The Wisdom to Know the Difference

George Orwell once said, "The function of wisdom is to discriminate between good and evil." The boys in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies are young and they do not possess the knowledge of discerning what is good and what is evil. In the novel Golding conveys that good and evil come in many forms and the boys are trying to differentiate between the two. Golding proves the theme of good and evil by crafting light and dark imagery about the island throughout the novel.
Ralph has taken it upon himself, as the leader, to scour the island before the other boys. So, he sees a lot of the majestic and ragged scenery before anyone else. When Ralph and Jack are out exploring on the mountain top; inching along a tiny ledge. They come around the top and are dumbfounded by the beauty that they see in the mountain. “Nothing what you would expect: pink, tumbled boulders with guano layered on them like icing…” (Golding 106) Golding conveys the mountain as good by illuminating light imagery which invokes a pleasant and positive mood on the reader. Still on the tiny ledge on the mountain top, Ralph and Jack look past the marvelous sight and are stunted by a nerve-racking sight. “…a steep slope up to the shattered rocks that crowned the bastion.” (Golding 106) The author highlights dark imagery to invoke an ominous and dreadful mood on the reader by portraying the mountain as evil.
Golding reveals the theme of good and evil by generating moods of unease and tranquility. When Piggy and Ralph first meet, Piggy introduces himself saying the boys could call him anything, “… So long as they don’t call me what they used to call me at school… They used to call me ‘Piggy’” Ralph then went on to laugh hysterically and yell “Piggy! Piggy!”(Golding 11) Golding reveals a theme of good and evil through the usage of mood to display tranquility in the way Piggy introduces himself and unease in the way Ralph chooses to make fun of him. After finding the beast, Piggy worried about their safety and continued to “[look] up miserably from the dawn-pale beach to the dark mountain.”(Golding 124) Golding compares good and evil through the use of mood which highlights that there is always a sense of unease for boys while on the mountain and a sense of tranquility while on the beach.
Ultimately what led to the boy's slow upheaval of law and order, was that the boys did not hold the wisdom of discerning what around them was good and what was evil. The island slowly changed how they saw each other, how they felt about each other, and how they felt about the world. John Cheever once said that, "Wisdom is the knowledge of good and evil, and the strength to choose between them."