Comparing Lord Of The Flies And The Lowest Animal, By William Golding

The satirical writings, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the essay “The Lowest Animal”, by Mark Twain and, “The Sandbox: Bully for You-Why Push Comes to Shove” by Natalie Angier, all show us what humankind can become when they are put in situations where your main goal is survival.

Roger, in Lord of the Flies,was underestimated as someone sweet and kind, turned out to be horrific. He is described as a sadist, which is someone who loves inflicting pain, in the beginning and throughout the book. “There was a slight, furtive boy whom no one knew, who kept to himself with an inner intensity of avoidance and secrecy.” (Lord of The Flies 21,22). Roger had suggested a vote among the group of boys, for who would be chief. But he had always had a knack for being sadistic to people and this was played out in the book. At the beginning, it started out as something small when he throws small rocks and pebbles at Henry, just to tease. But ever so slowly as the group began to start losing their innocence, he purposely pushed a boulder that killed Piggy, something that we are all capable to do. We all are savages to some point and it all just depends on how we deal with it and how much we let out.

We might see ourselves as totally different than those around us.

Like, “I would never do something as bad as that person.” Well that’s not true, humanity has a primitive nature and the ability to turn to savagery. We can see that being played out in the story, Lord of The Flies by William Golding. The boys who lived on an an uninhabited island with no parental supervision,relied on themselves for survival and had to fend for themselves, which can resort into doing things that they wouldn’t have imagined they would do, until they were forced to

act.

Ralph, who was the chief of the group, struggled throughout the whole book with maintaining his civility but he then became what he was trying to prevent from the boys to become, a total savage, when he killed Simon. Ralph was someone who had tried to keep the boys as civilized as possible on an uninhabited island. He had kept pushing through all the savagery that everyone else was involved in, and tried to keep from losing his mind. Even those who are trying to maintain the society civil, can become immune to what is going on around them and involve themselves in the savagery.

We can sometimes underestimate and believe that someone who is a savage, is someone who is cruel and nobody likes. It is true they can be cruel and unlikable. It is true, they can be cruel but they are more than likely a likable person. “But as researchers lately have discovered, many bullies in fact are quite popular. Another point worth noting, said Dr. Olson, is that the old stereotype of the bully as an antisocial and unpopular misfit is false.” (“The Sandbox: Bully for You-Why Push Comes to Shove”). And there likable because those who praise him are trying to keep from being bullied themselves. In Lord of the Flies, fear is used by Jack to stay in power. Humans can use fear to control others or stay in power as we see in both of these writings.

Conclusion
Through all that I have discussed here, humankind can be underestimated as sweet and kind but when they are put on an “uninhabited island”, (put in a bad situation), all care for innocency can be lost. We see in the U.S. that we welcomed all who wanted to live the “American dream", and now, we are deciding to build up walls and keep refugees from entering our gates. We have let fear and the love for power to corrupt us into something that we now look down upon.