Most Acclaimed Original Contemporary British Writers Of Fiction

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

He concentrates on the duality or paradoxes in human life. The duality in Golding’s works establishes "a structural principle that becomes Golding’s hallmark: a polarity expressed in terms of moral tensions" (Dick 21). The polarity is the clash between flesh and spirit, rationality or irrationality and warfare and welfare. The goodness in man’s deeds brings happiness. Evil in man makes him secretive and rotten and brings a disastrous end to the people around him. Golding strongly believes that evil is a dominant phenomenon in human nature and has crystallized with such conviction in his novels in displaying pain, sufferings and unethical conditions of life that probe a threat to mankind. Hence he brings war, deceit, murder, lust, and other amoral actions of man that attributes evil deeds is an innate propensity of a human being .He believes that man is selfish, self-determined and egocentric and that he is morally responsible for his evil desires. Man take up his responsibility if a change in behaviour happens and when he is compelled to see himself. Golding through his settings in the novel concentrates on revealing the dark natures in his characters. The darkness in man’s heart makes man to turn himself away from the moral world and heads towards sin, guilt, hate and violence. Golding clearly emphasizes the contemporary evils that keep challenging the soul of man. Golding in his Hot Gates puts in the moral dilemma’s of man in a clear cut manner " that man’s capacity for greed, his innate cruelty and selfishness was being hidden behind a kind of pair of political pants" (87) . This dilemma is caused by man’s inability to see the world with a system of values and Golding makes it very clear in an interview with Baker and remarks that man is "like a creature in space, tumbling, eternally tumbling, and no up no down ... in the scientific sense" (133). His novels insist on the "the fallen nature of man, and that what stands between him and happiness comes from inside him." (ibid 90) Golding has made an attempt to draw the attention of mankind by communicating his idea on the darkness and fallen nature of man that pose a threat to existence.

Lord of the Flies speaks about a group of boys who land accidently on an uninhabited island where they are in a situation to create a new world of their own choice without the interference of adult human force. Eventually they fail to establish a new order of society because the innate natural impulses of human nature which they inherit from the human race substantially overrule them. The story culminates to disorder and confusion, devastation and ultimately the boys are brought back to "civilization" by force. Golding attempts to point out that the defects of the society are only the historical blunders created by man in the past and it thoroughly relies only on the ethical nature of the human race. Man’s primitive savage instinct from the primitive forebears remains strong and unchanged even when civilization casts a sense of reformation on each person in a long outrun. John S. Whitley finds man in Lord of the Flies as essentially a fallen creature. He points out : "Reacting against the Romantic notion that man is basically noble if freed from the fetter of society, Golding insists that evil is inherent in man; a terrifying force which he must recognize and control" (7). Golding is greatly influenced by the great Greek masters Euripides, Sophocles and Herodotus, where he has learnt to visualize a balance between desire and fate, illusion and reality. Having gathered experiences as a navy officer and a school teacher, Golding depicts the intricate human psychology and lack of human relationship in an age where men actually have little to live for. The so called "civilized" people reveal their selfishness, greed and cruelty and make the innocent and gentle characters – the victim of the debased society.

Civilization does not give refinement and peace or shape the society but in turn it has shaken the world with utter savagery in the form of wars .Pralhad A. Kulkarni In William Golding: A Critical Study comments on the evil in Golding’s boys ‘... Golding’s boys seem to possess evil inherently. They present the original sin. In fact, with Golding’s boys, civilization seems to be back sliding into savagery’ (26). The boys in the Lord of the Flies are taken back to the world where there are no laws, God and rules. This makes them to return to an amorality of childhood where they lose their innocence and become real savages. In The Lord of the Flies Golding has made " an attempt to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature" ( Epstein 189).

