Lord of the Flies and Human Nature Essay

Golding starts off his story with a civilized society which slowly descends into savagery and tyranny. For instance, Ralph and Jack are utterly ashamed of not knowing how to build a fire in the beginning of the story because as leaders, they are responsible for the others who follow them. This shows that a sense of responsibility, a sign of a civil school of thought, is present in the minds of Jack and Ralph. At this moment, both of the boys feel embarrassed for being incompetent and not living up to the expectations of their followers. This reassures the reader of the presence of civilization. As time progresses, a drastic change in the entire group can be observed. Starting with the hunters, barbarism

However, in contrast to this when Jack comes across a pig, evidentially to kill as he assigned himself the role of hunter, Jack is unable to murder the animal. Golding describes

He even goes on to imply that killing is more important than being rescued when he says: “all the same, I’d like to catch a pig first,” while Ralph notices “a mad look… [in] his eyes.” Jack and his followers fall so deep into the darkness that they murder an innocent boy: Simon. As the boys chant, “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood,’ Jack leads them on to kill “the beast” which is actually Simon. The next day Jack goes on to beat another child and shows no remorse for anything that he has done. That is when it is apparent to readers that he has officially lost all humanity and is completely savage. Golding is showing that anyone, even a young child, if pushed far enough, can give in to that evil inside them. Everyone has a choice, but some seem to give in a little easier than others.

It is a very arguable subject on whether or not people are born with good intentions, and therefore taught by others the ‘evil’ side of their personality. Whether it is the absence of ethical conduct in human nature, or just the way one perceives a situation, evil seems to be prominent in our everyday lives. Humans seem to have a moral code that follows them with every decision they make, yet despite the laws of morality and society, people of this world still seem to behave inhumanely because of the act of self-preservation, human interest, and who exactly the authority figure is at the time.

At its core, is mankind essentially good, or does it use law and order to mask its evil? Through his book The Lord of the Flies, William Golding causes questions concerning the ethicality of humanity to rise to the surface of the mind. The stripping away of distractions and structure he depicts in his all-too-real novel reveals society’s true nature. As a reader studies the settings, characters and plots of Lord of the Flies and how they relate to significant events in recent times, Golding’s message of the evil nature of humanity becomes increasingly clear and impactful.

… The madness came into his eyes again. ‘I thought I might kill.’”(Golding, page 51). If Jack were hunting exclusively for the purpose of food, his inner “compulsion to kill” as stated by the author would not exist to begin with. In fact, this statement appears to suggest the opposite—that his inner compulsion to kill is some kind of inner need rather than just an innocent venture to acquire food for the rest of the boys. Therefore, due to the wording of the author from the quote on page 51 as an addition to the quote on page 31 (which can be surmised as foreshadowing of evil) it provides the basis of Jack’s hunting proving him a symbol of evil. From page 134 onwards, this relationship is further solidified by the following few quotes: “A little apart from the rest, sunk in deep maternal bliss, lay the largest sow of the lot. She was black and pink, and the great bladder of her belly was fringed with a row of piglets…” (page 134), “She blundered into a tree… could follow her easily by the vivid drops of blood. …and the hunters followed… excited by the long chase and the dropped blood.”(page 135), and “Jack held up the head and jammed the soft throat with the pointed end which pierced through into the mouth (Golding, page 136 and 137). The first detail on page 134 indicates the pig they have their sights on is a mother of a few piglets. Quite

In ‘Lord of the Flies’, how does Golding explore the main characters’ struggle against adversity?

