Why Boys Become Vicious Analysis

Human beings are dark creatures; none better than animals. They fight and kill for their selfish greed for power, acceptance, and survival, yet somehow work together to form society. But as Jean-Jacques Rousseau explained in his work, “man only stays together for his own necessity for cooperation and survival.” (Luke Mastin). Even William Golding, the renowned author of the novel, Lord of the Flies, explains in his article, “Why Boys Become Vicious”, the environment under which boys portray their viciousness. However, Golding cannot identify the factors that cause them into joining impoverished gangs and crime such as lack of parental guidance, societal flaws, and the struggle for survival.

As repeated by several philosophers, childhood is a vital time period which truly shapes an individual. The University of Pittsburgh conducted several studies and concluded that parental guidance and behavior

truly affects the child’s behavior.
“Keenan and Shaw (1994) found that familial criminality was related to boys' aggression at age 2, after controlling for aggression at 18 months and maternal age - a result we have replicated in a our larger cohort of low-income boys. In a large sample of 17-month-olds, Tremblay (1998) also found father's report of antisocial behavior before the birth of the child to be related to infant aggression. The relations between criminality and infant aggression tend to be modest but statistically significant.” (U.P. 6)
There are compelling effects on children because of their family.

If the child’s parents were “bad” people, then it is valid to predict the child will go along the same lines. Golding addresses the gangs of orphans that terrorize Russia. These children have a lack of parental guidance that could stabilize the anger within them. “When people are afraid they discover the violence within them and when they are afraid together they discover that the violence within them can be almost bottomless.” (Golding 2). Also, the death of their parents has infuriated them even more, which they use as fuel to propel their terroristic campaign forward. This behavior can be linked back to the lack of parental guidance that Golding fails to address in his article. He claims that the lack of parents forces them to commit crimes because they have no other way of surviving, but he does not explain what parenting does to the children. Parenting eases the violence that is embedded in the children and molds them into stable humans that could function in society without being a hindrance or

disgrace.
On the other hand, he speaks about the struggle of survival. The orphans steal and fight so that they can survive without the presence of a parental figure. He also puts forth the story of James Bulger, an innocent two-year-old who was murdered by a group of older boys in Liverpool. Golding explains these two as a struggle for survival and the latent greed for blood. Once again, he fails to acknowledge why these occur. The orphans were stripped of their parents which forced them to enter the struggle of survival, which then led them in the gang. For the case of Venables, one of the predators of Bulger, the group of detectives had found out that the boys had been truant from school on the day of the murder, and that this was habitual for them. This shows the lack of parental authority over the two murderers. Even less surprisingly, Venables committed another crime and was sent back to jail. “Now retired and living in Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant, near Welshpool, he also said he was not shocked to discover that Venables had been taken back into custody.” (BBC). Golding does not address the aspect of human nature that links to the intrinsic need for violence which is suppressed by correct parenting. The children were in a way neglected, which allowed the inner darkness to come out and feast upon innocent Jamie Bulger. Golding focuses more on the struggle of survival rather than the lack of parental guidance and societal flaws.
Along with parental guidance, society impacts children as well. The Russian gang of orphans are forced to steal because they are not given the support or help they need to survive without their parents. “The experience of indifference from the surrounding world, or, worse still, malevolence may cause children to suffer loss of meaning in their construction of themselves in their world. They may have to change their moral structure and lie [and] steal.” (Barbara 2). All tracks lead to society and the government not helping them which forces their primal side to show. They fight and take things by force because society has pushed them to a point where they must do anything to survive. The helpless boys turn into pack animals who then terrorize the country. For Jamie Bulger, his predators were freelancing boys who were just looking for prey to unleash their wrath. This behavior is linked to the societal flaws that allows this behavior to even exist; as well as to the lack of parental guidance which helps evade such tragedies altogether.
In total, Golding neglects the factors that go into causing outrageous behaviors by young boys. In his article, he discusses the infamous murder of Jamie Bulger but fails to address that the predators had it in their nature to hunt and attack, and suffered from a lack of moral guidance from their parents which allowed them to travel freely and act as they pleased during school hours. In addition, society is to blame for allowing such atrocities to happen and does not act upon resolving the issue at its source: the parents. Parents shape the future of this world, and without them, we end up with orphan gangs such as the one in Russia who grow up as criminals because of their struggle to survive. Society has to fix these flaws --even though Golding does not identify them-- which give way to these events to even occur and for that we must be aware of the factors that cause them: lack of parental guidance, societal flaws, and the struggle for survival.