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Analysis of Williams Golding's Lord of the Flies
Summary of Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Analysis of Williams Golding's Lord of the Flies
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Recommended: Analysis of Williams Golding's Lord of the Flies
The story of man
Our hands stained with the tears of our brethren.We tread on a path that we claim is righteousness.We become blind fooled by our own thoughts. We hide in our land smothered in fantasy of success, becoming what is desired by our own selves. As some cloud their thoughts while others remain clear but are still drenched by the sin of man. This path of success has left a shell of those it has consumed their shadows left to take their place. In the text “Lord of the flies” by William Golding and “Over Simplification”by Steve Taylor they indicate that humans have the potential to commit evil acts but are not born with a strong will to fully commit to evil itself.When a person commits a horrendous act it all stems from what they were exposed to and how this impacted their mental state and their morals as they continue to grow.
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man also has the potential to be just.Those who lead vainly take part in the quest to demolish any sense of purity. Hitler,Francisco Franco,Stanley Milgram,and Ted Bundy.Iconic criminals and dictators share an uncanny amount of determination to cause suffering to other people. In an article released by Steve Taylor he stated that“It's a dangerous oversimplification to believe that some people are Innately good while others are innately bad”(TAYLOR1) By placing people into two categories we leave out the gray area in between.The human mind is more dynamic than merely “good” and “bad”. When we ignore what lead to the criminal to make those decisions,we are left with a narrow depiction of what people are capable of
Mankind is innately evil. The allegorical novel, The Lord of the Flies, allows for little interpretation about human nature. William Golding depicts the idea, “evil is an inborn trait of man” (Golding). Throughout the novel the children who have crash landed on the island begin to uncover their savage nature. Although all of the children somehow succumb to a heinous behaviour, Jack, Ralph, and Roger become most noticeably corrupt. Ultimately, it becomes clear that malicious intent is intrinsic in mankind.
In January 2002 James Waller released the first edition of the book “Becoming Evil – How Ordinary People Commit Genocide and Mass Killings.” Dr. James Waller is a professor at Keene State College in New Hampshire and is home to one of the nation’s oldest Holocaust resource centers, the Cohen Center for Genocide and Holocaust Studies. Becoming Evil uncovers the historical and modern day reasons to why people do evil and attempts to debunk common explanations for genocide and mass killings. Some of Waller’s other notable works include “Prejudice across America” and “Face to Face: The Changing State of Racism Across America.” Waller takes and in depth look at the societal, psychopathological and cultural reasons that would make a good person commit such heinous acts of evil. “What culture, society, or nation, what ideology, historical prejudice, or ethnic hatred, what psychological profile or cluster of personality traits, what unusual situation or special circumstance is to be deemed the cause of such aberrant human behavior?” (Browning/Waller) Why do humans commit genocide and mass killings?
An example of this is a man and his wife are arguing; he becomes enraged and murders his wife in the heat of the disagreement. This man has a clean record; he has never committed a murder or crime of any kind before “Statistical trends would project that he won’t murder again” (Samenow 2). This man is not a “monster,” psychopath, or a freak of nature; he is a normal person who reacts in an entirely wrong way to a hostile and stressful situation. He knew what he was doing was wrong, but he rationalized the crime with his emotions and feelings rather than his morals. The “Evil is in all of us, really, but it’s how it’s expressed” that separates criminals and law abiding citizens (Prattini).
Every 60 seconds a person is murdered in the U.S. Yearly there are over 12,000 gun deaths in the United States. The amount of violence in our country is a result of how cruel people can be to each other and the lack of humanity we have as human beings. In the book Lord of the Flies by William Golding there are British boys that were on their way home but they crashed and now have to endure through the challenges the island they are on gives them. The book is representing humanity’s inner nature and shows the reader how different human actions are when bad things happen. A philosopher named John Locke believed that people are born with a blank slate and something bad must happen first in order for someone to be evil. Human nature is usually good but things can always change. The nature of humanity is inherently good because something must happen in order for people to be evil. If you were friends with somebody, something must happen between you two in order for you to hate them.
When viewing the atrocities of today's world on television, the starving children, the wars, the injustices, one cannot help but think that evil is rampant in this day and age. However, people in society must be aware that evil is not an external force embodied in a society but resides within each person. Man has both good qualities and faults. He must come to control these faults in order to be a good person. In the novel Lord of the Flies, William Golding deals with this same evil which exists in all of his characters. With his mastery of such literary tools as structure, syntax, diction and imagery, The author creates a cheerless, sardonic tone to convey his own views of the nature of man and man’s role within society.
It is the contention of this paper that humans are born neutral, and if we are raised to be good, we will mature into good human beings. Once the element of evil is introduced into our minds, through socialization and the media, we then have the potential to do bad things. As a person grows up, they are ideally taught to be good and to do good things, but it is possible that the concept of evil can be presented to us. When this happens, we subconsciously choose whether or not to accept this evil. This is where the theories of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke become interesting as both men differed in the way they believed human nature to be.
