Good And 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.

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.

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.

Aldous Huxley once said, “The worst enemy of life, freedom and the common decencies is total anarchy; their second worst enemy is total efficiency” (“Aldous Huxley Quotes”). In the novel Island by Aldous Huxley, a man named Will Farnaby deliberately wrecks his boat on the shores of the fictional island of Pala. His task is to persuade the Rani (queen) of Pala to give oil rights of the island to his boss, Lord Joseph Aldehyde. However, the novel is not really about Will’s journey, but a vessel for presenting Huxley’s philosophies. Pala has a utopian society, where children are taught Buddhism, philosophy, and psychology instead of basic math and science. The people of Pala developed a system of government and society in which people were provided the

Good Vs. Evil. In the novel, Lord of the Flies, written by William Golding, there are instances of both good and evil, which becomes a main theme as the story progresses. Examples of good and evil are portrayed through the personalities of the boys, and the actions carried out by the kids in the story.

Mankind is evil. We say that what we do is for the greater good or that we’re good people but history has shown that, no matter how good our intentions, we’re evil. Mass genocide, rape, murder, theft, police brutality, lying and unlawful judgement. It all proves that we aren't just “good”, we’re the antagonist in someone's story. In William Golding's book Lord of the Flies, a plane is shot down in the middle of WWII.

In the book, Lord of the Flies, William Golding is trying various allegories to prove whether a man is inherently born evil or with virtuous qualities. Through the lens of psychology, the author is trying to prove that man is inherently born evil. He proves this by comparing the virtuous people with individuals who lack essential traits of civilization. In the end, it can easily be interpreted that a virtuous person can drift to the wrong path. For example Ralph, who, in the commencement of the book, is really strict about the morals and values. He wants people to realize that they did not come fro vacations on the island, but they should work to survive on the island. He is frustrated with the littluns always playing, and Jack and the Hunters

A question that has perplexed human minds of all capacities since the dawn of intelligent human thought, is whether the evil quality in humans is an inborn trait, or something that is attained through various experiences. In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a group of young boys experience the transition to evil in which took humans millions of years to emerge from. Humans are undoubtably born with the quality of being evil, but how it is covered or 'shoved under the rug' is what causes us to see it differently within a society. This behavior that society has come to recognize as evil can almost be proven by understanding that our 'evil' is the way humans evolved to be, that threats can cause the natural evil instinct to make an appearance,

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.

Human beings are born innocent and with all the potential to be good, and it is the environment and situations surrounding an individual that will shape them, for good or for evil. Although the author, William Golding, of the novel Lord of the Flies believes that every human is born with the prosperity to do evil, his book disproves this belief. Throughout the boy’s time alone on an island, specific characters and situations prove that human nature is in fact, naturally good. Evil is a very ambiguous idea capable of different definitions. An act can be evil and person can perform an evil act, but that does not automatically make that person an evil being.

The Inner Evil of Mankind A man named Eric Burdon once said that “There is the seed of both good and evil” The Lord of the Flies, a novel written by William Golding symbolizing the inner evil that is in all of us. The novel starts off with a group of british boys crashing and landing on a deserted island and trying to create a lawful society just like the one back at home. Throughout the novel some of the kids start to become savage like and lose any ties they had to civilization. This shows that without laws and civilization humans are naturally evil, and are not fit for good.

Evil resides in every human. It is buried deep within all people. Some would say the root of all evil began in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve ate forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Their act of evil doomed the following generations by passing it on. To keep us from going totally savage and civilized, society created rules to follow.

In Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses characters and their development to help express the theme of the novel. He says that all humans are naturally evil, but it is suppressed in civilization through laws and punishments. However, when there is not enough discipline, the instinct to live peacefully is overruled by innate evil. In the novel, Golding shows how evil is brought forth due to a lack of civilization through Ralph, Jack and Roger.

If we were dropped onto a deserted island, would we lose the very things that make us human? When stripped of those things, are we inherently good? Or are we inherently bad? Without even touching on the fact that using a large group of young, privileged British boys from the forties to represent the human race is quite appalling, the facts are that there is no such thing as inherent goodness or badness.

When God forged humans, people keep asking questions like: Why are we created? What is the world like before we were formed? And most of all, is human entirely capable of good and evil? In the beginning of the story, the boys are stranded on the island without parents and is liberated from society orders. Once the boys gathered together and holds a meeting, they establish rules and a system of civilization within themselves.