Lord Of The Flies Human Nature Essay

Human nature. What is human nature? By definition, human nature is the “general psychological characteristics, feelings, and behavioral traits of humankind, regarded as shared by all humans.” This applies to everything humans do, and although each person is unique in the way they act in a given situation, everyone shares common characteristics of behavior, especially when put in life or death situations. We may see ourselves, humans, as sophisticated, civilized creatures who calculate our decisions, taking everything into account, using logic to do what is in our best interests. Most individuals would agree with this, especially due to the fact that we think highly of our individual selves. The prospect of death causes a fear in humans so great

The boys have to survive on their own, and in the beginning of the story they seem to be on track to do so. They choose a leader, assign groups to different tasks, and are able to sustain themselves while seeming to be optimistic about rescue. Soon however, the group is split. The original chosen leader of the group, Ralph, who emphasises order and rescue, loses much of his power to another boy, Jack, who is more keen on hunting and fending for themselves on the island. The group soons splits into two, those who want to hunt with Jack, and those who stay with Ralph. Quickly however, there are only two boys yet to join Jack; Ralph and Piggy, who in the story symbolizes knowledge, morality, and civilization. The rest of the boys joined Jack, and over a short period of time become increasingly savage, losing much of the ideals that surely drove their decision making prior to becoming stranded. They sort of blindly follow Jack, who behaves erratically and without regard for morals. The best way to put it is this: he has thrown away all morals, and he feeds off of leading the group in their savage endeavors. An example of this would be running up on Ralph and Piggy, threatening them with their weapons and stealing their hunting knife. Another would be surrounding