Although most humans are not evil, all humans have the aptitude to do so under the right circumstances. This idea is demonstrated in “The Lord of the Flies” by William Golding, which portrays a group of young boys stranded on an isolated island following their descent into chaos and savagery. Analyzing the changes in power dynamics and the decline of civilized behavior, the events in this book can be paralleled to Nazi Germany, as well as the Rwandan Genocide. Golding's work and analogy to history suggest that while people have the capacity for innate goodness, they have a more substantial capacity for evil, amplified by fear and lack of order. Ralph, Piggy, and Simon embody goodness as they try to create a civilized society, maintaining morals …show more content…
Where the conch is, that’s a meeting. The same up here as down there’” (Golding 51). Initially, the boys attempt to model civilization by creating rules, demonstrating that humans can produce an ethical system where rationality and cooperation are feasible. The conch shell symbolizes civilized behavior, calls assemblies, ensures all opinions are heard, and enforces democratic order. Despite the situation, acts of goodness are also shown by Piggy (letting his glasses be used for fire, guiding Ralph) and Simon (picking fruit for the little ones, trying to tell the truth about the beast). These moments exhibit their desire to benefit the group. Similarly, that same initial choice of social harmony and desire to help others in times of need were shown during the Rwandan Genocide, a period between April 7th, 1994, and July 19th, 1994, when the Tutsi were being mass murdered. Before the bloodshed, there was social order. The locals were split into two groups: Tutsi and Hutu; nevertheless, there was interdependence, social integration, and a traditional government system. During the genocide, many people risked their safety to help the hunted by refusing to sell out, hiding Tutsis and moderate Hutus, conveying humanity and bravery amid the …show more content…
However, it later represents the boy's capacity for savagery and evil as every horrible act is done to confront or appease the beast. No one but Simon realized this, alternatively viewing it as a tangible threat that could cause physical harm. Jack manipulates and nurtures this fear, instilling dependency among the boys. By positioning himself as their protector, he attains the means to become a dictator because standing up to him means being kicked out or violently hurt. This corresponding use of a “beast” is seen in Nazi Germany by Adolf Hitler when during times of distress, he rallies support for his regime by utilizing propaganda and scapegoating to paint the Jews as an internalized threat responsible for all of Germany's problems, labeling them as “parasites” and “subhuman,” (Mein Kampf). Exploiting the issues of economic hardship, political extremism, and the aftermath of WWI, Hitler promised to protect the citizens of Germany from these problems. By amplifying these fears using social disorder, Hitler was supported by the German masses in his draconian actions to progress toward his authoritarian goal. These increasingly brutal measures that ultimately ended in the deaths of millions of Jews were done with either the participation or acceptance of virtually all of the German population. This subservience shows how alarmingly easy it is for tyrannical dictators to come into power. Most people would sway with the group rather
William Golding’s Lord of the Flies portrays the lives of young British boys whose plane crashed on a deserted island and their struggle for survival. The task of survival was challenging for such young boys, while maintaining the civilized orders and humanity they were so accustomed too. These extremely difficult circumstances and the need for survival turned these innocent boys into the most primitive and savaged mankind could imagine. William Golding illustrates man’s capacity for evil, which is revealed in man’s inherent nature. Golding uses characterization, symbolism and style of writing to show man’s inhumanity and evil towards one another.
Mankind is innately evil. The allegorical novel, The Lord of the Flies, allows for little interpretation about human nature. William Golding depicts the idea, “evil is an inborn trait of man” (Golding). Throughout the novel the children who have crash landed on the island begin to uncover their savage nature. Although all of the children somehow succumb to a heinous behaviour, Jack, Ralph, and Roger become most noticeably corrupt. Ultimately, it becomes clear that malicious intent is intrinsic in mankind.
“Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of a true, wise friend called Piggy” (Golding 225). In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, he uses the theme of order versus chaos to show that good has the capacity to become evil. It starts with the boys’ beginnings on the island, to the breakdown of their society, to the tragedies that unfold their civilization. The boys are victims of a deteriorating civilization that turns them into ruthless and more animalistic characters without any law, order or control.
When viewing the atrocities of today's world on television, the starving children, the wars, the injustices, one cannot help but think that evil is rampant in this day and age. However, people in society must be aware that evil is not an external force embodied in a society but resides within each person. Man has both good qualities and faults. He must come to control these faults in order to be a good person. In the novel Lord of the Flies, William Golding deals with this same evil which exists in all of his characters. With his mastery of such literary tools as structure, syntax, diction and imagery, The author creates a cheerless, sardonic tone to convey his own views of the nature of man and man’s role within society.
Humans, by nature, are genuinely good people who show compassion and concern for others, right? Well true, if we all lived in a utopian land. Unfortunately, humans are, in fact, evil and easily corrupted by others. In William Golding’s 1954 published Lord of the Flies, the boy’s on the island learn that a peaceful civilization is easily destroyed without cooperation or agreement. The frustration manifested itself, making a transformation of the boys into meat hungry, hunters, who even try to hunt the other boys who don’t follow the pack. Golding analyzes the flaws of human society, directly related to human nature.
