Boys Only

Upon the introduction of a female character, it would drastically change the story, and the message the book is portraying would be altered, but then this may depend on the female characters’ characteristics. Golding may want the female character to be able to tempt (because the island they are stranded on represents The Garden of Eden-paradise-where god placed two humans, Adam and Eve) the male characters to do specific things, as in hunt, or to take something that may be prohibited or sacred such as the Conch, specs, or other symbolic items of the island. Or the female character could be tempted to do something for someone (because of the snake tempting Eve in The Garden of Eden). Also a women figure on the island can also mean organization, more order, and having supplementary moral values. There would be a bigger voice of truth, and perhaps many of the uncivilized acts the male characters were doing would have been avoided. The female character can also cause jealousy. With jealousy fights might occur, and a bigger division could perhaps have happened, but not only with Jack and Ralph, but possibly with some others of the Bigguns. Golding obviously meant this as a complement to women, as though he shows the savageness of society through the acts of boys of the island.

Like Eve in the bible, she tempted Adam to eat the forbidden fruit of The Garden of Eden. Eve in the bible was tempted by the snake, which in The Lord of the Flies would be the devil or Jack. The forbidden fruit could represent the specs, something that Jack wants by the end. Jack would be able to entice the female character, to take the specs from Ralphs’ group. This would have also caused a big problem, but would have also caused them to have had fewer savage moments. The way the women could be tempted, also could show how today men (as in men and women) have power over each other, and how they can easily control others to work for them to gain more.

Many people see-stereotypically-that females in general as more organized, and less savage compared to men. This being the reason, that if a female character were to have been introduced, then she would have been the adult figure of the island, and would have lead the characters of the island with less savagery, more sanity, and better judgment. Now not only will she be most probably representing the adult figure of the island, but she would also be the motherly figure, the one who entrusts hope of being rescued in the littluns and the bigguns, and she would also take care of the littluns at night, when they had nightmares.

With a female character on the island, she can enhance their moral values, and stand up for what is ethically right. She could become a much bigger symbolic reference to order and civilization. She would be able to convince the group that there really wasn’t such a thing as the beast. She would have held the group together, and avoided that division between Jack and Ralph. She would have gotten more things done, because she is the one most capable of being the adult figure of the island, which was what the boys were trying to find, the adult figure of the island that would lead them, and tell them what to do. She would be able to comfort them from the fears of the nightmares.

As the story normally goes there are only boys on the island, causing there to be rivalry, as in having the Alpha, the leader, and the followers. But with a female character there would be a bit more. There will not only be the leadership relationship with everyone, but probably some kind of romantic relationship might emerge in more than one character. Thus, causing a fight between each other and more savagery could happen. If the female character actually falls for one of the male characters, this might cause another male character to have jealousy therefore, also starting a fight, or just assassinating the other character, but that would be taking too far.

Its easy to say, that Golding meant this as a compliment to women, because he is basically saying how men are savage, of course he is portraying that all mankind can be savage, and uncivilized, but as he shows in the Lord of the Flies, it seems that that savagery was easily shown through the male characters on the island, Jack, Roger, the choir group (hunters), and many others of the island. In my honest opinion, the story is well without a female character, because with the female characters, those memorable moments of the book would have not happened, it would have completely changed symbolic means of different characters, scenes, and items. With a female character, the book would be completely different, and would not be as interesting as it is now.