William Golding's Lord Of The Flies

Human nature is the natural characteristics of people that include thinking, feeling, and acting. Many believe humans are good at heart, and want to do positive things for the world. But William Golding expresses his disagreement in his novel “Lord of the Flies.” This novel has a pessimistic feeling throughout. Through the entire novel, we are made aware of Golding's pessimism towards society and human nature. Golding’s message about human nature is way too pessimistic because he is suggesting that causing destruction is second nature to humans, the death of Simon alongside with his depiction of the beast, and because of the excessive savagery in the opposition between totalitarianism and democracy beside the character development of Jack.

Golding explains his pessimistic view for humanity through his depiction of the opposition between dictatorship and democracy. Readers can easily recognize Golding’s pessimism tone by the hopeless situation Jack and the others find themselves in on the island. Further Ralph's authority over the boys becomes limited. The fact that Ralph and Jack's order of priorities are so different shows the stereotypical contrast in characters thus suggesting Golding sees humanity as incapable of getting along. Ralph’s priorities being the fire and Jack’s priorities being hunting, at once results in a division within the group. This division eventually results in Jack denying the existing democracy on the island. Jack states, “And you shut up! Who are you anyway? Sitting there telling people what to do.” (Golding 91) This results in Jack’s separation from Ralph and civilization and leads to his dictatorship over a majority of the boys. Jack's style of leadership is based on domination and fear. What he can't control, he seeks to destroy, which contributes to the downfall of the island and reveals Golding’s pessimism towards human nature. Jack states “We’ll raid them and take fire. There must be four of you; Henry and you, Robert and Maurice. We'll put on paint and sneak up.” (Golding 136). This demonstrates how Golding observes the world as in disagreement. He sees humanity as incapable of living in harmony, which reveals his view of pessimism. He is persistent that human nature causes a lawful world to slip away. “The world, that understandable and lawful world, was slipping away.” (Golding 91). Golding’s pessimistic view of human nature is further expanded with the issue of hunting. As the novel progresses, Jacks level of passion with hunting continues to increase until the very end of the novel. Although the island has an abundance of fruits and the boys can easily catch fish and crabs at the beach, Jack insists on hunting to get meat. This reveals Jack’s conversion to savagery and Golding’s pessimism towards human nature. Later on, he enjoys hunting as if it were a sport “His mind was crowded with memories; memories of the knowledge that had come to them when they had outwitted a living thing, imposed their will upon it, taken away its life like a satisfying drink.” (Golding 70). This leads to the negligence of the fire and suggests that it is human nature to lose the civilized front that we gain in the modern world.
Golding provides his negative view of human nature very early in the novel. Golding is suggesting that destruction is something humans are bound to do. The island on which the boys land on is described as a paradise, everything is perfect; there are plenty of fruits to eat, the climate is warm and there are beaches for swimming. Upon the boys landing, the tube carrying the boys causes a scar on the island. The intensity of the destruction caused by the scar is described “All round him the long scar smashed into the jungle was a bath of heat.” (Golding 1). Golding expands more on human destruction in chapter two. In this chapter, the boys burn down a large part of the island as a result of their carelessness while tending the fire they made. The forest fire is described
“The heart of flame leapt nimbly across the gap between the trees and then went swinging and flaring along the whole row of them. Beneath the capering boys a quarter of a mile square of forest was savage with smoke and flame”. (Golding 44).
Here, Golding shows that humans cause destruction unintentionally too! He is almost suggesting that causing destruction is second nature to us humans. At the end of the novel, the destruction comes full circle when Jacks tribe burn down the entire island. The presence of the boys has completely changed the island from a beautiful paradise to charred wreckage.
Furthermore, we witness pessimism in the development of savagery and primitive behavior, eventually resulting in the death of Simon and Piggy, who together powerfully represented goodness and order.

Simon is a significant character in The Lord of the Flies. He is seen as pure and unaffected by the evil of the island. He is part of neither Jack's or Ralph's tribe, which immediately separates him from the group. Simon sees beyond the surface of things and it is for this reason that he was able to confront the "beastie" and find out the truth. “However Simon thought of the beast, there rose before his inward sight the picture of a human at once heroic and sick.” (Golding 103). The evil of the beast was only a manifestation of the boy's fears alone, so ultimately it was the boy's fears that led to the downfall of their civilization. Therefore, we can understand from the Lord of the Flies that William Golding believes humanity to be completely defective. The Lord of The Flies hung on a stick is a symbol of evil and the devil in the novel. The words spoken by the Lord of The Flies represent the evil instincts and thoughts in all humans. During Simon’s encounter with the Lord of The Flies, the beast states, “Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!” “You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are?” (Golding 143). This statement suggests Golding’s view on human nature. Golding is illustrating that there is evil in all humans and it is something inseparable from

humans.
To summarize Golding’s message about human nature is way too pessimistic because he is suggesting that causing destruction is second nature to humans, the death of Simon alongside with his depiction of the beast, and because of the excessive savagery in the opposition between dictatorship and democracy beside the character development of Jack. During the Lord of the Flies we are taken through many stages of the boy's lives on the island, each of which end in disaster as a result of "the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy.” (Golding 202). Once separated from civilized society, they become murderous savages. The theme in this novel is that human nature is evil and only veiled by the security of civilization. William Golding believes that every person has evil instincts which will never leave them. People usually wouldn't suspect such horrible crimes to be committed from little boys. He wants to show that any individual is basically evil. Every boy on the island goes to a military school, yet, when left alone, they become evil and savage. The message that evil will ultimately prevail over good and lack of hope or confidence in the future is the message from Golding. Thus we can conclude that William Golding's view of humanity is pessimistic.