The boys not older than twelve want to set an authoritarian regime of their own: "We're on an uninhabited island with no people on it. . . . There aren’t any grown-ups. We shall have to look after ourselves (35)" but they experience disintegration. The society comes into being when Ralph finds the conch and establishes rules "I'll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it while he's speaking. And he won't be interrupted." (48). They call for a general assembly and they follow a simple parliamentary procedure

"Let's have a vote"

"Yes"

"Vote for chief!"

"Let’s vote ..." ( 20)

The boys elect Ralph not on the basis of any reason but on the possession of the conch. Being the oldest boy on the island a gradual struggle prevails between Ralph and Jack after the "toy voting". Ralph is a superior leader by the possession of the conch and is accepted by all except by Jack. He later designates himself as ‘hunters’ and takes the responsibility of lighting the signal fire to facilitate rescue. The beacon fire symbolizes civilization and it becomes the only hope for rescue and creates awe among the littluns. The reversal of leadership and the destruction of the conch cause a state of reversion from civilization to savagery when "the fire was dead" (98 ) and cause the first death on the island. The reversal of anarchy is obvious when Jack gives no importance for the conch:

"Conch Conch" shouted Jack, "we don't need the conch any more. We know who ought to say things. What good did Simon do speaking, or Bill, or Walter? It's time some people knew they've got to keep quiet and leave deciding things to the rest of us" ( 121 )

Golding has portrayed Ralph as a father-like person having concern for the social and ethical issues of the people in the island by providing them with shelter and fire. Jack’s material greed and hankering for power is revealed when he causes destruction and murder. He is interested in hunting and merrymaking and keeps away from the order created by Ralph to satisfy his sensuous pleasure. Jack becomes an externalization of the evil instinctual forces of the unconscious. A gradual struggle prevails between them in organising the principles of the society. Breaking law is a serious offence to Golding. He highlights that the boys are disciplined when they are kept under force at school but once left free on the uninhabited island their brutality is visualized. Jack attains the chieftainship by his ideals through temptation and fear. The children’s instinct for survival monotonously drives them to search for food and arrange shelters but they get drifted to do what they enjoy. Later cruelty is also seen among the other boys when Roger and Maurice shatter the castle of the "littluns" and also a littluns throws sand on his playmate and enjoys the sound of his "crying". Jack’s fascination and dark pleasure for killing a pig is seen when he manages to kill a pig that has been trapped but yet manages to escape, he turns white on his failure in killing the pig. The reason for his failure is his hesitation on seeing the unbearable blood when he descends the knife into the living flesh but later he masters the art of brutal killing:

Jack was on the top of the sow, stabbing downward with his knife. Roger found a lodgement for his point and began to push till he was leaning with his whole weight. The spear moved forward inch by inch and the terrified squealing became a high-pitched scream. Then Jack found the throat and the hot blood spouted over the hands. The sow collapsed under them and they were heavy and fulfilled upon them ( 45 ).

The savage quality in Jack and his crew members abandon the chance to be rescued when the hunters fail to keep up the signal fire and when they break Piggy’s glasses, the only hope for lighting fire ends .When Jack and his crew is rebuked by Ralph for their irresponsibility, things start to change rapidly. Ralph and Jack start to look at each other differently. Their emotions are baffled and they clash repeatedly. Jack’s love for power and his hatred towards Ralph get to an extreme when he throws a spear at him. Jack is not basically very bad , he is man of anger, violence and action and wants to be a leader. To Golding War has taught him not only violence but also the nature of man. The general nature of humanity is showing love and care but men of this age turn out to be more foolish in raping our planet with the hazardous atomic weapon. The children have learnt to use weapons, paint their faces, and create fort as they have witnessed in the World War II.

