The novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding shows that a lack of rules and order can reveal who we really are and the truth about human nature. When there are no rules, people do things that they wouldn’t normally do. The boys on the island are cruel to each other because the rules and order are taken away and replaced with fear. If we didn’t have rules we would all be who we really are, which is cruel. It is just human nature that we are all cruel human beings, even though we may not know it.
When the boys are on the island there is no one to look after them and they have to do everything themselves. They make their own decisions and rules. As the boys’ little society begins to crack, so do their rules. They boys do cruel things that they normally wouldn’t do:
All at once, Robert was screaming and struggling with the strength of frenzy. Jack had him by the hair and was brandishing his knife. Behind him was Roger, fighting to get close. The chant rose ritually, as at the last moment of a dance or hunt.
‘Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Kill the pig! Bash him in!’
Ralph too was fighting to get near, to get a handful of that brown, vulnerable flesh. The desire to squeeze and hurt was overmastering (Golding 101).
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None of them would typically think that terrorizing a young boy would be okay, but there was nothing holding them back from being cruel. We are all taught from when we are little to be nice, polite, and follow the rules. All of that is taken away on the island, resulting in cruelty. Both Roger and Ralph were struggling to to get closer and to be more involved in the situation. Ralph wouldn’t normally do things like this but Roger has been cruel from the beginning. This only proves that they are both the same, we are all the same, and that we are
eventually turns the boys into frenzied savages, undaunted by the barbaric orders he decrees. The boys focus more and more on hunting and exploring, neglecting their primary objective: returning home to their families and civilization. The island boys experience manipulation, intimidation, and brutality while under Jack’s authority, revealing that the impact on those under reckless control can prove to be extremely harsh and
This scene described the rabid behavior read as, “...tearing of teeth and claws” (Goulding 153). I felt a wave of terror go through my body as I read that line. Just the image of it in my head, I felt violated. The image of boys ripping their friend to bits and pieces terrifies me. The boys were turned into savages at this point of the novel and the only person who slightly seem to have realization of what just happened was Ralph when he stated, “That was murder” (Goulding 156). I’m sure that Ralph felt guilt and shame of the people the island has morphed him into. If I were Ralph I would feel shame of practically murdering a person who showed me nothing but kindness. Goulding including Ralph’s realization it showed the readers that he wasn't completely lost and he still had a small part of his human self within him. Next, the death of Piggy brought tears to my eyes. Piggy’s dead body was described as, “Head opened and stuff came out and turned red” (Goulding 181). My favorite character had to die in such a painful and terrifying way and I felt great amount of sadness and especially because I related him the most than the other
... showing it was Roger’s idea and Roger’s job to display Ralph’s head to the rest of the tribe, showing that the last person concerned with being civilized, is gone and that they could be as savage as they wanted.
When the little ones do not help out Ralph does not react in a violent
Rules are the fundamental structures of society that prevent anarchy and discord. However, the rules only work if the people that they are trying to protect believes in them. When the people stop believing in the structures of society, we are calling for the end of the reign of order and the start of the tyranny of chaos.
There are a slew of factors on the island which can lead to this level of violence “Chaos is one, fear is another” (Golding). The island was extremely chaotic, and fearful with no supervision from anyone with a fully developed frontal lobe. The only semblance of order was promptly crushed early on, leading to a revolt and nearly every child descending into violence, even ones that did not have as painful a childhood such as the leader elected among them, Ralph. Fear ran rampant on the island as none of the children really understood much about the island. A belief spread on the island that there was an unkillable beast hunting down the boys, plotting their destruction. With someone like Roger who was physically strong and most likely found solace in that, a being he had no power to stop must have been downright terrifying. When people are afraid, especially children with their lack of judgment, they lash out in bursts of violence. This is exactly what happened to Roger, he succumbed to fear like the rest of us would have, and acted as any of us would have at his age in his
The boys’ beginning on the island starts with a very positive and playful atmosphere. To begin, Ralph and Piggy find a conch shell that they think will help call the others to bring them together and keep them safe before they get lost and hurt. Piggy says, “We can use this to call the others. Have a meeting. They’ll come when they hear us” (Golding 12). Once they all gather together in their first group meeting, they start to feel safe and relieved that no one is hurt and they are together as a whole. They will always stay together while they hunt and play. Next, the boys come to a conclusion that they have to build some sort of signal fire to help indicate that they are on the island and get everyone off it so they do not eventually die there. They work together as a group to get it done by some little boys going to get some dead wood. The rest help to build the fire up high to get enough smoke to eventually signal a nearby ship. Jack has the idea to start the fire and uses Piggy’s glasses against the light to spark a flame. As it lights, the boys excitedly run to get more fire wood as the hope of rescue lurks the air around them. No fights happen as they...
