Evil In The Lord Of The Flies By William Golding

“All human beings are commingled out of good & evil” was a quote once said by notable Scottish novelist Robert Louis Stevenson. This quotation discusses and supports William Golding’s, the author of Lord of the Flies, belief that all humans have a distinct character flaw that, when left unchecked by morals and laws of society, will eventually corrupt the individual. In Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, it’s shown how due to their environment and lack of supervision, the young boys slowly progress and evolve into barbaric, bloodthirsty individuals.

Throughout the novel Lord Of The Flies, the boys on the island are continuously faced with numerous fears. Subsequently there is nothing on the island which they fear more than the beast. The beast is not a tangible object that can be killed or destroyed by conventional means, but an idea symbolizing the primal savage instincts within all people. Its Golding’s intention to illustrate the innate evil inside man through his view of human nature, the actions of the Jack and his tribe, and the relationship between the beast and the school boys.

Everyone would like to believe that man is not naturally evil, but that is not the case; Natural evil is real, and it can be evident everywhere. Not only are there many studies supporting the fact, but even the Bible acknowledges man’s natural evil. And if these evil are left unchecked, they leave to treacherous situations, as presented in William Golding’s, Lord of The Flies. The novel takes place on an island run by kids, and only held together by flimsy society lead by Ralph, the original chief. Only when Jack, Ralph’s former partner, challenges his authority that is when it starts to fall. Jack’s temptations to undo Ralph’s doing and to revert to primal savagery takes over him and eventually leads him to do actions that could only describe as an anarchist criminal. The only

Through the Hsun Tzu’s opinion, he put forward the “man’s nature is evil”. In the article, he said: “Man’s nature is evil; goodness is the result of conscious activity”. It means human’s nature is bad, incomplete and weak, and we burn with the “fondness for profit”, but the issue decided the people become bad or good, it is if we follow our nature or we change it and learn to be better.

Throughout history, philosophers have wondered what essentially drives people to do certain actions. It is not clear whether these actions occur because humans are intrinsically good or bad. Nevertheless, the novel Lord of the Flies and several historical examples provide some insight into why human beings may be fundamentally bad.

While humans try their best to stop evil intentions, evil eventually overcomes. Although humans are ignorant and live their lives normally, evil finds a way to pounce on society. In order to suppress evil dominion is needed in the world. This is demonstrated in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. In this novel, when a horrific plane crashes on an island, a handful of boarding school boys find themselves stranded on a tropical island at a time during World War II. On the island, they govern themselves, hunt, and figure things out while waiting to be rescued. As time passes, there is conflict between two main characters, Jack and Ralph, who take on leadership roles. Another main character named Simon, is a mystical boy who spends time by himself

William Golding, the author of the novel: Lord of the Flies, stated; “man produces evil as a bee produces honey”. Evil is inherited in human nature. Inborn evil is expressed throughout the genetics, behaviors, and actions of humans. Although, some claim that evil is obtained from personal experiences, human evil is inborn because genetically, ones who have committed wicked acts possess certain genes that are affiliated with violence. From simulations, inborn evil is identified to be true because humans are proven to possess evil behavior and wicked thoughts during their childhoods. In addition, experiments and real life situations show that ordinary humans are willing to harm other humans, if instructed or mentally unstable.

In the novel Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, a group of young British boys crash on a deserted island. Throughout the story, there are three significant situations that demonstrate the theme stating that civilization can mitigate but never wipe out the innate evil that exists within all human beings. The three situations are the first pig hunt, the torture of Robert, and the attempted murder of Ralph.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth. After having created everything on Earth, He made man. “The Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.’”(NIV Genesis 2:15). Thus, He made Eve from the rib of Adam. God told Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree of knowledge but the evil serpent, who was craftier than them, tricked Eve into eating the fruit. Eve later convinced Adam after having argued with him and he gave in. Both were punished by God for having gone against His word and would suffer the consequences of it. “So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After He drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden a cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life” (Genesis 3:23-24).

