Some people act like human nature isn't as bad as it may seem, but it brings a lot more problems into a society than one person originally thought. Author William Golding argues in the novel that human nature is more evil than good. Throughout the novel he uses many examples to display, but it leaves people to wonder if what he says is true about human nature. Despite most people believing that human nature isn't harmful, Golding and other research have proven that human nature is more evil than good. In the Lord of The Flies, Golding revolves the whole book around the idea that human nature is more evil than good. The main way he displayed this idea was by using the character Jack and in the book, he stated, "You cut a pig’s throat to let the blood out... Otherwise you can’t eat the meat” (Golding 31). This quote near the beginning of the book establishes how being isolated from society starts harming the way the boys think. This is accurate because Jack starts acting just a few days isolated from society and starts not knowing what is right from wrong. Jack also said later in the book, “Anyway, you don’t hunt or build or help- you're a lot of crybabies and sissies” (Golding 82). This further displays how human nature affects people in a negative …show more content…
In Lord of The Flies, savagery plays a big part in the novel, and it proves how isolation can make kids lose sense of what is right or wrong. In the book, a chant is repeated as a cult by saying, “Kill the pig”. Cut her throat. Spill her blood” (Golding 69). This chant being repeated in the setting before killing a kid during it, proves how it can affect kids in such a negative way. This idea of savagery was displayed in Animal Farm by using the chant, “Four legs good, two legs bad” (Orwell 17). This goes on to display how the usage of chants brings savagery into any situation and how following someone's bad example can lead to being very ruthless or
Golding's views about human nature are displayed and developed quite extensively in chapter four. This essay is going to explore what they are and how they are portrayed throughout the duration of this chapter.
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.
“Drug dealers go big, use Boeing for coke run”, “11 killed in Pakistan by suicide bomber”, “Parents largely unaware teen binge drinking is growing deadlier” (Edmonton Journal, November 18, 2009). It is truly staggering to see the number of articles concerning crime, felony and death in a newspaper, everyday. It is not hard to find articles about laws being broken, about lawbreakers going free and about people being killed. The concept of newspapers full of stories showing humanity’s evil suggests that there is something wrong with today’s world, but newspapers have always been full of such articles and events. It is clear that humanity’s evil inspired William Golding’s Lord of the Flies: a commentary on the innate evil in all man. In Golding’s novel, a group of young boys survive a plane crash and become marooned on an empty island. Their attempt at civilization quickly fails, and leads to disorder, death and savagery.
Golding's Lord of the Flies is highly demonstrative of Golding's opinion that society is a thin and fragile veil that when removed shows man for what he truly is, a savage animal. Perhaps the best demonstration of this given by Golding is Jack's progression to the killing of the sow. Upon first landing on the island Jack, Ralph, and Simon go to survey their new home. Along the way the boys have their first encounter with the island's pigs. They see a piglet caught in some of the plants. Quickly Jack draws his knife so as to kill the piglet. Instead of completing the act, however, Jack hesitates. Golding states that, "The pause was only long enough for them to realize the enormity of what the downward stroke would be" (Golding page #). Golding is suggesting that the societal taboos placed on killing are still ingrained within Jack.
' I believe that man suffers from an appalling ignorance of his own nature '.
...the dark side that exists in all humans will emerge. Golding’s primary message from The Lord of the Flies is just that, all humans are capable of evil, but society inhibits these evils. Jack epitomizes this concept as he is originally shown as a choirboy, a title given to him by adults. But as the story progresses, and he becomes more and more distant from society, Jack changes. He begins to show more connections to the id or instinctual behaviors. Golding is also insinuating that mankind will begin to disintegrate over time. As war, and even climate shift occur, and civilization becomes more and more distant; mankind will go into a state of id, not having to obey societies rules, expelling the superego. Golding uses The Lord of the Flies to convey a variety of different symbols and allegories, which makes the novel one of the most influential novices ever written.