One reason why the boys on the island turned into savages was because of peer pressure. Peer pressure is a common thing that happens among children and it causes them to behave the way their
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.
Despite the absence of the adults, society plays a role in how the boys treat each other and how they interact. When the boys are alone on the island, they incorporate what adults would logica...
This is an instance of diffusion of responsibility among the boys. In order for them to all survive everyone needs to pull their own weight and work to provide food and shelter. However the boys get lazy and start getting distracted by other things on the island. Golding states, “I mean who built all three? We all built the first one, four of us the second one, and me’n Simon built the last one over there.” (Golding.107). There are so many boys on the island that each one thinks it’s alright for them to slack a little. One by one they all start slacking and there is not enough people actually working in order to make up for all the boys who have stopped. All of the boys fell into witness behavior and watched as people worked rather than helping them. Similar to another part of Darley and Latane’s experiment with fake seizures. A group of students were all in a chat room where they had an allotted time to speak, one actor faked a seizure for the students to hear; yet, only a third of students reacted. They expected the others would help him, so they wouldn 't have to. The same with the boys, they expected the others to do the work for
In William Golding's book lord of the flies, A plane crashed which made all the children on the plane stranded and without adults. There where a few older children who created some rules. When everyone started to stray away from the rules stuff started to go terribly wrong. This book is a good demonstration that shows how we as a society need rules to thrive and be productive. Without rules we are chaotic we don't know what to do or how to do it. Don't get me wrong i'm not saying everyone is born bad and chaotic im saying people are naturally curious and that can hurt them or hurt the people around them.
His concern for the individuals in the group is pertinent from the beginning: he conveys to Jack the necessity of shelters “as a sort of [home]”, upon noticing the distress of the younger children (pg. 58). It is seen that Ralph’s problems are not his own; he assumes the role of leader to bring orderly forces of civilization to all. By approaching circumstances with logistics rather than emotion, Ralph does not lose sight of himself in the face of adversity. Despite this, he is later forced to act irrationally in order to preserve his status. When confronted with the evidence of the beast, Ralph is hesitant to hunt it; he is only manipulated into doing so when Jack “[sneers]” and questions him if he is “frightened” (pg. 100). However, Ralph does not respond out of his spite or self-pride as he understands that he must retain his status among the boys. If he does not remain chief, Jack will secure the position, bearing the notion that there will always be individuals working against altruism for their own benefit. Ralph sacrifices his morals by becoming subservient to Jack’s ego, yet does so in order to preserve civility within the group. On the day of the boys’ rescue, Ralph understands that his efforts to preserve peace and order are all for naught. Man’s destructive forces overwhelm him as “[he weeps] for … the darkness of man’s
They continue this desire for control while turning down each other's decisions and ideas. The back and forth conflicts of opinion are what makes life chaos on the island. These conflicts are illustrated in two fashions; the dialog between the boys, and the authors narration. Assuming that the boys are philistines, their language is therefore not very articulate. They are trying to appear important and popular with the group. The boys have a feeling of wanting to belong, which is the basis of all philistines' actions. The author's narration makes up for this. The narrator has a more realistic view of what is happening on the island, and says to the reader what the boy's language fails to do.
The novel starts off with a bunch of boys stranded on a tropical island. This is a perfect place for a group of kids to have tons of fun. The kids have no adult supervision and do not have to worry about getting in trouble by adults. "When the little kids land they are delighted to find hat there are no grown-ups about" (Pg. 210, Forester). This shows that they do not worry about getting in trouble, which will later come back to haunt them. The young boys plan on having a fun time on the island and plan on just goofing around. Ralph shows this several time in the first chapter by swimming in a lagoon and standing on his head. "Ralph lolled in the water"(11). All the kids seem to be happy about being together on the island and plan on being rescued soon. The children in the first section of the book still follow the laws and rules that they had before. Jack "The hunter" cannot bring himself to kill a pig in the beginning of the book. "In his first confrontation with a pig, Jack fails, unable to plunge his knife into living flesh, to bear the sight of flowing blood, and unable to do so because he is not yet far enough away from the ‘taboo of the old life’" (246, Mueller). This shows that the kids still do have morals. Another example of the boys still following the laws and rules of society is when “Roger throws stones at Henry, but he throws to miss because ‘round the squatting child was the protection of parents and school and policemen and the law’”(238, Gregor).