The Seven Deadly Sins in Lord of the Flies

Lord of the Flies is a book all about sin and how a group of young and innocent boys descended into savagery. While I was reading this book I kept thinking about how the Seven Deadly Sins helped the boys into madness. In this blog, I will outline how each of the Seven Deadly sins
   It all started out so innocently when the boys went and elected a leader like a democracy. The problem with this is that it sparks a rivalry and Jack gets filled with envy “and the freckles on Jack’s face disappeared under a blush of mortification. He started up, then changed his mind and sat down again while the air rang.” (Golding 23) This leads to a power struggle which causes the divide between the two factions.
The second step that I saw the boys take into madness was the introduction of Sloth. Sloth is defined as physical laziness or spiritual laziness. This vice takes effect when the little un’s want to play and don’t want to work to keep the shelter up or keep the fire going. Ralph initially puts a system in a place reminiscent of work and civilization by simply building a shelter and keeping a fire going so that they can survive, but the little kids don’t want to go and work. They want to go and play and their laziness keep them from prosperity. It would have been much easier for the boys to keep order for a little bit longer if everyone worked like in a society.
   To add insult to injury, Jack gets insulted on his hunting ability by Ralph. Ralph complains about his lack of help putting up the shelters and insults Jack on his lack of hunting skill and his lack of discipline with his followers. Jack is very prideful of his backers and his hunting skills. He doesn’t want the clan that he has taken away from him in a rigged election and doesn’t want his hunting skills diminished by a lazy leader. Just like Jack’s boys, Ralph has his own problem with his followers. Ralph also shows his prideful side when he makes everybody call him chief when he gets elected.
   The pride that Jack had consumed him and turns to wrath. Wrath to get back at Ralph for what he said and to get back the power that he rightfully deserves. Jack bashes Ralph every time he makes a mistake and makes himself look very appealing to the bourgeoisie. This leads me to the final stage of my argument, gluttony, and lust.
   After the slaughtering of the pig, the boys eat a gigantic feast where they eat as much as they can fit in their mouths. This indulgence leads to the crazy atmosphere that kills Simon. Lust is apparent when the boy's cut off the pig’s head and put it on a stick to show even more that the boys have descended into madness, farther than they could have ever dreamed before coming here. “At last, the immediacy of the kill subsided. The boys drew back, and Jack stood up, holding out his hands.
“Look.”
He giggled and flicked them while the boys laughed at his reeking palms. Then Jack grabbed Maurice and rubbed the stuff over his cheeks . . .
“Right up her ass!” (Golding 135)
Many people see this as a rape scene and they see it as the part of the book when hunting stops becoming about the meat, but about bathing in their power over a helpless animal. They are far too young to be doing this kind of thing and this moment is seen as when the boys lose their innocence to evil.
   The defining factor of this island against any other factor that caused the outcome of the book is that isolation from society means that there are no laws. There are norms, but they can be changed quite easily due to the lack of order. Any sort of ethics that they once had are swept clean with civilization coming first to fill its space with the leader being Ralph. Ralph is a fine leader, but can’t get anybody to do what he wants. Then Jack comes in and takes the power from Ralph. He firmly establishes himself as the power on the island due to his ruthlessness. In the article Law, Morals and Ethics, the author makes a great point when he says that, “A community can change its sense of right and wrong only through initiative taken by someone within a community or acting upon it” (Hazard 11) When I was reading this I knew Jack was the bad guy, online sources like SparkNotes said that Jack was the bad guy, and our discussions in the classroom identified him as the bad guy, but I have to give credit to Jack. He made the boys great. Under Jack, the boys progressed further into strength than even before. The cost of this was that they lost their humanity. They became savages until they were shocked back to life by seeing civilization again in the form of the naval officer.