Jack’s representation of malignant and viciousness validates that there is a dark side of human nature. As choirmaster, Jack succeeds pushing control over others, such as the choir, through his manipulative approach. He concentrates on hunting and yearns for meat. In result, his repulsive acts create a savage within. Evil is present in every single one of us and it is natural for one to do whatever it takes to stay alive. In Golding’s novel, Lord of The Flies, Golding depicts society through the group of stranded boys who are compelled to create their own representation of civilization. Though the civilized boys were born into the liberated civilization not all approach the situation with an enlightened belief. Everyone has the proposition to do great however when undermined, man can turn vicious, such as Jack. His fundamental conflicts are that people are savage by nature, and are moved by urges to dominate over others. The natural darkness in humankind brings about the breakdown of civilization, as demonstrated by Jack.
In the novel The Lord of the flies, William Golding illustrates the decline from innocence to savagery through a group of young boys. In the early chapters of The Lord of the Flies, the boys strive to maintain order. Throughout the book however, the organized civilization Ralph, Piggy, and Simon work diligently towards rapidly crumbles into pure, unadulterated, savagery. The book emphasized the idea that all humans have the potential for savagery, even the seemingly pure children of the book. The decline of all civilized behavior in these boys represents how easily all order can dissolve into chaos. The book’s antagonist, Jack, is the epitome of the evil present in us all. Conversely, the book’s protagonist, Ralph, and his only true ally, Piggy, both struggle to stifle their inner
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.
Edward Morrison, a Canadian journalist and Major General in World War I, once said, “If there is [t]rue [e]vil in this [w]orld, it lies in the [h]eart of [m]ankind.” Essentially, Morrison is saying that there is evil in the world, and it lies within each and every one of us. Morrison’s ideas are reflected in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. In the novel, a group of British boys are isolated on an uninhabited island, all alone and without any adults. The boys are horrified by a supposed beast, but there is not an actual beast. Soon after, the boys reveal the beasts from within themselves. These beasts cause evil and chaos throughout the island. Throughout the novel, the reader should see that Golding portrays evil as the natural essence of all mankind.
“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.
In the book Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a group of young boys from England are evacuated out of their country due to a war. The plane is then shot down and results into a plane crash on a deserted island. The boys are left all alone with no adults, no supplies, and no one to come and rescue them. They are all on their own and have to establish a new “society”. The boys have to choose someone to govern them and that person ends up being Ralph, who had an internal struggle between what is right and wrong closer to the end of the novel. The boys turn into savages, killing each other, and showing their evil inside each of them. According to, William Golding man is inherently evil, evil is in all of us, but it is oppressed by society, and comes out when there is not anything to hold us back, civilization is what holds back evil from coming out, or it is what triggers evil inside of man.
Imagine the world without judgement, rules, and those who enforce them, the key principles in a civilized society. How long would it take until desires and craving rebel against morality? With an authoritative power ceasing to exist, civilization would turn to chaos as the glory and thrill of savagery override ethics. In his novel Lord of the Flies, Golding demonstrates that without the restrictions of society, human instinct causes the boys to defy and shun social morals.
It seems as though there is so much more evil than good in the world today. We hear of war and fighting 24/7 but we rarely hear about the good things that happen. Everyone is born with both good and bad within them. We, as humans, must choose which one we want to be. In The Lord of the Flies, Ralph is good while Jack is evil. Ralph represents the good side of us while Jack represents the evil side. Although sometimes it is easier to be evil, it pays off to be good. The novel is a perfect example of how all people are born with both sides. At the beginning, the boys choose the good side, with morals and civilization. But as the story moves on, the boys find it more exciting to be on the bad side. It shows that all the boys are torn between good and bad and there is a very thin line that separates both. We realize that people are born inherently good and bad because in life there are always right and wrong choices, children are born good but are easily influenced to do bad, and it is always harder to do what is right than what is wrong.