Learning from the grown- ups from the other world, the boys are prone to sensuous joys of life and lack rational thinking. Virginia Tiger clearly states Golding’s view on the boys "the innocence of the child is a crude fallacy, for homo sapiens has by nature a terrible potentiality for evil. This potentiality cannot be eradicated or controlled by a human political system no matter how respectable" (54). Fear, the sign from the adult world gets cultivated in the minds of the littluns when they talk about the beast and they become crazy and irrational and hence the first murder is caused by fear. Ralph and Piggy are left alone when the boys desert them to participate in the fun and feasting. The first assembly meeting that translates to a ritual dance to celebrate the hunting and sacrificing of the pig turns out to be a savageous ceremony, eventually murdering Simon when he is mistaken for a beast. When the boys talk about the beast and when they do the expedition to find the beast, it is Simon who finds that the beast is merely an illusion. He resists temptation and remains unaffected unlike others. Evil does not affect him and Golding portrays him as possessing God-like qualities where he is visualized as Christ figure As Jesus was met by the Satan, Simon is also threatened by the lord of the flies .Temptation fails to allure them and hence Christ and Simon are murdered by the evil forces. The boys are gripped by the beast within and it transforms them into hideous murderers, killers S.J. Boyd observes the death of Simon as: "A re-enacting the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, Simon’s life and death are an imitation of Christ" (17). Lord of the Flies allegorically refers to Beelzebub which presents the struggle between good and evil. Simon not being afraid of the beast, goes near to examine it. He interprets the world through logic and reality. Simon is not a prey to illusion and this is witnessed when Jack, Ralph and Roger are astonished to see the pilot with the parachute on the mountain top with the flies around his head and he has been mistaken for a beast. Baker in William Golding : A Critical Study leaves a remark that the beast is then identified with man but yet it is to be explored the worst in man.( 13) .Initially when the boys discuss the beast, it is Simon who tells that there may be beast but "it’s only us" (108).When he successfully faces evil and easily faces dark , he proves to others that there is no beast and they have nothing to fear but only themselves. Bufkin remarks that the beast is manmade and it emerges from man’s superstition beliefs and ignorance (55). Arnold Johnston declares that "The Beast is an externalization of the inner darkness in the children’s nature" (10).Simon is very rational and he speaks as an efficient responsible person, defending Piggy when he is accused of not doing any physical labour in arranging the pile of woods. Simon clearly proves that Piggy’s specs have been the major contribution in lighting the fire. Simon’s blend of spirituality and rationality proves his innate goodness. In Golding’s view point Simon "... acts as peacemaker between Jack and Piggy" (Kinkead-Weekes and Gregor 29). Ralph’s fear for the unknown and his lack of spirituality are the causes for his fall. The raid for Piggy’s glasses again proves that the beast resides in the hearts of the boys. Ralph goes to the fort to get back Piggy’s glasses where Jack’s terrific autocracy causes Piggy’s murder. He could not tolerate himself being called as a ‘thief’ and hurls the spear at Ralph with full attention. When Ralph is chased all the boys are literally conscious that they are devoting themselves to murder and human sacrifice.

Ralph’s rational society is disintegrated when he has a clash with Jack’s society. Ralph has ‘no devil like qualities, because he is very optimistic that his father would come to the island for their rescue. He ignores Piggy’s statement "How does your father know we are here?"(12) Ralph’s simple faith and his child like qualities make him weep at the end for the loss of innocence when an army officer comes for rescue. Ralph’s weakness is his fluctuating between good and evil. It is obvious when he reveals Piggy’s nickname and later when he is humiliated he is caught between the two courses of insult and apology. Ralph’s common sense in lighting fire for signalling the cruiser ship and building shelters is a contrast to Jack’s obsession for hunting. Ralph’s inability to control his emotions gradually matures when he witnesses the death of Simon and learns how to accept responsibility and to expiate for the sin that Golding hints as a remedy for keeping the rational society alive and intact. Ralph’s rational society is totally affected and he becomes a pathetic figure when his heroic glamour disappears when he forgets "his wounds, his hunger and thirst and became fear on flying feet" ( 56 ) to save his life. The shelters built are set on fire and this brings in the cruiser ship and Ralph is saved but he cries for the loss of innocence and the darkness of man’s heart (72) .Ralph weeps not only for his life but he also weeps symbolically for humanity. C.B. Cox has pointed out: "... Ralph weeps for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart and the death of his true, wise friend Piggy, he weeps for all the human race" (117) .The island set up on fire indicates that the boys’ glamour towards the island is lost and what is happening in the adult world is done to island where they are. The Edenic garden has been turned into a hell. It is Jack who advocates civilized rules "After all, we're not savages. We're English; and the English are best at everything. So we've got to do the right things" ( 47). He is the one to be against the civilian restraints and turns to be a savage.

