Good And Evil In 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.

Evil: A noun meaning profound immorality, wickedness, and depravity. Everyone has a little bit of evil in them, but it’s up to that person if they want to show it or not. In Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, a group of boys show the evil within themselves while being stranded on an island. Because of the situation that has been thrust upon them, they soon discover the true evil they are capable of. In the book, the boys show evil through their lust for power, the behavior that the boys express, and their murderous actions.

Humans have been around for about six million years. Humans have had their ups and their down. We have gained faith in humanity, yet we have lost faith in humanity. Which brings up the question, are humans inherently good or evil. The book Lord Of The Flies and documentary Promises clearly show how humans are inherently good. Humans are inherently good until they are changed because of the environment they are born in and how they are treated.

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.

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

Although humankind attempts its best at preventing evil actions, eventually evil rises above all else. While humans are living ordinary lives and living in ignorance, evil is always scheming and waiting to slide up behind the turned backs of society as depicted in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. One could argue that this is not the case and that good deeds always overshadow evil and that evil is just an occasional blip. However, what one’s opinion of society does not outshine the cold hard facts of humankind’s natural tendencies; specifically, how things are never as they seem, how easily humans can betray their emotions and how humans choose to ignore difficult situations in the search for an easy

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.

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.

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

Human morality is a topic as old as time. Among various stories, it dates back to the Biblical tale of the snake luring Eve to defy God’s morals by eating the forbidden fruit in the garden of Eden. William Golding expresses his stance that people are fundamentally evil in Lord of the Flies, a more modern tale. Golding’s first novel, first published in 1954, is the disheartening story of the aftermath of a plane crash, which leaves a cluster of young schoolboys to fend for themselves on a deserted island. Taking place during another world war, the boys begin orderly, but then themselves descend into chaos and war while on the island. It is evident from Lord of the Flies that it is human nature to be evil and cruel, which makes government necessary to function as a society and interact with others in an appropriate manner. Without the order and stability that government provides, every society would fall into chaos, which is represented well in Golding’s novel.

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