The concept that George RR Martin is talking about is a very similar concept to that of Lord of the Flies, a novel by William Golding. The novel tells how a group of young English boys find themselves stranded on a desert island after their plane is shot down and try to find a way to survive until they are rescued. Golding demonstrates how humans, when free from the rules of society, allow their capacity for evil to dominate their existence, through the use of symbols such as the pig's head, the beast, and clay masks. One of the most important symbols in Lord of the Flies is the pig's head. The pig's head is described by Golding as "dark-eyed, smiling slightly, blood blackening between the teeth" and is covered with a "black drop of flies". (pp. 137-138). Golding uses the pig's head to personify the evil that reigns among the boys. This is mainly seen when Simon has a conversation with the pig in his own consciousness and imagines the pig saying, “Imagine that the beast was something. you could hunt and kill! Oh, you knew that, didn't you? Am I part of you?" (p. 143). After Simon wakes up and sees that what the boys thought was a beast is actually the corpse of an aviator in a parachute, he attempts to talk to the boys of his new discovery Although, upon his arrival, the boys attack him and bludgeon him to death. This shows how, once the boys begin to exist without the rules of society, they allow evil to control and. to dominate their actions and become savages. Another of the symbols used to present the theme of the novel is the beast. The boys believed that the beast was an external source of evil, although in reality it represents evil. present in them, which makes life on the island worse even before...... middle of paper ... allowing evil to dominate them when they break free from the rules of society. novel, Golding uses many different objects as symbols to illustrate this theme of the pig's head, which insinuates how much evil really is inside the boys. The second symbol was the beast, which actually represents internal evil away from society, rather than an external source of evil such as the beast. The last symbol is the clay mask, which transforms hunters into completely different people who behave like bloodthirsty savages. Through the novel, Golding showed a truly astonishing insight into human nature. Ultimately, human beings crave power and will stop at nothing to be so. And the most surprising thing is that even children are not safe from harm. Works Cited Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. New York: Berkley Publishing Group, 1954.