World War II has caused a greater impact on the human emotions and hence human feelings and civilization are exposed to the threat of extinction. The island in all Golding’s novels helps them have a self-revelation, which brings out the true nature of man. The boys get to live a life that man had been living since ages exploiting all resources without having intention to think about future. The boys like to get involved in a world of destruction. The group led by Ralph and group led by Jack are rendered as a parody of the society of adults who engage in destroying the other group.

Man’s inevitable fall from grace is exuberantly affected by the blind forces of misleading despot. Golding as a fabulist and a realist has given in The Inheritors the link between knowledge and evil. Cox’s reflection upon The Inheritors in his work The Free Spirit is it "is pessimistic, with innocence and order necessarily corrupted by the evil nature of man" (179). The story revolves around a group of simple innocent Neanderthals where Golding has painted a sympathetic picture on their characters. It is again a clash of two different races with different background and cultures. Technical and physical advancements give a check on the level of morality in the characters of the novel. Golding’s Neanderthals are not evil but they are very curious people. They do not have a home for themselves instead they live in groups. Though they are framed as primitive people the Neanderthals are not cannibals. They do not kill any living thing nor do they revert back to their savage nature. The readers are taken back to a pre-historic period of human race. The Neanderthals live in utter primal innocence without any sense of fear and dread. They live in groups and they have their own rules and regulations. Accidently they are vanquished by supposedly advanced people called Homo- Sapiens .Homo-Sapiens are intelligent but sinful creatures. The world of Homo-Sapiens is different from the world of the Neanderthals, for their world is full of violence, lust, cruelty and superstition. The Homo-Sapiens represent the succeeding generations upto modern times. Homo-Sapiens make progress but it becomes possible on account of this combination of intelligence and sinfulness on the part of modern man. Golding seems to suggest that the defeat of Neanderthals symbolizes the fall of man and realist with the subsequent sin and evil with which man is afflicted. James Gindin points out: "The novel carries the implication that man’s unique power to reason and think carries with it his prosperity towards Pride and Sin and Sin and Guilt, toward these qualities that cause him pin and misery" (147).

The society of Ralph in Lord of the Flies is once again witnessed in the new men society, the bloodshed is envisaged and the whole Neanderthals’ last trace of community is totally destroyed. The Neanderthals’ innocence makes them live a sensuous life that the humans do not experience. The story is narrated through the eyes of Lok the sole survivor in the Tribe, who is at last left alone to die. The Neanderthals are unaware of the treacherous human qualities like greed, guilt, corruption and violence. Once they are affected by it their communal harmony is shattered. They could not realize the society that they are witnessing before them for they are inadvertently scared by the new men . The members are very much attached and concerned, patient and kind. Their close relation is like "a thousand invisible strings" (104). In the eight member tribe Mal is the leader and the eldest man who guides and protects them is dying when he attempts to move a log from the trail. Lok and Fa find some food, a deer that is killed by a ‘cat’. Ha and Nil find fire and wood and Ha is found missing while on the quest of "desperate importance" (76). Lok sets on to find the missing Ha and finally picks up the scent of the new people as he spots the Homo- Sapiens on the island. The new people , the "homo sapines fascinate Lok" (Hynes 20). When he comes to his place he finds Mal, the patriarch is dead and the old woman and Lil is killed and Liku and the baby have been abducted by the new people. In an attempt to save the children Lok and Fa scare the new people and they are unaware that they are ultimately attracted towards the rituals and magic that is performed by the new people. The new people’s rituals hoards horror over horror and it is a severe contrast to the Neanderthals’ offering. A conflict runs on line between the animal nature and the civilized ways of man. Defining man’s nature in terms of fundamental contradictions, Erich Fromm states " Man is the only animal who does not feel at home in nature, who can feel evicted from paradise, the only animal from whom his own existence is a problem that he has to solve and from which he cannot escape" (225). The new people are filled with brutality, lust and selfish motive in everything they do. To cull out the fear they have about the Neanderthals, they try to eradicate them one by one. The Neanderthals approach each other with love but the new people are filled with extroverted emotions: Marlan of Tuami’s lust for Vivani and the other people engaging themselves in lustful subtle games bear a severe contrast to the simple people. The Neanderthals eat honey ,fungi and meat that is killed by other animals but the new people consume with force

