicitly, where Golding personifies the flies as playing a children’s game. Golding’s illustration of the flies contains a connotation of joy and naivety, which forms a strong contrast when associated with these filthy creatures. Although Golding describes the flies having fun, they actually do disturbing things to Simon, who is the object of preposition under control for both verbs, which exactly mirrors the boys where under their innocent and harmless appearances, their cruelty and violence nature inside is massive, destructive, and disguised.

In the second part of the paragraph, Golding demonstrates that the Lord of the Flies is a representation of the dark human nature of savagery and cruelty, which is also the “Lord of the People” that is impossible to remove from anyone. After the boys pierce the sow head on the stick, “the Lord of the Flies [hangs] on his stick and [grins].” The verb “[grins]” personifies the Lord of the Flies, creating a scary and mysterious connotation, implying that the Lord of the Flies symbolizes the dangerous human nature of cruelty and violence, which is simply demonstrated through the boys’ act of putting up the sow head on the sharp stick. The verb “[grins]” also seems to give the pig head the ability to think and act, and this mysterious expression indicates that the Lord of the Flies has a daunting and evil plan, which symbolizes that the boys’ dark nature may cause disasters to them if they continue to obey. The adjectival pronoun “his” underscores a sense of personified dominance, which is uncommon on a pig head. By using “his,” Golding gives the Lord of the Flies the power to possess, alluding to the dominant power of human nature over humans themselves. When Simon “[gives] up and [looks] back,” he sees “the white teeth,” “dim eyes,” and “the blood” of the sow head. The verb “[gives] up” creates a sense of obeying as if the Lord of the Flies urges Simon to look back and Simon struggles to refuse, which illuminates the dominant power the Lord of the Flies has over Simon, also further implying the massive power of innate human nature. On the sow head, “the white teeth” and “the blood” have distinctive and sharp colors of white and red respectively, which contrast strongly with the “dim eyes.” Eyes are people’s major source of information, and they represent intelligence, civilization, and realization; however, teeth and blood are associated with gnawing and preying, which symbolize savagery and violence. The sharp contrast between the luster of the eyes and that of the teeth and the blood highlights that the Lord of the Flies possesses extreme savagery but little intelligence or civilization, indicating that cruelty and violence take up the boys’ inside nature, leaving civilization and wisdom little or no space in them. When Simon looks at the sow head, “his gaze [is] held by the ancient, inescapable recognition,” and “a pulse [begins] to beat on [Simon’s] brain.” Golding’s metaphor likens the Lord of the Flies as “the ancient, inescapable recognition,” which clearly reveals the symbolization meaning of the sow head to be the deep, evil human nature, which is always within humans and is “inescapable.” The passive voice “[is] held” illustrates a lack of power of Simon and his state of being controlled by the “recognition,” which emphasizes the great power of dark human nature over humans. The alliteration in the words “[begins],” “beat,” and “brain” echoes with “pulse” and sounds like heartbeats, which is the rhythm within every human since their existence, further highlighting the massive length of time that the dark nature of savagery, violence, and cruelty is present in humans as well as the great depth of carve this nature creates in humans. By suggesting the connection between the flies and the boys, Golding implies that the Lord of the Flies is actually the “Lord of the Boys,” which is the evil human nature within each boy, and this “lord” unavoidably rules over every boy on the island.

In William Golding’s paragraph from Lord of the Flies, he indicates that like the flies are drawn to their filthy treats, the boys are drawn to savagery, cruelty, and violence innately, which is the dark nature of human beings that lords over humans like the Lord of the Flies. On the island, the boys give up resisting and willingly follow the lead of their lord–the innate evilness in human nature, which drags them deeper and deeper into the abyss of disasters. The Lord of the Humans is within everyone, and it rules over fiercely if given the opportunity; if all humans obey and follow their Lord of the Humans, where does it lead the way?