How Does Golding Present Human Nature In Lord Of The Flies

One of the best aspects of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies was the portrayal of characters. Golding used the main characters of his novel to reveal the characteristics he believed were vital to human nature. Each character developed as the story went on, and each of the main characters represented one aspect of human nature. For example, Piggy represented intelligence, Ralph represented reason, Jack represented violence and savagery and Simon represented intuitiveness and kindness. In this way, Golding reveals his ideas about the natural instinct of human nature. Although each boy portrays one trait above others, they all prove to possess each trait to some extent. Golding has shown the reader the aspects he believes to be common in human

nature through his portrayal of his characters.

Jack Merridew represents the violent, angry and sadistic aspects which are unfortunately a part of basic human nature. He returns to the primal instincts to fend for ourselves as opposed to caring for others, and to hunt and kill things for meat.

The first time the reader is introduced to Jack, he appears to be jealous of Ralph due to his role as chief. Straight away, Golding is revealing the envious, violent aspects of Jack the reader will be exposed to later in the novel. Jack seems eager to begin hunting, although at first he struggles to kill a pig. This shows Jack trying to un-learn everything society has taught him. Eventually, he is able to kill one, and returns excited about his achievement. This is when the chant: “Kill the pig! Cut her throat! Spill her blood!” is first used. At this time, Jack was meant to be keeping the fire going, and because he didn't the fire went out and a boat passed by the island without noticing them. Ralph is distraught, however Jack believes the situation turned out well, as he was able to kill something, showing his selfishness and disregard for the wellbeing of the rest of the tribe. He giggles and jumps about as him and his hunters retell the story of the hunt, and tell them how there was so much blood. This is the start of Jack’s descent into savagery. Jack becomes bloodthirsty, and enjoys killing. He becomes obsessed with

blood, “rubbed the stuff over his cheeks”, and descends into insanity, along with the other hunters, finding “the pig’s efforts to avoid the advancing spear (…) so funny that the boys cried with laughter.” Soon enough, Jack decides to leave Ralph and start his own tribe, which focuses on hunting and having fun as opposed to getting off the island. He holds a feast to tempt the boys into joining him, and while they dancing, Simon stumbles out of the forest to warn them that there is no beast. Jack, and the others, mistake him for the Beast and begin clawing and beating at him until he is dead. Jack reveals the voice inside the heads of human beings which whispers words of selfishness and violence, the voice that can sometimes be tempting enough to coax people away from how they are taught to act.

Ralph is the main protagonist of the novel, and is initially chosen by the others to be chief. He represents the rational, understanding and leadership qualities all people possess, although it takes some time for him to grow into these titles. Ralph’s main focus was to get off the island, which was the most logical and vital desire. From the beginning to the end, the one thing he asked of the boys was to keep the signal fire going. Most of what he does is for the wellbeing of the tribe, and not necessarily for the wellbeing of himself. For example, he, accompanied by Simon, built the last two shelters so that everyone would have a place to sleep, even though almost everyone abandoned him after the building the first one. The boys sought out leadership, as it is basic human instinct to look for a leader in times of trouble. Ralph is the one they select to fill this role. Ralph has a natural gift for leadership, and this was clear to the others. At first, Ralph rejoices in the independence from grown-ups, and childishly mocks Piggy for his cruel nickname. Ralph quickly realises that playing around will get him nowhere, and is forced to rapidly mature in order to keep himself and the others alive, and to ensure there is a chance of getting off the island. He grows frustrated with the childish nature of the others, and at how they refuse to follow his orders. Influenced by Piggy, he yearns for order and a society to mimic that of the outside world. The others disagree with his methods, and soon leave to follow Jack. Although Ralph represents order and rationality, he does not always stay true to his nature. At times, his fear overcomes his natural instinct and causes him to do unspeakable things. On the beach at Jack’s feast, Ralph willingly participates in Jack’s cruel dance and contributes to the death of Simon. After this, Ralph, much like Jack, begins to go insane, due to the realisation of the capability of man. Ralph, along with representing the level-headed & leadership qualities of man, also represents the combination of all elements, both good and bad, in all of us.

The boy behind many of Ralph’s rational ideas, Piggy is arguably the most intelligent of the boys. He is usually very logical and talkative, which at first caused him to be the laughing stock of the tribe. At first all the boys, including Ralph, were excited by the prospect of being alone without any grown-ups on an island. Yet Piggy realises the severity of their situation and the importance of grown-ups. This shows his maturity, and shows that he sees things differently compared to others. Throughout the book he attempted to compare and model the group of boys according to how grown-ups would act, often exclaiming “What would the grown-ups think?” Piggy values the rules, and is very sensible. He understands the necessity of rules in a society, and that chaos will break out without them. Piggy often argues the opposite of what the others think, leading him to even out the situation. For example, after the boys carelessness leads to a large fire and the death of the little boy with the mulberry mark on his face, Piggy is angered by how careless the boys have been and at how little they seem to worry about the death of the young one. However, after the death of Simon, Ralph begins to ramble about how Simon was murdered, and how they assisted in that murder. Piggy argues that they “can’t do no good thinking about it,” and reminds Ralph of how it was an accident. He does not necessarily argue the same side in every situation; he argues the side less represented, in order to escalate or de-escalate the situation to where it should be to make the others act rationally. Piggy’s logical and thoughtful nature helps Ralph to be a better leader.

Simon spends a lot of time alone in thought.

Aside from Piggy and Ralph, Simon works the hardest out of all the boys, and was the only one who would help Ralph finish the huts. It is revealed that he has a subconscious sense of the fact that the beast is not what they think, which is shown when he hallucinates and the “Lord of the Flies” says to him, “Fancy thinking the beast is something you could hunt and kill!” Obviously, the pig’s head on a stick was not actually telling him these things, which means the ideas came from Simon himself. This realisation displays the importance of contemplation in difficult times. At the beginning, Simon says he thinks the Beast could exist, but that “maybe it’s only us.” He is implying that the boys themselves are the Beast, although he struggles to articulate this. Simon is also very kind and forgiving, which is another element common in every person. He is the only boy to show any kindness to Piggy right from the start, and has no ill-intent towards anyone. Simon is selfless, and holds Ralph especially to a higher importance than himself, saying, “you’ll get back to where you came from.” This implies that Simon himself will not get back, but that it’s better that Ralph does as he is more important. The Beast represents the fear of the boys, as well as the selfishness and savagery the boys begin to value more the longer they stay on the island. Simon is further from this idea of the Beast than any other boy on the island, and this is why

he dies. Simon is seen as weak, but he possesses the strongest aspects of human nature: kindness, selflessness and intuitiveness.

Every main character in Lord of the Flies is an extreme example of one aspect of what Golding sees to be the basics of human nature. He has shown the raw aspects he believes humans rely on for survival, and how humans behave when the teachings of society have been stripped away and the burden of responsibility is lifted from their shoulders. Human nature can vary from person-to-person: some can be kind, like Simon; some turn out to be rational with good leadership skills, similar to Ralph; some are intelligent and logical like Piggy and some can be vicious, violent and sadistic like Jack. Golding used his knowledge from his experience in the war to tell the story. He also used Biblical images, such as the Garden of Eden, to aid the reader in developing a better understanding in the situation and to make it easier to notice the changes and contrast involved. He was attempting to portray a story of the loss of innocence of a group of boys, and how thin the line between civilisation and savagery is.