Is Mankind Inherently Evil Essay

In the history of humans, the idea that they could possibly be inherently evil is fairly new. Until the 19th or 20th century, religious groups especially enforced the ideology that people are inherently good. However, I believe that humans have a tendency to do evil. I believe this because they constantly partake in needless murder and are insatiable in their hunger for power and control.
William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies shows that humans are evil through the murder of the most innocent boy on the island, Simon. Simon, often interpreted as a Christ-like figure for the boys due to his lonesome nature and meditative habits, is brutally murdered by just about every boy on the island when he comes out of the forest to tell the boys about the Beast. He is the only one who truly grasps the idea of the loss of innocence,

and is unable to tell the boys of it. His death is particularly gruesome, as seen here, “At once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt onto the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore. There were no words, and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws” (153). This is bad enough already without the most shocking fact of the murder. Even the boys that we consider to be above savagery, namely Ralph, Piggy, Samneric, and the littluns, participated in the slaughter of Simon. Ralph laments to Piggy later, questioning if they had all even done it, even though they all had. This shows that even those people who have very calm and collected thinking can be evil.
Another way Golding shows that humans are evil is through the fiasco that is Jack’s dissention from and conquering of the main group.

Throughout the whole book, we get a bit of a pissing contest between Jack and Ralph for the title of chief, but it hits a fever pitch when Ralph completely upstages Jack during a meeting. Jack, wounded ego in hand, says, “I’m not going to play any longer. Not with you” (127). Upon saying this to Ralph, Jack unlocks his inner savagery, which, awkwardly only unlocks because he throws a fit because no one wants to do what he says. Jack leaves the group, and being the best hunter, is able to win many to his side with promises of meat, a rare treat for the boys. Eventually, Jack has all the boys that are alive except Ralph and Piggy. His crew is also very brutal, with Roger hurling a boulder down the cliff that kills Piggy. The vengeance that Jack seeks knows no bounds, and Golding really captures the pain of a man who has had his ego damaged when Jack starts hunting Ralph instead of pigs. The boys are so brutal that even the naval officer says that he didn’t think that British boys would be this bad

off.
Golding’s view that society is essentially evil can be seen throughout history. For example, the Markale massacres in Sarajevo, Bosnia are among the worst killings in recent history. During the Siege of Sarajevo in the Bosnian War, on February 5, 1994, the Army of the Republika Srpska shot a 120 millimeter mortar shell into the Markale Market in Sarajevo. The attack was intended to kill civilians, and as such is treated as a major crime against humanity. This horrific attack left 68 dead and 144 wounded. The second massacre, occurring on August 28, 1995, the army shot five mortars into the market. This attack left 43 dead and 75 wounded. And, to top this atrocity off, the army who fired all the shots claimed that they were actually fired by the government of Bosnia onto their own citizens. This report is speculated upon, but the commonly held belief is that the Army of the Republika Srpska was the perpetrator. These two tragedies, coupled with the fact that the aggressor tried to deny it and blame another force, is a prime example of human tendency toward evil.
Another example from history that supports Golding’s view that society is inherently evil is the conquering of the Americas by Spain. The soldiers who carried this out, known as conquistadors, were excessively brutal and often only in it for their own goals, like Jack. When those such as Hernan Cortes swept through Mexico and the other Latin American countries, bringing disease, violence, forced religion and culture, they were doing it so that their sense of pride would be imprinted upon those who they conquered. Ultimately, the biggest difference between the conquistadors and Jack is that Jack only had himself to worry about. While the conquistadors gave what they gained to Spain, they gained very much themselves. They raped and pillaged in every village they went to, even going to the Aztec capital of Mexico and imprisoning and killing Montezuma after the emperor had let them in as friends. The men who carried out this sick and twisted version of colonization are sickening, and, much like Jack, they had only a lot to gain. They were technologically superior to their opponent in so many ways that the only outcome for the natives was subjugation and slavery. This brutality shown to the natives of Mexico, Central America, and South America is still, even 500 years later, one of the most horrific events in the history of the world.
In conclusion, I believe that Golding’s novel sheds light on the true savagery of the human race. We all have a tendency to lean toward evil, and even those who do good things are not good. To be truly good, you must go above and beyond what is asked, and that is not apparent in the human race. Over time, we have constantly oppressed, killed, discriminated against, and conquered our own kind. These tendencies must be something that we work very hard to overcome, for anyone, even those who are seen as innocent, good, levelheaded, or leaders, can fall into the trap that we call evil.