In the novel Lord of the Flies, the beastie is a symbol of the primal instinct of savagery that exists within all human beings. At first, the beastie represents fear of the unknown, and the boys are afraid of it. The younger boys are still afraid of the dark, and being stranded on a desert island certainly invites more fear. The beastie physically manifests as a pig, and the boys discuss the possibility of its actual existence. However, as the boys grow more savage, their belief in the beastie grows stronger. By the end of the novel, the boys are leaving it sacrifices and treating it as a totemic god. The Lord of the Flies, which is the bloody, severed sow’s head that Jack impales on a stake in the forest glade as an offering to the beast, becomes both a physical manifestation of the beast and a symbol of the power of evil. The boys’ behavior is what brings the beastie into existence, so the more savagely the boys act, the more real the beastie seems to become. Ultimately, the beastie symbolizes the dark side of human nature, something that no physical wall or weapon can defeat.