In William Golding's Lord of the Flies, a group of young, English schoolboys are stranded on a tropical island after their plane is shot down during a war. Without adults and rules, the boys are left to fend for themselves. Some boys try to create a peaceful, orderly "society", while most boys only play or act violently towards each other. Eventually, the majority of the boys become corrupted by their primal, savage instincts. This allegorical novel has three main symbols that over-time represent both sides of human nature. Those symbols are: the beast, the signal fire and the conch.

The first symbol that represents both sides of human nature is the beast. As we learn from Simon's encounter with the Lord of the Flies, the best lives within every human being and represents the primal, savage instinct we all posses. Some boys control and suppress thins instinct, while...