hello and welcome back to tutoring with gavin in this video i'll be teaching the themes of lord of the flies by william golding the first theme i want to look at is civilization versus savagery the lack of adult authority on the island creates a tension between those who empathize with others and those who do not golding is examining the central issue in lord of the flies that has plagued the human race throughout history why do some people live by rules act peacefully develop a moral compass and value the good of the group while others gratify their own immediate desires act violently to obtain power and control over others this struggle manifests itself in a number of ways on the island civilization is threatened by savagery order is turned into chaos reason is crushed by impulse collective rules are ignored and goodness is overpowered by evil by creating this setting of an isolated island golden provides an environment that cannot be disrupted by the normal civilized behaviour instead it allows albeit hypothetically for a natural evolution from civilized moral and disciplined school boys to savages when removed from the influence of social conditioning also by using young boys without adults to tell this story it provides him with characters who have not yet been completely conditioned by society although the same may have happened with adult characters golden conveys many of his main ideas and themes through symbolic characters and objects in particular through the two main characters ralph the protagonist who represents order and leadership and jack the antagonist who represents savagery and the desire for power as the novel progresses golden shows how different people feel the influences of the instincts of civilization and savagery to different degrees iggy for instance has no savage feelings while roger seems incapable of complying with the rules of civilization generally however goldening implies that the instinct of savagery is far more primal and fundamental to the human psyche than the instinct of civilization golding sees moral behavior as something that civilization forces upon the individual rather than a natural expression of human individuality when left to their own devices golding implies people naturally revert to cruelty savagery and barbarism this idea of innate human evil is central to lord of the flies and finds expression in several important symbols most notably the beast and the pig's head on a stake among all the characters only simon seems to possess anything like a natural innate goodness the second theme is that of innocence at the start of the novel the boys appear to be innocent throughout their behaviour and willingness to get along although there are hints early on that jack and roger are less inclined to act in the interest of the group as the boy's behaviour deteriorates on the island from well-behaved and calm longing for rescue by the adults to cruel bloodthirsty hunters who have no desire to return to the rules and restrictions of civilization their innocence fades until most of them become unrecognizable from the start of the novel the most important thing here is that golding is not presenting the loss of innocence as something that is done to the children but as something that has happened naturally from the boys increasing openness to the innate evil and savagery that has always existed within them and therefore the author is suggesting that despite the social conditioning from adults you can never completely wipe out the evil that exists within all human beings when simon sits in the forest glade in chapter 3 it is a place of natural beauty and peace that represents his innocence but when he returns later in the novel he finds the bloody pig's head impaled upon a stake in the middle of the clearing this acts as an offering to the beast but destroys this serene place of beauty for simon golding is therefore symbolizing how the innate evil within human beings inevitably destroys childhood innocence another important idea in the novel is how difficult it is to create civilizations while ralph and piggy argue for solid rules and procedures to maintain harmony safety and progress for the group jack undermines this with his obsession with hunting violence and pleasure seeking golding seems to be suggesting that all the while some people refuse to contribute to the greater good of society civilizations will always struggle to function effectively also for golding trying to overcome the stark differences between humans in respect of good and evil means inevitable failure when the novel was published in 1954 the world had just experienced a world war that threatened democracy and almost resulted in a world ruled by fascism golding is presenting young boys as having the potential for evil which had been demonstrated in germany by enthusiasm for the hitler youth movement jack's loss of influence early on in the novel results in his use of violence to regain power rather than have to earn the respect from the boys he results to using fear and intimidation supported by his violent sidekick roger it's as if empathy intellect compassion and cooperation are too much like hard work for jack and so he becomes a brutal dictator ultimately the demands of humanity and respect prove too much for ralph and piggy who join in with the murder of simon swept up momentarily by the herd instinct or mob rule because of the thrill of violence although piggy tries to avoid responsibility ralph is devastated when he realizes that he is no different to jack or roger because he also has an innate evil lurking inside of him the only character that is truly individual and able to resist this violent inner nature is simon he is seen by others as odd and weird but he stands up for piggy and the litlins helps ralph build the shelters and provides a wise mature and thoughtful take on their predicament he recognizes that the beast is not real but perhaps the darkness and innate brutality is within the boys themselves he is trying to explain his meditations to the group when he is brutally killed perhaps golding is trying to compare this with the bible story of jesus who met a similar fate as he tried to make humanity aware of his flawed nature the mob mentality in the novel grows into an uncontrolled frenzy at the end with ralph saved only by the arrival of adults in 1954 with the advent of cinema and television the world was witnessing evidence of terrible atrocities carried out in germany by mobs attacking the jewish community and stories of torture and the holocaust through the nuremberg trials showed how easy it was to manipulate the mob early on in the novel the boys sing kill the pig cut her throat spill her blood after a successful hunt elevating their shared act of violence into an uncontrolled celebratory chant there's a shared exhilaration and a lack of individual accountability in the brutal acts committed by the boys in the novel they hide behind painted faces and group chants creating an unspoken bond that removes all sense of moral responsibility their violence grows in intensity and their humanity shrinks until they are no longer recognizable their group fears and delusions serve to justify their increasing violence that ends with the murder of simon and piggy the fear of nuclear war during the 1950s and the devastation it would bring allows golden to explore the idea of rebuilding a civilization however instead of learning from the mistakes of the adults these boys fail to comprehend the role of humans in the global disaster the high ideals of order fairness and thoughtfulness have little impact in an environment where basic survival dominates and the fear of the darkness literal and metaphorical destroys any chances of a collective rationale and while the war rages elsewhere demonstrated by the dead paratrooper the fate of the boys becomes a microcosm of the wider conflict raging throughout the world well i hope this has helped in your revision for the gcse literature exam if you liked the video please give it a thumbs up and please subscribe to the channel so i can continue to make these video tutorials for free until next time