Golding uses the characters from Lord of the Flies just as Shakespeare did to prove that man is turned to evil. The narrative illustrates a story about a group of British boys who get stranded on a deserted island without any adults. This lack of a stable society and presence of leadership forces the boys to create their own, and this works for the boys for a while. The boys turn themselves into savages and begin to do evil deeds which continue to get worse until they are rescued. In the time between their rescue, the society the boys create devolves and turns them into savages although this was not always the case. When the boys first arrived, Ralph, the fair haired boy, attempts to lead them in a civilized manner, but through the influence of Jack, many of the boys become evil. Jack mutants against Ralph saying, “ I'm not going to be a part of Ralph lot... I'm going off by myself. He can catch his own pigs. Anyone who wants to hunt when I do can come too,” (Golding 127) in saying this Jack has made most of the boys on the island betray their leader which proves both Jack and his followers to be evil. The society the boys created glorifies violence and death:“... the boys… found themselves eager to take part in this demented… society.” (Golding 152). Jack, the leader of the violent tribe, often takes his followers on gruesome hunts on which they graphicly disembowel the kill, and after the hunt, Jack leads a chant while the other boys stand

Golding was a pessimistic man but he was also a truthful man. He understood that man is inherently evil and wrote a book explaining his knowledge to the world. This was a bold move but he wrote the Lord of the Flies because he had a message that he needed to unveil. Why was this message so significant? He saw the brutality of WWII from the position of a British soldier in the Royal Navy. He saw people being slaughtered in front of him. The cruelties of war can only be described in a basic way through a children’s book because if he were to go into detail everyone would be throwing up their lattes and pink, sprinkled pop-tarts. However, his purpose was to write this novel and if he chose not to do it, there would have been one more reason for people to be naive in their beliefs of this world. Instead, he was a truthful man who was not afraid to divulge the necessary information to make people stop and think about their actions. Therefore, doesn’t it make sense that Golding would write a novel arguing his point of the inherent evil of man?

      In the novel, Lord of the Flies, William Golding tells the story of a group of boys on an island left out to self survive. The time was World War II when the plane the boys were in was shot down leaving young survivals on a deserted island without any adults. The whole story is about what happens during their stay on the island representing metaphoric ideas of humanity in each incident as Golding describes. Golding has reportedly said that he wrote the novel in response to his personal war experiences. “ (The war)… taught us not fighting, politics or the follies of nationalism, but about the given nature of man.” (Golding) By looking at Lord of the Flies, it is clear that Golding’s view of

The Lord of the Flies by William Golding is tale of a group of young boys who become stranded on a deserted island after their plane crashes. Intertwined in this classic novel are many themes, most that relate to the inherent evil that exists in all human beings and the malicious nature of mankind. In The Lord of the Flies, Golding shows the boys' gradual transformation from being civilized, well-mannered people to savage, ritualistic beasts.

In the novel, Lord of the Flies, William Golding is able to use his outstanding writing abilities utilizing metaphors, symbolism, and other literary devices to establish a hidden message throughout the novel. The hidden message that Golding builds on is that there is a natural evil inside every human being, which is suppressed in an organized society through laws, rules, and punishment. The young boys in the novel are on an island all by themselves. There is no punishment for their actions, therefore allowing that evil to come out of most of the boys. All humans have an innate evil within them and that evil is brought out when there is a lack of civilization and consequence as seen in Simon’s murder,

Golding shows evil within humans through Jack. Jack symbolizes cruel political leaders such as Castro and Hitler. He is the leader of the hunters, but the first time they find a pig he is not able to kill it. Jack not being able to kill the pig showed that he was still civilized, but later obsessing over the pig he transformed into a savage. William Golding through Jacks character showed that everyone is born good and evil, but

Human nature is the “general psychological characteristics, feelings, and behavioral traits of humankind”. Between the Book, Lord of the flies and The Crucible, human nature is strongly portrayed through similar characters such as Simon and Mary Warren, Satan/Devil and the Beast, and Jack and Abigail. Simon and Mary Warren both share their wise and kind traits and being bringers of truth, while Satan/Devil and the Beast share the characteristic of exotic and the unknown, both are also able to bring out each person’s human nature like Jack and Abigail’s, which is consisted of being selfish liars. Lastly, Jack and Abigail, who both portray betrayal and the same characteristics of being evil, lying , and selfishness.

In addition to the barbaric actions of the boys, which include Robert getting hurt, the murdering of the sow and the hunt for Ralph, Golding also shows us that savagery exists in all people through the effects of war in the outside world. The plane filled with kids “was [under attack],” and as Piggy looks