Jason Kramer Mr. McCarthy and Miss Foresman Honors English 10 7 February 2024 Lord of the Flies: The Necessity of Social Contracts on Societal Order. Invisible boundaries structure society and keep the community in order. When these invisible restraints are lifted, society is bound to collapse, as demonstrated in Lord of the Flies. William Golding, a World War 2 veteran, has seen at first hand the inherent savagery within humans in times of war where order is dissolved. Due to Golding’s past experiences, he knows personally the result of the social contract being lifted, and the horrid outcomes that come of it. The social contract is extremely fragile, as demonstrated by the conch shell shattered, representing a collapse in societal order. The contract conducts society as seen with the boys …show more content…
Literary critic Ryan Neighbors in his text “Cruelty in Lord of the Flies” discusses how corruption “ seems to be the central point of the story—cruelty is a basic aspect of human nature. The island does not make the boys barbaric. They are naturally that way. The island only provides an environment, away from societal norms and values, for its true nature to manifest itself. That is why the descent into cruelty progresses as it does in the novel. It takes time for the societal values to wear away, leaving behind the boys' true selves, ending with terrible consequences.” Neighbors discusses how the true nature within humans surfaces as societal values disintegrate. As time passes on the island, the corruption within the group becomes more apparent as the kids slowly transition into savages. Golding’s depiction of the boys’ change into savagery shows how anyone can be influenced by corruption, proving that humans are savage by nature. Violence is inevitable when the social contract no longer exists due to the inherent savagery
the novel, Lord Of The Flies by William Golding, the idea of cruelty is shown through many brutal actions that the characters find pleasurable.
In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, he portrays the theme of innocence to evil to prove that everybody has the potential to release the savagery within them. The boys lose their sense of control from their beginnings on the island, to the breakdown of their society, to the tragedies that unfolded their civilization. A final thought on why it gets as chaotic as it does is that they had no grownups around them to keep order safe and sane, and to protect them. Also every single argument they had never got resolved which makes matters much worse. William Golding uses the murders of all the pigs, Simon and Piggy to show how different the boys have become since they landed on the island. A few words to describe the boys throughout their progression on the island is either savages or barbaric.
Humans, by nature, are genuinely good people who show compassion and concern for others, right? Well true, if we all lived in a utopian land. Unfortunately, humans are, in fact, evil and easily corrupted by others. In William Golding’s 1954 published Lord of the Flies, the boy’s on the island learn that a peaceful civilization is easily destroyed without cooperation or agreement. The frustration manifested itself, making a transformation of the boys into meat hungry, hunters, who even try to hunt the other boys who don’t follow the pack. Golding analyzes the flaws of human society, directly related to human nature.
Throughout the novel several different characters are introduced to the reader, such as Ralph, Jack, Simon and Piggy. With all these characters presented to the reader, one can get to see into their minds-eye, which allows the reader to analyze their character. In this case one could examine their basic morals and distinguish between the person’s natural instinct to rely on civilization or savagery to solve their problems. The author of the novel, William Golding, had a “first-hand experience of battle line action during World War II” which caused him to realize, “[that] The war alone was not what appalled him, but what he had learnt of the natural - and original- sinfulness of mankind did. It was the evil seen daily as commonplace and repeated by events it was possible to read in any newspaper which, he asserted, were the matter of Lord of the Flies” (Foster, 7-10). This being said by Golding leads one to the central problem in the novel the Lord of the Flies, which can be regarded as the distinction between civility and savagery. This can be seen through the characters that are presented in the novel, and how these boys go from a disciplined lifestyle, to now having to adapt to an unstructured and barbaric one in the jungle.
Evil is an inescapable consequence of human nature, and in the correct setting, this intrinsic evil of humanity will emerge. In Lord of the Flies, the island acts as a microcosm presenting the real world, yet it is left uncharted to creating a bare environment away from the destructive nature of humanity. The novel explores the notion in which man destroys every beautiful environment they settle in, and that when in a bare setting, free of social construct, the evil and primal urges would surface. When the boys first arrive on the island, Golding paints it to be beautiful and not yet spoiled by man, highlighted in the use of personification in ‘the palm-fronds would whisper, so that spots of blurred sunlight slid over their bodies’ which creates
William Golding’s novel ‘The Lord of The Flies’ tells the story of a group of English boys isolated on a desert island, left to attempt to retain civilisation. In the novel, Golding shows one of the boys, Jack, to change significantly. At the beginning of the book, Jack’s character desires power and although he does not immediately get it, he retains the values of civilized behaviour. However, as the story proceeds, his character becomes more savage, leaving behind the values of society. Jack uses fear of the beast to control the other boys and he changes to become the book’s representation of savagery, violence and domination. He is first taken over with an obsession to hunt, which leads to a change in his physical appearance This change of character is significant as he leads the other boys into savagery, representing Golding’s views of there being a bad and unforgiving nature to every human.
