Civilization In William Golding's Lord Of The Flies

Throughout the history of humanity, humans have different behaviors that change depending on what situations they are in. Psychologist Philip Zimbardo spent many years exploring human nature and has developed many theories about human behavior. One of Zimbardo’s ideas is about situational factors that states “one’s behavior is assumed to be dependent upon their current circumstances, situation or the environment that they are in.” He concluded the concept of situational factors after his Stanford Prison Experiment, in which he gave authority to regular people and observed any changes. The experiment proved that people’s behavior will change when they are in different situations. Zimbardo also believes that evilness is the exercise of power to harm people in anyway possible, so a five year old who teases others to Adolf Hitler would be classified as perpetrators of evil.

The novel “Lord of the Flies” was written by William Golding to demonstrate the problems of society and the sinful nature of man.

“Human nature is evil and goodness is caused by intentional activity” - Xunzi. Humans by nature have natural tendencies to evil however not everyone acts on those emotions.

      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

In the novel “Lord of the flies” written by William Golding examines the true nature of humankind when unfettered by the constraints of civilization, culture and society. When a group of boys varying in ages are stranded on an island without adult supervision, they immediately organize a society and elect Ralph as their Chief and Jack as the Hunter. The group of boys were divided into two groups the bigguns which comprised of the more seasoned children that symbolized government and littleuns which comprised of the younger children that symbolizes the ordinary people. Initially, everybody was given a responsibility and their role was taken seriously. However, the lack of maturity within them caused them to abandon assigned task that was pivotal

People change. People change depending on who they associate themselves with, what they enjoy doing, how they want to be viewed, and also and most relative in this situation, people change depending on the situation that they find themselves in and how the situations effects on them. In one of the greatest works of literature ever presented, Lord of the Flies written by William Golding, this change in people particularly through aggressive and violent behavior is ever-present throughout the text. The causes of aggression and or violent behavior in this case are a subject that is widely debated with different theories of causation supporting each side. Two of these sides presented can be seen in the articles ”A Bully’s Future, From Hard Life to Hard Time” written by Jane Brody, and “To Study Aggression, a Fight Club for Flies” written by James Gorman. The side most relative to the aggression and violence seen throughout Lord of the Flies is supported by the idea that aggression is mainly caused by personal and outside decisions and events, not by conditions predisposed for. Aggression and violence are not things that are forced upon oneself; they are quite simply determined by the factors of a persons life and how they are handled.

In Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, the Beast singlehandedly removes civilization from the island. At first, the Beast is only perceived as a minor fear, however, by the end of the book, it is perceived as an idol. The Beast is first introduced as a figment of the boys’ imagination, but further develops into a legitimate creature—by the boys—later on. By the end, the Beast becomes an actual G-d that the boys worship by offering sacrifices to it, symbolizing the substitution of civilization with savagery by the boys.

During the initial stages of the stranding of the boys, Jack’s inherently violent nature and elation at the lack of the presence of authority turns out to be useful, with him and a group of other boys forming a group of ‘hunters’, with the intention of providing for the community established by Ralph (with the assistance of Piggy). Upon the destruction of the shell, the symbolism for the point at which the semblance of civilisation fell apart, Jack’s violent reign led to an unequal distribution of power amongst the boys and the consequent deaths of Simon and Piggy. The key difference between the sides is the motive for power: Ralph wants to restore order and plan ahead, keeping in mind what he sees as the best option for the boys under his leadership, whereas on the other hand Jack is primarily motivated by his savage desires, free to flourish without a ‘proper’ authority to reign him in (although it could be argued that this was perpetrated by fear). Whilst the setting of these events seems disconnected from out perspective, as modern-day readers, the staging and symbolism of the whole ‘civilisation vs. savagery’ concept is a very real issue.

“Every civilization depends upon the quality of the individuals it produces” (Frank Herbert). Every person is taught different ways to act when in different situations; however, everyone is affected by society because everyone wants to fit in. Golding describes what life would be like if young boys were stranded on an island without technology and only other humans to help one’s own self to survive, in his novel Lord of the Flies. Golding provides the reader with details on why adolescence in a society need order, authority, and simply a role model to look up to. Without these existing in a society, humans’ actions and mental well-beings are not developed. With these characteristics in a society, a “normal” life can be pursued.

Based on the way William Golding wrote Lord of the Flies, it would seem that he would say Americans are free because even though they have laws and restrictions, everyone still has the right to be who they want to and do what they want. Golding shows in the book that if you become really free things can end badly such as when the boys split in two different tribes and fight against each other, when they kill Simon, or when they kill Piggy.

wrote this after publishing Lord of the Flies. It is our world, in the form of a story. The two leaders in the story are Ralph and Jack. Ralph starts off a comfortable leader of the boys, but by the end of the book, Ralph and his companion Piggy are alone facing Jack and the rest of the boys. As the novel progresses and the society on the island starts to change, so does Ralph. He begins thinking he has all the answers, but comes to realize that without Piggy he would have never gotten this far. By the end of the book, Ralph and Jack are complete opposites. Jack is about savagery and fun while Ralph is holding on to society, rules, and civilization. Appearing to be a weak leader due to defection of his followers, Ralph is actually dedicated and insightful, only loosing his followers because he could not compete with one category that attracts nearly everyone in the world: fun.

more of what is going on. He says, ‘If only they could get a message

Humans kill, whether it be animals, insects or people. The justice system is used to try and fix what others have done and in this way they are punished. They are punished in a functioning society with rules and laws, but when all that is stripped away, we are left with mass destruction and humans that kill. The novel Lord of the Flies, published in 1954 and written by Nobel Prize winning author, William Golding, portrays the violence and eradication of a functioning society through young boys stranded on an island. Golding uses the symbol fire and forgetfulness of the need for it to develop the theme of the loss of society and creation of uncivilized destruction.

Francis B. Sayre once stated, “Unless man has the wit and the grit to build his civilization on something better than material power, it is surely idle to talk of plans for a stable peace.” People control society because people set the rules and inform others what is right and what is wrong in which the rest follow through their actions. On the other hand, one may believe society controls the people because they view society as the one who is in charge and supposes that society advises people what to do and how to do it. People assemble the choices of what is justifiable in society, therefore controlling how society is perceived., In Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies, a society is controlled by a select few: allowing the boys to develop their own society through their rules and decisions, and entitling their society to transform into savagery

In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, symbolism and allegories were used to show how the children who are stranded on an island have a huge struggle with civilization and savagery. Ralph, Piggy, Jack, and Simon are the ones in the novel that struggle with this the most.