The very unhappy ending of Lord of the Flies William Golding's Lord of the Flies really does have a happy ending in the literal sense. The boys are saved when their insane cruelty reaches its peak by the loving, caring and mature outside world. On the other hand, from whom and what are the boys saved? Symbolically the “happy ending” is exactly the opposite. Far from sacrificing artistic excellence, Golding's ending confirms the author's powerful symbolism. Readers are largely familiar with male society and where it is headed long before the “rescue.” Ralph will be killed and will remain a perpetual gift to the "beast". The boys' xenophobic view of the beast is ironically unfounded because the beast emerges from within the boys: they themselves are the dangerous and frightening monsters that everyone must fear, and they kill the first person who suggests it (Simon). While the paratrooper may symbolize the archetypal fall of civilization, he is only a "beast" insofar as civilization is to be feared. (The boys' fear of the beast could therefore be well founded, but only symbolically). As the action progresses, readers see no signs of a deviation from the boys' self-destructive path. Just before "rescuing" the boys, they expect the boys to die from the fire (which actually ends up saving Ralph), a tragedy of the commons, or an internal war. Golding could have dragged the book out to its intended bloody end, or he could have changed course. The surprise course of action becomes Golding's central theme. Golding's theme is not just about the obvious evils of male society; includes the idea that kids are a microcosm of society. While readers may be able to ascertain its theme immediately before the ending, the connection to the... middle of the paper... is at a loss for words, but the officer treats the boys as if they were playing a game in the garden. “Really good show, like Coral Island,” he observes, followed by the question: “You're all English, right?” (184). The officer thinks that the boys have formed an enlightened and orderly society like in the novel Coral Island, but he does not realize that even the English, "the best in everything", can fall into the trap of a brutal war (40 ). The officer destroys stereotypes of readers who see themselves as superior to war because it shows that war is a virus that can infect everyone. In short, Golding's ending is as symbolic as it is unfortunate. The ironic rescue transcends the remote island to influence readers, especially British ones, to recognize their evil potential. The naval officer points out how far the boys have fallen and why their "rescue" wasn't all that happy.