William Golding, the author of the highly-acclaimed book, The Lord of the Flies took the reader into a world where underage boys live in an uncharted island with no adults no other human contact; just themselves and finding ways to survive and to get off the island. However, that is no easy task, Golding shed some ground-breaking light on how really boys will act with no authority in their lives and the term “boys will be boys” will arise. The boys were placed in a situation where they were force to act a certain way of nature and condition. In consequence, the boys’ savage and immoral behavior shown is to be blamed on the situation/environment nurtured factors.
Golding has a rather pessimistic view of humanity having selfishness, impulsiveness and violence within, shown in his dark yet allegorical novel Lord of the Flies. Throughout the novel, the boys show great self-concern, act rashly, and pummel beasts, boys and bacon. The delicate facade of society is easily toppled by man's true beastly nature.
The novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding used a group of British boys beached on a deserted island to illustrate the malicious nature in mankind. Lord of the Flies dealt with the changes the boys underwent as they gradually adapted to the freedom from their society. William Golding's basic philosophy that man was inherently evil was expressed in such instances as the death of Simon, the beast within the boys, and the way Ralph was fervently hunted.
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.
This paper will explore the three elements of innate evil within William Golding's, Lord of the Flies, the change from civilization to savagery, the beast, and the battle on the island. Golding represents evil through his character's, their actions, and symbolism. The island becomes the biggest representation of evil because it's where the entire novel takes place. The change from civilization to savagery is another representation of how easily people can change from good to evil under unusual circumstances. Golding also explores the evil within all humans though the beast, because it's their only chance for survival and survival instinct takes over. In doing so, this paper will prove that Lord of the Flies exemplifies the innate evil that exists within all humans.
Lord of the Flies provides one with a clear understanding of Golding's view of human nature. Whether this view is right or wrong is a point to be debated. This image Golding paints for the reader, that of humans being inherently bad, is a perspective not all people share. Lord of the Flies is but an abstract tool of Golding's to construct the idea of the inherent evil of human nature in the minds of his readers. To construct this idea of the inherent evil, Golding employs the symbolism of Simon, Ralph, the hunt and the island.
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.
Man’s inhumanity to man literally means human’s cruelty towards other humans. This is a major theme of the story and is seen throughout it. Golding himself even states that “man produces evil as a bee produces honey.” A review of the book states how Golding portrays this “because the boys are suffering from the terrible disease of being human.” Piggy, Ralph, and Simon are the “rational good of mankind” portrayed in the book, and Jack and his hunters are the “evil savagery of mankind.” “The beast” is a symbol for the evil in all humans, and Simon and Piggy, or rationality, are almost helpless in his presence. Simon, though, in a book filled with evil, is a symbol of vision and salvation. He is the one to see the evil as it truly exists, in the hearts of all humanity. When he tries to tell the others of this truth, however, he is killed, much like Christ was trying to bring salvation to the ignorant. Simon being there gives us hope; the truth is available to those who seek it. In the book, Jack and his hunters become so evil that they end up killing two boys while on the island. Man’s tendencies towards evil in The Lord of the Flies are also compared to the book of Genesis in the Bible. Nature, beauty, and childhood can all be corrupted by the darkness within humankind. The ending of this truly dark and evil story tells readers how Golding feels about evil within society and where he thinks humanity is headed. Evil will triumph over the intellect and good, unless some force intercedes. In th...
William Golding's first book, Lord of the Flies, is the story of a group of boys of different backgrounds who are marooned on an unknown island when their plane crashes. As the boys try to organize and formulate a plan to get rescued, they begin to separate and as a result of the dissension a band of savage tribal hunters is formed. Eventually the "stranded boys in Lord of the Flies almost entirely shake off civilized behavior: (Riley 1: 119). When the confusion finally leads to a manhunt [for Ralph], the reader realizes that despite the strong sense of British character and civility that has been instilled in the youth throughout their lives, the boys have backpedaled and shown the underlying savage side existent in all humans. "Golding senses that institutions and order imposed from without are temporary, but man's irrationality and urge for destruction are enduring" (Riley 1: 119). The novel shows the reader how easy it is to revert back to the evil nature inherent in man. If a group of well-conditioned school boys can ultimately wind up committing various extreme travesties, one can imagine what adults, leaders of society, are capable of doing under the pressures of trying to maintain world relations.
William Golding’s Lord of the Flies is an author’s painting of the evil that resides in all of the human race. The tropical island setting presents an environment free from civil order introducing a battle ground for the war of good and evil. Showing different side of human nature one can ponder the question “What would I do?” Golding explains the good, bad and balance of human nature, revealing that in times of despair man can easily regress to a primitive state, leaving the strong willed to promote civil order, but often be extremely out numbered.