Siddhārtha Gautama, a man who founded the basis for a religion with 500 million faithful followers, postulated that “‘It is a man's own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.’” Gautama describes that one’s flawed decisions are not influenced by his enemies, and one’s final decision is his to make alone, not to be affected by others. This is illustrated by the actions of the main figures in Lord of the Flies. The characters in the novel are British schoolboys under the age of twelve, yet on multiple accounts it is demonstrated how violent the youngsters can be. The narrative is an ongoing struggle between the juveniles and their own thoughts, which they refer to as the Beast. They refuse to accept that the Beast is in their minds, so they portray it as a monster which lurks during nighttime. The boys whose minds develop negatively create a civilization where brutality is emboldened, while the few that resist the temptation to become hateful are loathed and killed by the others. In Lord of the Flies by William Golding the literary element characterization depicts how loneliness can adversely affect the sanity and mind of an individual.

The greatest gift man possesses is the ability to choose. In the novel, The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, a group of boys get stranded on an island without any adults. The boys quickly form their own version of society, by choosing a leader and making “laws.” Consequently, the boys begin to realize they are without supervision and guidance and can make their own decisions. This realization leads to struggles for power and boys giving to their darkest temptations. Golding explores the idea presented by Eric Burdon, that “inside each of us, there is a seed of both good and evil. It’s a constant struggle as to which one will win. And one cannot exist without the other.” Burdon is correct in his assertion that humans have potential for both good and evil because people are always given a choice, capable of choosing either.

Knowing William Golding took part of World War II, we as readers can understand why Golding wrote Lord of the Flies and other survival-fiction novels. When the story was released in 1954, Golding described his book as "an attempt to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature." It is unmistakably obvious to anyone who reads this book that Golding is trying to exaggerate the good and evil in the boys on the island. Throughout the book, we learn that people, including children, are not pure goodness. Deep inside there is an evil constantly trying to rise to the surface of our minds. Golding proves that eventually the evil within us will destroy us. Golding saw in World War II what

William Golding was born in England, and joined the English Navy in 1940, at the crux of World War II. As a result of the carnage and violence of the fighting, Golding established a new view of the human race. In his own words, “the horrors of World War II can only be accounted for on the basis of some kind of innate human evil”. Golding expressed his ideas of an innate human evil in his novel, Lord of the Flies. Using mainly symbolism to articulate his ideology, Golding first introduces the reader to a group of young boys stranded on an island after fleeing a war in England. The boys quickly select a striking boy, Ralph, as chief, and an ugly redhead, Jack, as the leader of the hunters. Within the first chapters, it is clear to the reader

Many years ago, Charles Darwin introduced a theory that we humans are a species which evolved from animals that have inhabited the Earth for many years, and he believed that we were civilized, intelligent, and logical life forms for these very reasons. In the novel, Lord of the Flies by William Golding there is a prominent theme of good versus evil which reveals that maybe humans are not the civilized human beings that they were said to be. William Golding carefully netted this theme with his utilization of literary device such as his symbolism. Golding uses this simple story of English boys stranded on an inhabited island to illustrate how destructive humans can be when implanted in a impoverished environment where they

Every day people hear about violence in the news, about terrorists, shooters, and robbers they do not associate with themselves. Comparatively, innate evil hides within everyone, as Golding claims. The novel, Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, takes place on an uninhabited island where a group of young British boys finds themselves stranded without any adults. Overcoming their joy, the boys develop a society of sorts, finding ways to survive and be rescued. However, the civilization divides. Some of the boys go astray, their primitive instincts emerging through their actions as they become more violent. The boys lose their identities as cultured humans. With the aid of the masks they don in order to hunt, as well as to identify savages, they revert to the nature of pre-civilization beings. Due to their loss of identity and effectively, their domesticity, they become savage. Golding develops the characters, specifically Ralph and Jack, showing the loss of their innocence and steady maturing. However, overly exposed to the wild, Jack and the hunters’ id, or their instincts unbounded by society or morals, start to show. The id is the impulsive section of the mind containing the inner desires. Moreover, the ego and superego, which represent the consciousness, restrict it. Golding presents the battling two sides of society, savagery represented by Roger and civilization represented by the conch and Piggy, throughout the novel. In Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the actions of