Can savagery drive someone to murder? The book Lord of the Flies by William Golding displays this situation. A group of children containing only males are trapped on an island and many turn towards savagery after being isolated. Jack is the main leader of the savage children while Ralph is still humane and civilized and is trying to restore order. The boys were driven towards savagery but still had the right and conscious mind to make a reasonable choice not to commit murder.
In William Golding's Lord of The Flies, the boys try to maintain civility, but nature pulls them into savagery. Nature always seems to pull man in, even when man tries to fight it; the boys give in by hunting, fighting, and doing whatever they please. All of this is because there is no authority in nature. The boys try to maintain civilization on the island, but nature is gradually luring them in and revealing their true human instincts.
Imagine flying on a plane and crash landing on an unknown island with a select group of people. How would humans deal as a result of this horrific situation? Is cruelty and violence the only solution when it comes down to it? In Lord of the Flies, William Golding explores the relationship between children in a similar conflict and shows how savagery takes over civilization. Lord of the Flies proves to show that the natural human instincts of cruelty and savagery will take over instead of logic and reasoning. William shows how Jack, the perpetrator in the book, uses cruelty and fear for social and political gain to ultimately take over, while on the other hand shows how Ralph falters and loses power without using cruelty and fear. In Lord of
In Lord of the Flies, William Golding expresses the idea that humans are naturally immoral, and that people are moral only because of the pressures of civilization. He does this by writing about a group of boys, and their story of survival on an island. The civilized society they form quickly deteriorates into a savage tribe, showing that away from civilization and adults, the boys quickly deteriorate into the state man was millions of years ago. This tendency is shown most in Jack, who has an animalistic love of power, and Roger, who loves to kill for pleasure. Even the most civilized boys, Ralph and Piggy, show that they have a savage side too as they watch Simon get murdered without trying to save him. Simon, the only one who seems to have a truly good spirit, is killed, symbolizing how rare truly good people are, and how quickly those personalities become corrupted.
Cruelty in The Lord of the Flies and Of Mice and Men. & nbsp; "Man's inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn." Robert Burns - "The 'Burns'" Man's inhumanity to man is clearly demonstrated in William Golding's work, The Lord of the Flies, as well as John Steinbeck's novel, Of Mice and Men. & nbsp; In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck there are many events in the plot of the story that occur that prove that when man is cruel to man, some peoples lives are negatively affected. One instance where this is proven true is when the men on the ranch and Curley's wife are cruel and discriminative against Crooks, causing him to be the one to mourn.
All around mankind's history, it has been seen of both civilized and uncivilized humans,from the day a human is born one is hardwired with specific personality traits.Traits both good and bad and traits that may have been influenced or personally derived. But,either good or bad humans have the capacity to perform whichever .This concept is seen in William Golding’s piece of Lord of the flies in which provides a clear and justified understanding of how human’s conduct.The novel delineates a story of a group of young english boys during a war,who are on an unlivable island with just themselves and no authority.William Golding reveals that when humans are removed from authority man's evil instincts are revealed thus causing civility to fall.This message is exemplified by the boys who demoralize aspects of human nature beyond civilized humans as they are put in a society where there are no rules nor civility set.
Cruelty can ruin people and destroy their morals and humanity. In the novel, Lord of the Flies, written by William Golding, British schoolboys begin to become savages after they have inhabited an island without adults, rules, or order. They regress from being proper boys into inhuman savages all because they don’t have any rules to keep them in order. The novel proves that everybody needs rules, order, and intelligence because it is easy to lose one’s humanity and become cruel and evil without those three things.
William Golding's first book, Lord of the Flies, is the story of a group of boys of different backgrounds who are marooned on an unknown island when their plane crashes. As the boys try to organize and formulate a plan to get rescued, they begin to separate and as a result of the dissension a band of savage tribal hunters is formed. Eventually the "stranded boys in Lord of the Flies almost entirely shake off civilized behavior: (Riley 1: 119). When the confusion finally leads to a manhunt [for Ralph], the reader realizes that despite the strong sense of British character and civility that has been instilled in the youth throughout their lives, the boys have backpedaled and shown the underlying savage side existent in all humans. "Golding senses that institutions and order imposed from without are temporary, but man's irrationality and urge for destruction are enduring" (Riley 1: 119). The novel shows the reader how easy it is to revert back to the evil nature inherent in man. If a group of well-conditioned school boys can ultimately wind up committing various extreme travesties, one can imagine what adults, leaders of society, are capable of doing under the pressures of trying to maintain world relations.
When surrounding society is stripped away and true humanity creeps in, savagery appears; turning children into beasts and lighthearted fun into torture and murder. This course of events is presented in William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies. Throughout the book, Golding displays an idea that society and humans have an evil nature. While many examples in both society and literature today contradict this point, there are more instances in which human nature is portrayed as evil. Golding portrays human evil as nature throughout Lord of the Flies.