In viewing the various aspects of the island society in Golding's Lord of the Flies as a symbolic microcosm of society, a converse perspective must also be considered. Golding's island of marooned youngsters then becomes a macrocosm, wherein the island represents the individual human and the various characters and symbols the elements of the human psyche. As such, Golding's world of children's morals and actions then becomes a survey of the human condition, both individually …showed first 75 words of 1877 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1877 total…the book, reminiscent of Poe, Golding comments sourly even on ostensibly virtuous human faculties such as righteousness and practicality. He portrays even the protagonists with a humanly flawed skew; Piggy is weak and whining, Ralph is ineffectual. In their flaws and Jack's cursory attempts at virtue, Golding creates a balanced image of the person, where no faculty is fully good or fully evil, but capable of being used to commit acts of either or both.