The new people arrive to their summer territory and they try to carry their boats over the cliff to bypass the waterfall and before they could reach the cliff the chief draws a totem on the ground and offers a first ritual blood sacrifice and chops the finger of his fellow tribal man. Next they go to an extent of offering Liku a living human sacrifice who does not belong to them in order to propitiate the Neanderthal people. Though the new people are filled with knowledge and civilized thoughts they appear weak and defenceless. Lok and Fa view all the movement of the tribe by sitting on a tree to save Liku and the baby. The readers are introduced to the friendly activity that goes between Liku and Tanakil. Liku is tied by "a long piece of skin" (152) and she is led for a human sacrifice to remove the accumulated fear that the new people have got towards the Neanderthals. The new people dance and drink around the sacrifice masquerading as a stag but they are interrupted by Lok and Fa. The rituals get affected but they fail to save Liku and they could not see the baby. Lok "seized Tanakil by his thin arms and talks to her urgently .Where is Liku! Tell me Where is Liku?" (210). At the sound of Liku’s name, Tanakil begins to struggle and screams as though she has fallen into deep water .When Marlan wants the baby to be sacrificed Vivani "snapped at his hand with her mouth as any woman would" (168). She saves the child to make up for the lost child of hers.

After the failure of the raid Lok is terribly attracted towards the fanciful illusion of the new people. They are introduced to the harmless artefacts of the new people and Lok thinks "I am one of the new people" (204). When he sees liquor "His nose caught the scent of what they drank. It was sweeter and fiercer than the other water , it was like the fire and the fall. It was a bee-water, smelling of honey and wax and decay, it drew toward and repelled, it frightened and excited..."(172).The fancy that Lok experiences after drinking liquor disappears from him "There came a confusion in his head, a darkness; and then he was Lok again, wandering aimlessly by the marshes and the hunger that food would not satisfy was back" ( 195) The effect of this passage takes the readers back to the Eden Garden where Man experienced his first fall by consuming the Forbidden fruit. Lok also experiences it .He feels he has become one like the new people but it is too late to think that he can never be one among them. Fa is more assertive than Lok and she does not have a fascination towards the new people instead she feels that they are more terrific than their own race and she feels "They have gone over us like a hollow log. They are like winter" (198) . Water is a terrific element throughout the novel and is closely associated with death and Fa undoubtedly compares the new people to Water. Lok views the spears , bow and arrow with great bewilderment and feels that the new people are superior to them. Fa is clear about the idea that the new people are frightened but terrific and she thus comments "Oa did not bring them out of her belly" (172). The new people fear the Neanderthals and they try to keep them away. They are not aware that the new people’s fear would doom them to extinction.

The Neanderthals have a very good sense of viewing things through pictures in their mind. Despite possessing this awesome physical insight they lack intellectual insight and they fail to view their extermination at the end. The new people are intelligent but they are evil. H.M Williams observes:

In theological language, the New Man represents Fallen Man, and the long dreadful road to the twentieth centuary, to concentration camps and atom bombs, is shown to start from the arrival of the intelligent and sinful creatures, our ancestors and brothers (25).

