Ecocritical Reading of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies

Abstract

William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, is a study of basic human nature and psyche. With the help of his young characters, he portrays the horrors of evil which reside nowhere but inside human beings. Though the young kids are in a place which is far from corruption, a place with no outside influence, still the evil, inherently present inside human, the insatiable thirst to conquer and to tame the external anyhow unleashes itself, which leads to the destruction of both nature and the order and harmony provided through it. This paper would be an attempt to study man’s anthropocentric nature in the context of Golding’s novel, and how the nature within becomes a threat to the nature surrounding. The characters of Ralph, Simon, Piggy, Samneric seem to signify the code of nature. These are the characters who are the carriers of order and harmony which are best seen in nature and can be learnt through it, as Ralph and his conch – nature and the order, Piggy – wisdom, Simon – the spiritual side, Samneric – sense of togetherness. These teachings of nature are hardly understood by man, and the beast residing within soon overpowers all order and wisdom. ‘Mankind’s essential illness’ at last comes into force. This ill-force is represented by Jack and his team which at the onset is referred as ‘something dark’. This force creates a system of anarchy where the only objective is to conquer and tame everything. In this quest to conquer, wisdom and spirituality are butchered and togetherness is subdued. Golding through all the events and characters presented in a way tries to offer the ‘anthropocentric’ attitude of man. He brilliantly portrays this destructive attitude of man to nature. He presents human as entropic, contrary to nature which is a system of symbiosis. This anthropocentric human leaves nature shuddering in flame”. This approach makes man claim everything for him, forgetting that nature is a separate self-balancing entity.