Golding vs. Rousseau

638 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Rousseau and golding

The nature of human: are humans born good or evil? These two opposing views on human nature are two topics that Rousseau and Golding have both touched upon. While Golding believes that humans are born inherently evil, Rousseau believes the opposite: that humans are inherently good. Golding wrote the novel Lord of the Flies as a response of the novel, The Coral Island by R.M. Ballantyne because he believed that it was farfetched. In this novel Ballantyne’s main characters are able to enjoy their time on the deserted island. My opinion on this matter leans to Rousseau’s side. I believe that people are born naturally good.
Jean Jacques Rousseau was born in Geneva in 1712 and died in 1778 in France. While Golding lived through the two World Wars, Rousseau never lived through such conflict. A topic of Rousseau’s that always came up is about how humans can keep their freedom despite their dependence on one another. He believed that there were two things that had something to do with this topic and that was a human’s material and psychological need and that the latter was more important. Rousseau believed that humans get their sense of self due to opinion of others. Rousseau believes that humans are inherently born good and that and that it is society’s corruption that causes humans to be evil.
William Golding was born in 1911in Cornwall, England and died in 1993. William Golding was born only three years before the start of World War I. Golding lived through both World Wars and harsh times. His beliefs that humans are born good and that society keeps humans from becoming evil are most likely influenced by his experiences in life. He believes that it is reason that is preventing humans from degenerating into primitive creatur...

... middle of paper ...

...nature-wholeness-and-education/>.
"Lord of the Flies Background." Study Guides & Essay Editing. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2014. .
"Rousseau and Golding: Opposing Views of Human Nature as Seen in the Lord of the Flies." Rousseau and Golding: Opposing Views of Human Nature as Seen in the Lord of the Flies. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2014. .
"Rousseau." Rousseau. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2014. .
"William Golding - Biographical". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2013. Web. 13 Mar 2014. .

Show More
Related

  • The Superego in Lord of the Flies and Fahrenheit 451

    1036 Words  | 3 Pages

    Henningfeld, Diane Andrews. "An overview of Lord of the Flies." an Essay for Exploring Novels. Gale, 1998. Rpt. in Literature Resource Center. Detroit: Gale, 2013. Literature Resource Center. Web. 21 Nov. 2013.

    Read More

  • Rousseau's View of Humanity

    1102 Words  | 3 Pages

    Rousseau writes that humanity is a mixture of good and evil. There are people who follow the education of nature and become self-reliant individuals. There are also those who tamper with nature and deprive individuals of their freedoms. They are the evil ones. Rousseau held such a position because he was raised much in the manner he wrote of, with no formal education until his twenties. His work is a production of the Enlightenment. Although he was unaware of psychology, his views on how to educate and raise a child are studied in current theories of human development. Rousseau had a mixed view if humanity was good or evil.

    Read More

  • Lord of the Flies by William Golding

    797 Words  | 2 Pages

    Lord of the Flies by William Golding Through his writing in the book Lord of the Flies, William Golding's view on. nature is not as in the plant and tree kind of nature, but in the nature of man at a young age of life. Golding is trying to portray what instincts and desires are like at an early time in a man's life when there are no adults around to help shape those. feelings to fit in with the mainstream society that people live in everyday. The nature of man is any and all of the instincts and desires of a person or animal.

    Read More

  • Lord of the Flies

    972 Words  | 2 Pages

    Humans are intricate. They have built civilizations and invented the concept of society, moving accordingly from savage primal instincts to disciplined behaviour. William Golding, however, does not praise humanity in his pessimistic novel, Lord of The Flies, which tells the story of a group of British schoolboys who are stranded on an uninhabited tropical island without any adults – a dystopia. Golding evidently expresses three views of humanity in this novel. He suggests that, without the rules and restrictions on which societies and civilizations are built, humans are intrinsically selfish, impulsive and violent.

    Read More

  • In which ways does golding portray blah

    1010 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Lord of the Flies, Golding extensively uses of analogy and symbolism like the dead parachutist in Beast from Air to convey the theme of intrinsic human evil through the decay of the character’s innocence and the island itself. In this essay, I will view and explain Golding’s use of specific symbolism to explain the novel’s main themes.

