Chapters 7 - 9: Thematic Elements

In chapters 7-9, the thematic quality of Lord of the Flies begins to show itself more increasingly. In the first parts of the book, the theme was not very present as characters and setting were being established. It is now that we see central idea intended by Golding at least start to develop.

Thus far in the book, we can see the “sinful nature” of man starting to become a central idea. In “Chaos in the Classroom”, Golding comments on Lord of the Flies:

“I wrote Lord of the Flies after the war.
I remembered the class at Bishop Wordsworth’s, and
I remembered the gangs of Russian children after the
Revolution who roamed the streets murdering people. I wanted
to say to the English: ‘You think you’ve won the war and
defeated Nazism so you’re all nice, decent people.
But look out. The evil is in us all.’”

We see from this that Golding intended the book to thematically address the evil that exists in mankind. This is present in the novel as the hunters become obsessed with killing. Their entire existence on the island is to “feast and have fun” (154). The excitement of the kill creates a joyous urge in them, something that Golding says is central in all humans. He believes that with this novel, without govern; all people are damned to a society of inner urge of violence. We have to agree that it is the lack of political system that allows the boys to behave the way they do. We also see the evil in them, this sinful nature, in the slaying of Simon in chapter 9. Up to this point, the reader seems to be waiting for the first blood of humans in the novel. Golding starves us for it, and when this first blood appears, we realize the intention of evil and sin in ourselves, waiting for someone to die. We accept the entertainment value of the book. We come to the utter realization that this urge is present in our casual lives.

Golding truly starts to show the reader the thematic elements of Lord of the Flies in these chapters. This original sin, one could call it, is a powerful idea that most readers can identify as it is a part of our society. It is interesting to interpret the idea in our own lives, and identify urges of sin and evil, to truly see for ourselves what Golding is getting at.