“Everybody has good and evil within them. All we're trying to say is that people are not all good or all bad. People are more complicated than you think, and one has to be more knowledgeable about the complexities.” This quotation from Stephen Schwartz establishes that even the best of people can be bitter by their own nature. In the novel, Lord of the Flies, William Golding removes the restraints of society to prove that it is human nature to live primitively and that evil lies within all of us. The sanctions of society begin to deteriorate due to the loss of communication, Jack’s obsession with hunting, and the inhumane nature of Jack and his “tribe”.
When anyone thinks of the word “evil” they do not think it is within themselves. In reality, without a structured and well-followed society, people are apt to follow their own corrupt desires and neglect the thought of consequence. In the allegory, Lord of the Flies, William Golding reveals that man’s selfishness and sinful nature will be unmasked when the structure of a society deteriorates.
The issue on whether man is good or evil has been debated over several generations. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, a group of young boys are stranded on an uninhabited island. In the beginning, the boys have fun and are carefree while adventuring on the island. With no adults around to tell them how to behave, the boys declare war on one another and face several conflicts. These conflicts provide Golding with the opportunity to explore the idea that society restrains the evil intentions of human nature.
There are two types of people in this world, good and evil. Some people think that evil comes to us from the surrounding society, others believe it is inside us and we are born with it. William Golding in the novel Lord of the Flies believes that all people are born with evil inside which needs to be restrained by a civilized society. In the novel, there is a stark contrast between the two societies set up by Ralph and Jack. Ralph is restrained by a civilized society, yet Jack is not restrained so his evil comes out at a faster rate. This shows through the personalities and the roles of each leader, in the different qualities in the second in command, Piggy and Roger. Most of all it is noticeable in Jack’s and Ralph’s values.
This paper will explore the three elements of innate evil within William Golding's, Lord of the Flies, the change from civilization to savagery, the beast, and the battle on the island. Golding represents evil through his character's, their actions, and symbolism. The island becomes the biggest representation of evil because it's where the entire novel takes place. The change from civilization to savagery is another representation of how easily people can change from good to evil under unusual circumstances. Golding also explores the evil within all humans though the beast, because it's their only chance for survival and survival instinct takes over. In doing so, this paper will prove that Lord of the Flies exemplifies the innate evil that exists within all humans.
Man’s inhumanity to man literally means human’s cruelty towards other humans. This is a major theme of the story and is seen throughout it. Golding himself even states that “man produces evil as a bee produces honey.” A review of the book states how Golding portrays this “because the boys are suffering from the terrible disease of being human.” Piggy, Ralph, and Simon are the “rational good of mankind” portrayed in the book, and Jack and his hunters are the “evil savagery of mankind.” “The beast” is a symbol for the evil in all humans, and Simon and Piggy, or rationality, are almost helpless in his presence. Simon, though, in a book filled with evil, is a symbol of vision and salvation. He is the one to see the evil as it truly exists, in the hearts of all humanity. When he tries to tell the others of this truth, however, he is killed, much like Christ was trying to bring salvation to the ignorant. Simon being there gives us hope; the truth is available to those who seek it. In the book, Jack and his hunters become so evil that they end up killing two boys while on the island. Man’s tendencies towards evil in The Lord of the Flies are also compared to the book of Genesis in the Bible. Nature, beauty, and childhood can all be corrupted by the darkness within humankind. The ending of this truly dark and evil story tells readers how Golding feels about evil within society and where he thinks humanity is headed. Evil will triumph over the intellect and good, unless some force intercedes. In th...
Zimbardo, P. G. (2004). A Situationist Perspective on the Psychology of Evil: Understanding how good people are transformed into perptrators. In A. G. Miller (Ed.), The Social Psychology of Good and Evil (pp.21-50). New York: Guilford press.
Human beings are clever creatures. This is proven in everyday life, but they also have a horrible side. People aren’t necessarily evil by choice, but rather are, whether they want to be or not. Certain traits can cause this change in other people. Without these traits, humans wouldn’t be as bad as they are now, but because these traits do exist, humans behave without truly thinking of the long-term effects, or of the affect they have on other people’s lives.
However, humans are naturally inconsiderate beings. For humans, majority rule leads to tyranny; popular sovereignty puts power in the hands of naturally cruel people; and rule of law cannot be applied because people will inevitably become corrupt. Society’s ideas of individuality are skewed toward a happy ending. In truth, individualists too much place value on the opinions of selfish, corrupt humans. Kindness and consideration is only a society-imposed trait. Eventually even society’s best conditioned people fall to their savage instincts. It is impossible to tame the savage beast within. Humans will never create a true