    Read More

  • Golding vs. Rousseau

    1085 Words  | 3 Pages

    Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a great philosopher who lived in the Enlightenment. He was a very influential philosopher and “Thinker” he has written many books including The Discourse on the Origin of Inequality. Rousseau’s theory was in essence that humans were created naturally pure and innocent but over time and new technologies become more evil. He had thought that in the very first light of man he was completely innocent, a being who had no intention to harm anyone else. However as time progressed and the growing capacity for man increased and the

    Read More

  • Lord of the Flies

    1148 Words  | 3 Pages

    Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a man of philosophy, music, and literature. His philosophy was that humanity will do what’s best for the state as a whole, rather than the general “every man for himself” philosophy. He says that while we do have a piece of that individualistic philosophy, it is when they are in a healthy state that they value fairly the collective good for everyone around them, and express the general sense of good will. Rousseau believes that people will recognize that the will of all is the common good, but that in itself raises the questions as to the validity ...

    Read More

  • Marx (The Communist Manifesto) and Rousseau

    2059 Words  | 5 Pages

    To understand the Rousseau stance on claims to why the free republic is doomed we must understand the fundamentals of Rousseau and the Social Contract. Like Locke and Hobbes, the first order of Rousseau’s principles is for the right to an individual’s owns preservation. He does however believe that some are born into slavery. His most famous quote of the book is “Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains” (Rousseau pg 5). Some men are born as slaves, and others will be put into chains because of the political structures they will establish. He will later develop a method of individuals living free, while giving up some of their rights to...

    Read More

  • Lord of the Flies: Is There Hope for Man?

    843 Words  | 2 Pages

    One of the main themes in William Golding's 1954 novel Lord of the Flies is that without civilization, there is no law and order. The expression of Golding's unorthodox and complex views are embodied in the many varied characters in the novel. One of Golding's unorthodox views is that only one aspect of the modern world keeps people from reverting back to savagery and that is society. Golding shows the extreme situations of what could possibly happen in a society composed of people taken from a structured society then put into a structureless society in the blink of an eye. First there is a need for order until the people on the island realize that there are no rules to dictate their lives and take Daveers into their own hands. Golding is also a master of contrasting characterization. This can be seen in the conflicts between the characters of Jack, the savage; Simon, the savior; and Piggy, the one with all the ideas.

    Read More

  • The Powers of the Symbols in "Lord of the Flies"

    942 Words  | 2 Pages

    Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. Great Britain: Cox & Wyman Ltd, Reading, Berkshire, 1954. Text.

    Read More

  • D.H. Lawrence’s Snakes and Lord of the Flies, by William Golding

    1578 Words  | 4 Pages

    Golding, William, and Edmund L. Epstein. Lord of the Flies: A Novel. New York: Perigee, 1954. Print.

    Read More

  • Jean Jacques Rousseau

    929 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout his life, Rousseau suffered from severe emotional distress, and feelings of deep inferiority and guilt. Rousseau's actions and writings reflect his attempts to overcome this sense of inadequacy and to find a place in world that only seemed to reject him. His political philosophy influenced the development of the French Revolution, and his theories have had a great impact on education and literature.

    Read More

  • A Loss of Innocence

    1009 Words  | 3 Pages

    Works Cited Golding, William. The. Lord of the Flies. New York: Coward-McCann, 1962. Print.

    Read More

  • Good And Evil Lord Of The Flies Analysis

    1212 Words  | 3 Pages

    Eric Burdon, a famous singer-songwriter and member and vocalist of rock band, The Animals, and the funk band, War, once wrote, “Inside each of us, there is a seed of both good and evil. It’s a constant struggle as to which one will win. And one cannot exist without the other.” Both good and evil are inherent in humans, however it is up to man to discover which trait will be displayed dominantly. William Golding, a witness of the destruction of humanity during World War II, has the ideology that man is inherently evil. Through his novel “The Lord of The Flies,” Golding introduces the thoughts of evil in society. To exemplify that man is inherently evil, a variety of characters, allegory, and metaphors are used to convey the occurrence

    Read More

  • Philosophy: Are Humans Born to be Good or Evil?

    1679 Words  | 4 Pages

    Are human beings born to be good? Or are we naturally born to be evil? A person’s nature or essence is a trait that is inherent and lasting in an individual. To be a good person is someone who thinks of others before themselves, shows kindness to one another, and makes good choices in life that can lead to a path of becoming a good moral person. To be a bad person rebels against something or someone thinking only of them and not caring about the consequences of their actions. Rousseau assumed, “that man is good by nature (as it is bequeathed to him), but good in a negative way: that is, he is not evil of his own accord and on purpose, but only in danger of being contaminated and corrupted by evil or inept guides and examples (Immanuel Kant 123).” In other words, the human is exposed to the depraved society by incompetent guardians or influences that is not of one’s free will in the view of the fact that it is passed on. My position is humans are not by nature evil. Instead, they are good but influenced by the environment and societies to act in evil ways to either harm others or themself.

    Read More

More about Golding vs. Rousseau

Open Document