Lok is unaware of it and when he sits on the tree spying for the children, he drinks liquor and gaze at the crowd. He knows that Liku and the baby are the left out strings that he needs to save for "the strings were not the ornament of life but their substance. If they broke, a man would die…." ( 76).

Golding in Lord of the Flies and The Inheritors point out clearly that man’s innocence is not a hope for continuity. If it prevails it is destroyed by the animal within him. Lok’s innocence can be seen when he could not understand why the arrow is coming towards him. He has not seen it, and does not know what it is used for "A stick rose upright and there was a lump of bone in the middle ... Suddenly Lok understood that the man was holding the stick out to him but neither he nor Lok could reach across the river"(88). Neanderthals are not exposed to rivalry or greediness and the homo- sapiens are rich in "skill and malice". Marlan the chief abducts the wife of another man, Tuami’s lust for Vivani , Tuami sharpens the ivory knife to kill the chief, all these demonstrate the evil inherent in them. The sacrifice they give in their tribe again reminds us of the reincarnation of evil in Jack where as the inheritors try to placate them. The religion of the New people " is a death religion which gives man the power to impose his will on nature , at the cost of blood sacrifice" (Kinkead Weekes, Mark, and Ian Gregor 98) .They feel that they are demonized and the sacrifice would rejuvenate them. The fury of the new people arises when Lok and Fa create a log jam in the river to make it tough for the Neanderthals to pass through it. Lok and Fa are chased and in this outfit Fa is washed by a pine log in the river and Lok the last survivor is left to die alone. He cries and his eyes are full of tears and his emotion envisages his inability to save the last remnant of his race with his little knowledge of the new people. Finally evil and knowledge triumphs and innocence is doomed.

The Homo-Sapiens and the Neanderthals have a problem of understanding each other’s situation rightly. Tuami questions "What have we done?" (228) when the Neanderthals come to the camp in search of their stolen children. The Homo- Sapiens misunderstand that they have come to harm them and are unaware that they have come for the rescue of the stolen children. Hence they become victims of murder and guilt. The Neanderthals are unable to understand the motif of this selfish violence and deceit that has caused a great destruction of their race. Each time when Lok meets the new people he tries to be friendly with them even after when a poisoned arrow is thrown at him. He feels sorry for them but he is rebuffed each time when he enquires about the children. The quality that the Neanderthals possess is non transferable and it is an ironic presentation of the Homo- Sapiens. Violence and War is the major concept that runs along the line in every Golding’s novel. The Neanderthals do not offer blood sacrifice nor do they drink the blood of the live people in the name of sacred rituals, nor do they fear the goddess Oa but the Homo- Sapiens offer and eat the flesh of the dead devouring all the basic human morality. Hunting is a crime and blood drained food is only consumed by them. People are trapped within their own instincts and are unable to display what is good or bad for them. When unable to represent the rationalistic ideas it tends to destroy his innocence and brings out the darkness of his heart. The choice of taking decisions is given by God to man and beholding it at right time brings victory. The Neanderthals and the new people both take decisions in retrieving and abducting the children. The power lies in their own hand and the plan fails because of fear. Fear is evil for when it enters the mind of man it corrupts the morality and violence emerges for survival. It is confirmed by the words of Tuami when he comments on the slaughters of the Neanderthals "If we had not we should have died" (228). This cruel gesture of the Homo- Sapiens thinking that they are fleeing from evil leads to the extermination of the whole race.

