Beneath the Edenic surface of the island lies a series of darker realities. Left to their own devices, the boys form a loose democracy. However, their democracy is more a game than a real, functional government. Beneath the veneer of cooperation and shared purpose lies the irreverent turmoil of a group of boys who view voting as a “toy” and who elect Ralph as chief largely on impulse. Beneath the façade of camaraderie and fun lurk resentment, fear, and the inescapable darkness of the human heart. 

Face paint represents a clear alteration of appearance, but how that alteration in appearance relates to the boy's reality is more complicated. By one reading, the boys obscure their fear and immaturity by playing savage. As soon as the naval officer arrives, the boys are reduced to dirty, crying “little boys” once again. By another reading, they are reconciling their schoolboy appearances with their savage realities, embracing the darkness that Golding identifies at the heart of all humans. Similarly, the crisply uniformed adults are portrayed as harbingers of salvation, reason, and civilization. However, the truth is that the adults are embroiled in a violent war of their own. The ship that has come to rescue the boys is only transporting them into a war zone of a different kind. 

The phenomenon of the beast expresses the gap between appearances and reality. The beast takes on different forms, and only Simon is able to recognize its true form: the boys themselves. Rather than recognizing the reality that their own violent impulses are to blame for the destruction on the island, the boys externalize their guilt and fear in the form of a terrifying monster. Jack and his tribe’s delusions are so strong that they deny murdering Simon, insisting instead that the boy they killed was the beast in disguise. The dead parachutist serves as a symbolic reminder that the beast is inescapable, lurking both on the island and in the civilized world beyond it.