William Golding s Lord Of The Flies - 1162 Words

Adlai Stevenson I once said, â€Å"The human race has improved everything, but the human race.† William Golding, author of Lord of the Flies, would most likely agree with Stevenson. The Nobel Laureate uses his book, an allegory for human life, to show human nature in its primitive form; a form only found when people are isolated from societies. Civilization shields a man’s inner nature from coming out, and when civilization is nowhere to be found, that innate nature come out. As the characters in his book are stranded on an island by themselves, they must balance their sophisticated rearing and their nature within or face the demise of everyone on the island. In Lord of the Flies, Golding uses the boys’ retrogression in clothing, appearance,†¦show more content†¦Though he had taken off his school sweater and trailed it now from one hand, his grey shirt stuck to him and his hair was plastered to his forehead. (Golding 1) The cleanliness of Ralph’s clothes symbolizes the nature Ralph is accustomed to before he comes to the island; a sophisticated nature. â€Å"For the most part, Ralph does not maintain his civilized dress, and in allowing it to become tattered and dirty, he begins to resemble the savage stereotype† (Olsen 19). When the clothes of the boys become dirty, their behavior also becomes dirty, as they are away from civilization to cleanse both their physical and mental self. The appearance of the boys change throughout the book, as it represents how much the boys change in nature. The way a person carries themselves with their appearance is evidence of the pride they have in themselves. Throughout Lord of the Flies, the appearance of the boys becomes unkempt, which is symbolic of the nature inside of them also changing. Readers can see the disgust Ralph has for his appearance. â€Å"Ralph discovered dirt and decay, understood how much he disliked perpetually flicking the tangled hair out of his eyes† (Golding 65). Ralph is aware of his change in appearance, and is disappointed, just like he distraught at the end of the book as he â€Å"wept for the end of innocence† (Golding 182). Although most of the boys change in nature throughout the story, Piggy remains static. In the same way,