The structuring energy of the society lies beneath the dread of sacrifice that ultimately brings in death. Golding comments on the spiritual blindness, pride and deceit that the entire human race possess. He examines it through the eyes of the new people. They are attacked because of the ignorance they have towards civilization. Evil demolishes them from without, as the effect of man's invasion of their easy lives; it does not devastate them from within. The evil capacities of man remind us of the murder of Liku. This is the savagery that man has hidden in his heart underneath his modern appearance. The new men are a contrast to the Neanderthals genuine nature filled with love and compassion. Evil cannot resist it and it has become irrational in devastating the entire system. The Inheritors is again a clash of two races. It is a communal clash that is dominated by religious violence. The argument of Tuami brings in the question that Golding tries to tell to the readers "Who would sharpen a point against the darkness of the world?" ( 231 ). Evil destroys the innocence of man. The intellectual mind of man does not bring in light and bring in peace. Darkness prevails within the heart of man and it does not allow innocence to exist within himself. Evil in man attempts to eradicate the innocence that God has given to him. Adam’s innocence was destroyed when he ate the evil fruit. When Neanderthals innocence is destroyed the entire race is exterminated which brings a gallons of tears in the eyes of the readers.

Pincher Martin, the most extravagant of Golding’s novels depicts the realistic indomitable struggle of survival of Lt. Christopher Martin awaiting rescue when his ship is torpedoed in Atlantic during the Second World War. To Peter John, Pincher Martin is essentially " a story of a dead man"( 589). Pincher kicks off his sea boots in the first chapter to stay away from drowning and shortly he tears apart his lifebelt but toward the end of the novel; it is made clear that he has drowned after he has inflated his life belt. It is Pincher’s exploration of his whole past at the moment of his death. As the novel subtitles The Two Deaths of Christopher Martin in an ominiscient view makes the second death of Christopher Martin real. Hynes relatively points out "Golding has used the man against the sea convention just as he used the desert island convention in Lord of the Flies to provide a system of expectations against which to construct a personal and different version of the shape of the things" (26)

After Pincher’s ship get torpedoed he manages to reach a barren rock and fights for his survival on a small island Rockall. Pincher Martin keeps himself alive for six days and in the course of time he retraces his past, at the end of which he is caught in a violent storm and perishes. His recollections reveal to us his moral struggle. It deals with the physical suffering of man fighting against death in the middle of the Atlantic. Pincher Martin denounces God and he accepts the tortures on the rock. He is face to face with the image of death which triggers in him introspective memory of his sinful life, dwindling into a sort of delirium. Pincher Martin’s life as delineated by Golding in the novel is full of terror and decadence. Pincher refuses to die at the moment and he has clung to a rock and undergoes a series of metaphysical suffering. A series of flashbacks shows Pincher to be greedy, lecherous and selfish. Pincher is selfish as the new people in The Inheritors and they follow rules out of fear and cowardice and they forgo with their desires even risking punishments.

Man is created in the form of God and he has been given every privilege to act according to the will of God. The choice to choose between good and evil determines his accurate nature. Pincher gives importance for his own life. Pincher Martin creates his own world on the rock where he is struggling hard against the odds in his life. S.J.Boyd observes:

The rock is the world Chris created or chose or Willed his own will being ‘ like a monolith’(163) there is only the self and the desires which torture that self, a world devoid of satisfaction, fulfilment, peace or love a world where God is rejected and crucified for sin; that world is Chris life in microcosm and it is hell. (55)

He centres everything in regard with his own life and all the other living beings are mere "things" to him. He does not give importance to meaningful human interrelationships for he is proud, arrogant, vile and savage when dealing with his friends. He used his relationships as limpets to climb as a safety rock to extend his ambition. His zero belief in God and his disbelief in purgatory encouraged his existence in vile and he clings to it against the arguments of heaven. He clings to the bad deeds as he clings to the rock and he neglects to have the purgation of self. He refuses to die when the moment arrives and he undergoes a traumatic metaphysical suffering. The incidents that happen in the Atlantic are not real for it is Martin’s ravenous ego that makes him invent a rock and endure during his last time ( outsources). It is Martin’s sub conscious that brings in the forgotten memories of the past that frequently crops up his ego now and then. A flood of connected images came back (9) and he became conscious "he knew who he was and where he was"(10). Unaware he is dead he keeps busy netting down his survival technique by materializing the world he inhabits: