Gazing into the Abyss in Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Friedrich Nietzsche once said, â€Å"If you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you†. Lord of the Flies is a novel by William Golding written in 1954, centering on a group of boys stuck on an island who unsuccessfully attempt to govern themselves. They struggle against fear of outside forces as well as themselves, and the reader observes as they lose their innocence and slowly decline from civility in all its forms. In his novel, Lord of the Flies, William S. Golding portrays the theme that society can be corrupted because individuals are naturally corrupt through his use of the symbols of the beast, Piggy’s glasses, and the fire. William S. Golding uses the symbol of the beast to convey how individuals can be corrupted because fear and hate make people selfish and savage. In chapter 9, Simon discovers that the so-called beast is actually a dead parachuter. He goes to Castle Rock to inform the rest of the boys, who are having a feast off the pig Jack killed. The author states, â€Å"The beast struggled forward and fell over the steep edge of the rock. At once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt onto the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore. There were no words, and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws† (153). From this quotation we can see that the boys, in their blind rage, confused Simon for the beast and killed him. Fear and hate have a close relationship because they feed off each other. Often times the hater fears, and the