Essay on How Lord of the Flies Related to Aspects of Human Nature

Humans have created societies around the globe to maintain order and peace, but like everything, humans have defects and, thus, so do the societies they have created. This statement has been proven through many real world experiences, as well as in many works of literature, such as The Hunger Games series showing the defects in fictional futuristic societies or Unbroken showing the weaknesses of the society from past events. William Golding, a Nobel Prize winner in literature, created the novel, Lord of the Flies, forever changing our view on human nature’s potential effects on society. Golding used Lord of the Flies to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature. Golding prominently used images as symbols to express his theme, whether it be the fire for heat, the conch for calling an assembly or the beast for demonstrating the inner evil of mankind; each item had its own purpose to aid in developing the theme. As the fire initially began as a source of hope, it later changed into a weapon of unspeakable power.

Golding wanted to reveal to the reader his point of view and theory of human nature. He wanted to make it clear that each member of humankind has a dark side, which is portrayed

Throughout Lord of the Flies, Golding shows his views of the inherent evil of humans. He shows how humans can be in such a savage state, practically mimicking the way of life of their prehistoric ancestors. He exemplifies this with acts of carnage carried on by the young stranded children. It all started with a slight urge to hunt down a pig and then continued on to murdering another human being. Golding shows his views best at the end of the book with the boys being rescued by a Navy crew, which would go on to war it self.

Humanity. It means a lot of things to a lot of people, every single one of us has an opinion about it. Our base for this opinion, however, comes from what we know of humanity, how it’s treated us, how it’s treated our family, how it’s treated others around us, others we don’t even know.

It is a very arguable subject on whether or not people are born with good intentions, and therefore taught by others the ‘evil’ side of their personality. Whether it is the absence of ethical conduct in human nature, or just the way one perceives a situation, evil seems to be prominent in our everyday lives. Humans seem to have a moral code that follows them with every decision they make, yet despite the laws of morality and society, people of this world still seem to behave inhumanely because of the act of self-preservation, human interest, and who exactly the authority figure is at the time.

Golding’s specific choice of setting and characters assists greatly in showing the essentially cruel and inhumane nature of humanity. For example, his

One of the major themes of Lord of the Flies, deals with the struggle between right and wrong and the moral integrity of a society. As soon as the boys realize that they are alone on the island, the battle between right and wrong begins. Ralph emerges as the chief and plans to begin a civilized society. When the boys are left to their own devices, chaos ensues. Some of the boys would rather hunt and kill than build shelter, so Jack’s tribe becomes increasingly popular. Without the existence of rules and refinement, there is little hope for the future of the boys. The beast plays a big role in this theme because it lurks inside everyone. The evils lie within and choices have to be made to survive, whether through smart thinking or

While Roger only threw rocks at the littluns to miss in the beginning of the book, Roger becomes more violent and demonstrates that he is capable of committing murder by releasing a rock that kills Piggy. Moreover, the conch—which is the symbol of order and civilization in Lord of the Flies—“exploded into a thousand white fragments.” Without the conch and its reminder of order and civilization, the boys become more savage and all show that they have the ability to kill. Regardless of their background as innocent choir boys, these violent events where Jack and the boys in his tribe bring a cruel end to a sow and Piggy show that all humans have a capability for brutality, despite their background.

“Things are breaking up. I don’t understand why. We began well. We were happy.” (Golding 87). In this statement, Ralph realizes that his life, and those of the others’ on the island, is going to hit rock-bottom. All goes terribly wrong when the beast is introduced by the littlun with the mulberry patch on his face in Chapter 2. The beast is the reason for all the chaos in Lord of the Flies. The beast is an imaginary creature that frightens all the boys, and yet, it stands symbolically for the savagery that exists within all human beings. As the boys develop their fear and grow more and more certain of the presence of a beast, they also become more and more savage. William Golding uses the beast as a way to show the demise of the boys while they are on the island. The beast represents the irrational fear that exists within man, the savage monster within us all, and the ability for man to use intimidation to gain ultimate power.

In our society, people are often cruel to one another in the want for personal gain, but this is restrained to mere social interactions and online in our industrial world. However, when we are separated from civilized society and the pressures that it places upon us, we are quick to turn to savage, cruel behavior to survive. Golding understood this idea, that we are only civilized when others are watching, and showed the possibility for even the purest to become affected by societal pressures in his novel, the Lord of the Flies. In order to show the role of cruelty in shaping the novel Lord of the Flies, Golding uses character archetypes, the idea of cosmic irony, and extended symbolism to highlight the inherent flaws of human nature and the potential for even the purest individuals to turn to cruel ways due to societal pressures.

William Golding, author of the classic novel, Lord of the Flies, had a number of life experiences that impacted his view of the world and led to the creation of his book. The most prominent experience he has had might of been his time spent in the Royal Navy, which revealed a darkness in himself and his writing. This darkness was portrayed by the beast by aspects of War, Fear, and Savagery.

At one point, a dead pilot lands on the island, which the boys (specifically SamnEric) mistake for the beast they already feared (document D). At this point in the story, the beast begins to represent war. This new “beast” came after Ralph wished for a sign from the grownup world in chapter 6. It symbolizes that even the adults can’t help them, quite possibly because they are no better. As stated earlier, everything the boys do is influenced by their perception of the existence of a beast. When Golding writes the beast to represent war, the boys actions are related to war (document C). This first shift in the meaning of the beast occurs as the boys are beginning to divide, as Jack begins to undermine Ralph. The beast symbolizes war; the boys are consumed by the beast, and the boys are eventually consumed by

Lord of the Flies is a book that takes place during World War II, and is about a group of English school boys who crashed in a plane on an island without any adult survivors. Throughout the story, the boys struggle to keep a mindset based on rescue and survival, and instead think more about hunting and having fun, while avoiding any responsibility. During this, the boys also struggle with fear of a "beastie" - what is the beast? To the author, the beast began as war, then it became the externalized form of the boys' fear, and ended as savagery.

For example, at one point in the novel, Roger throws rocks around Henry to scare him. “Round the squatting child was the protection of parents and school and policemen and the law. Roger’s arm was conditioned by a civilization that knew nothing of him and was in ruins (Golding 65).” Back home, Roger was punished for any bad behavior. On the island, without parents, nor adult supervision, Roger is free to misbehave without any consequence. When Roger joins Jack’s tribe, he has more freedom, which led to his arm no longer being conditioned by civilization, rather through his own will. Roger wanted to kill Piggy, not merely to scare him. This time Roger followed through with the murder by throwing a boulder directly at Piggy’s head, instead of around him. “The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist. Piggy, saying nothing, with no time for even a grunt, travelled through the air sideways from the rock, turning over as he went (200).” This ultimately led to Piggy’s brutal death. “His head opened and stuff came out and turned red. Piggy’s arms and legs twitched a bit, like a pig’s after it has been killed (201).”

Human nature is the “general psychological characteristics, feelings, and behavioral traits of humankind”. Between the Book, Lord of the flies and The Crucible, human nature is strongly portrayed through similar characters such as Simon and Mary Warren, Satan/Devil and the Beast, and Jack and Abigail. Simon and Mary Warren both share their wise and kind traits and being bringers of truth, while Satan/Devil and the Beast share the characteristic of exotic and the unknown, both are also able to bring out each person’s human nature like Jack and Abigail’s, which is consisted of being selfish liars. Lastly, Jack and Abigail, who both portray betrayal and the same characteristics of being evil, lying , and selfishness.