Examples Of Evil In Lord Of The Flies

“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.

It is often suggested that Golding has a pessimistic view of human nature with the idea that though humans are capable of both evil and good, evil will always trump good. While there any many points which support this such as the boys descent into savagery and jack’s resentment and subsequent rebellion against Ralph. However there are some lighter spots in the story such as Sam and Eric's refusal to betray Ralph which may counteract this view on the story.

Literature for many years has described human nature as being evil once they fear something or are in a chaotic situation. In William Golding?s novel ?Lord of the Flies? which describes horrific exploits of a group of young boys who make a transition from civilized to barbaric. Golding

Near the end of the book, the boys realized that they were not actually the beast, resulting in questioning and confusion. Later, Ralph proclaims,- “If there was no beast- and almost certainly there was no beast- in case, well and good…”(Golding 120). Ralph’s declaration revealed how humans could start to become very scary if uncontrolled because they can result in joining sinful actions because of temptations. The diction supports the claim of Golding about human nature because it represents hallucination, temptation, and confusion which leads to releasing humans’ natural violence. Understanding that humans are like that is important because people need to see that humans are naturally violent and hostile, but the civilization and higher authorities account for discipline and laws to keep citizens sane and safe from harm. The beast caused the boys some significant confusion which resulted in growing violence and bloody, grotesque and horrid

In Lord Of The Flies by William Golding, Golding claims that no matter how civilized or innocent all human beings are, the surrounding environment can change how people interact with each other and turn them from civilized beings into savages. He uses Jack to show that when human nature does not have any restraints, it will slowly evolve into savagery. Jack at first is a respectful, civilized person that is willing to communicate and cooperate with Ralph, but when confronting with the act of killing a pig makes him lose all sense of shame and conscience, he starts acting evil and wanting to hunt Ralph. By the end of the novel, Golding ultimately shows that everyone is capable of being evil and it is only society’s rules that keep most individuals from acting out evil.

The novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding questions individuals whether humans are naturally good or evil. Throughout the novel, there are certain events and people that show humans are good. Not only is it shown in books but in real life too. Martin Luther King Jr. is a great example of this because what he did changed millions of lives and not in a bad way. As of the book, there are two characters that support the idea of humans being good. One of them is Simon and the other is Samneric. These two characters in Lord of the Flies help shape the answer of this question because the island never changed them. Humans have the choice of whether they want to turn evil or remain good. As seen by Simon and Samneric in Lord of the Flies by William

Are we inherently good or evil? William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies suggests that we as humans have the potential to become good or evil. William Golding’s novel suggest that society shapes the way us as humans act, and when the children were taken away from humanity, the actions of the boys reflect how us as humans would act if we were taken away from society. Throughout the novel there are many times where the boys become savage and allow the beast that is inside of them to take over, for example in chapter nine the boys are having a gathering on the beach and then they get taken away by the excitement and mistake Simon as being the beast, this leads the boys to clawing him into pieces and eventually killing him. At this point the

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

Many times throughout the book, Piggy is the voice of reason and helps to guide Ralph along that same road if he loses his way. After scolding Samneric for being pessimistic about their fate, Ralph momentarily forgets the reasons why the signal fire is so important. "He tried to remember. Smoke, he said, we want smoke. Course we have. Cos the smoke's a signal and we can't be rescued if we don't have smoke. I knew that! Shouted Ralph" (Golding 172). Ralph begins to lose his initial cheerfulness and enthusiasm and replaces it with disinterest and pessimism. Piggy and Ralph separate themselves from Jack and his tribe and continue to maintain their "government". However, when Jack and his tribe kill a pig and invite Ralph and Piggy to join their feast, the two accept and cannot resist the temptation of the meat. Later on in the celebration, Jack and his tribe perform a ritualistic dance, in which Piggy and Ralph later join. "Piggy and Ralph, under the threat of the sky, found themselves eager to take a place in this demented but partly secure society" (Golding 152). They realize that the dance fueled the boys to murder Simon, and later deny their participance in it. "We left early, said Piggy quickly, because we were tired" (Golding 158). Ralph and Piggy recognize the evil in the dance, and know that if the others found out about their participance in it, then the boys would claim that Piggy and Ralph would be

When humans are pushed to survive, they are willing to do anything to do so. In the novel “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding, a group of boys are stranded on an island and have to survive, however as the story progresses the boys become more barbaric and savage like. Even though there are good people in this world, there will always be evil. Why does evil exist? Golding’s belief of human nature is that humans are naturally evil and savage. However, law and civility keep humans from turning into this natural state of evil and Golding uses the development of Jack to show how savagery is created.

When the debate of whether humanity is fundamentally good-hearted or wicked is brought to attention, people tend to focus on the evil around them since there is an abundance of it, and throughout William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, and the literary elements of foreshadowing and internal conflict, he proves that humans are essentially evil.

One reason that humans are inherently evil, is because of the environment they are surrounded by. In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the boys, who have been stranded on an island, become a product of the remote environment. The evil within the boys is brought out from the absence of a government to restrict their actions. The boys no longer have rules to follow on this island, and because of that, evil begins to emerge from within the boys and appears in day to day actions. Sam and Eric, who have been taken hostage by the savages, describe the evil they have witnessed. They confess, “‘Roger sharpened a stick at both ends’” (Golding 190). Roger is influenced by the savages that Jack and the other boys have turned into. By sharpening this stick, Roger shows how truly evil he has become. He

Evil is and forever will be as old as the human race itself. Evil is inherent in humanity. William Golding’s Lord of the Flies depicts a group of boys consumed by chaos as they destroy not only their civilization, but also their morality and culture. William Golding utilizes Jack Merridew to justify his opinion that evil is a part of human nature.

Every human being is savage at heart, no matter how hard they try to oppress it. Evil is an instinct, a part of human kind, but what exactly is evil and what defines it? Mr. Golding believes that evil is intrinsic to human beings; he shows some examples of evil in the Lord of the Flies, in a form called bullying. Bullying increases the bully’s self-confidence, while it lowers the victim’s, in this case Jack harass Piggy to increase his self-assurance. Humans have two desires that conflict with each other: to live by civilization and to live by savagery. The civilized impulse we have is to live peacefully, morally, and by rules and laws. The savage characteristic we have is to act violently, using force to gain authority and power over

‘Lord of the Flies’ is based almost entirely on Golding’s view that evil is an inherent force in every man, “man produces evil as a bee produces honey”. Golding acquired this belief while he was a soldier in the Second World War. From that point on, he became extremely pessimistic about human nature, calling it “the disease of being human”. This belief is shown very clearly, as he puts ‘innocent’ children on a deserted island, free of all corruption; free of an external threat, therefore with no need of an army; abundant in food and supplies, therefore with no need to steal. Therefore, what evil was left could only come from the