Creepers in William Golding’s novel The Lord of the Flies refer to the vines and low-growing plants found on the island where the boys are stranded. These natural features symbolize the wildness and untamed aspects of nature that are prevalent throughout the story.
The term ‘creepers’ evokes a sense of something that grows in darkness or creeps up insidiously, much like the savagery that slowly overtakes the boys. As the narrative unfolds, the boys’ initial sense of order and civilization begins to deteriorate, and the island transforms from a paradise into a chaotic battleground. The creepers, representing the primal instincts of the boys, thus become a metaphor for the inherent darkness within humanity and the loss of innocence.
Golding uses these natural elements to illustrate how easily civilization can crumble and to highlight the contrasting beauty and danger of the natural world. The creepers serve as a reminder of the ever-present pull of nature’s more feral instincts that lie beneath the surface of human behavior.