Nature Of Man In Lord Of The Flies

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.

Civilization was created to contain social structure. However, in utmost circumstances, it is possible for instinct to triumph over civility. Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, is a plane evacuating a group of British schoolboys that crashes over a tropical deserted island. Once they crash on the island, they pick Ralph, the protagonist of the novel, to be their leader, and Ralph chooses Jack, the antagonist of the novel, to be the leader of the hunters, establishing somewhat of a civilization. Then when Jack comes upon a mother boar and kills it, that’s when their makeshift civilization slowly diminishes and the boys become savages. In addition, loss of social structure within a society can lead to the absolute destruction of the civilization. The author of Lord of the Flies, William Golding, uses man vs man and man vs nature conflicts to develop the theme of loss of social structure leads to savagery. Golding reveals this theme by exploring the conflicts of

The Defects in Society are the Defects of Human Nature in Lord of the Flies

Lord of the Flies Man vs Society, Man vs Man, and Man vs nature Illustrate Humanity

William Golding once asked “Are men are born evil, or does society create evil men?” This is shown by many actions that mankind has shown over many years including in the book Lord of the Flies. Some people think society creates evil men. If you get bad luck or something doesn't go your way, they think you turn evil. Men as long as we know have fought for power and wealth since the beginning of time. As seen in Lord of the Flies when they fight for power as soon as the get to the island. They also participate in the killing in one of there friends simon. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, it clearly shows men are born evil. The boys just got to the island and were fighting for power as soon as they got there. Also the bullying and putting down of others. Lastly, wanting to kill and be cruel before their own well being.

“Most people don't listen with the intent to understand, they listen with the intent to reply” (Covey). In other words, there are many conflicts in the world that drives people and things to respond with physical and mental actions. Few actions can be harmful towards anyone and could potentially increase the difficulty of resolving the conflict. However, with many types of conflicts in real-world problems and literature, many become a prime example of what the human or thing is capable of and soon becomes resolved. In the novel, The Lord of The Flies, written by William Golding; man vs. man, man vs. society, and man vs. self, are the conflicts between children that simulate the battles in mankind.

‘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

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.

Young boys are constantly told to ‘man up,’ but what does being a man actually mean? Everyone has different opinions on what a man should be like: tough, intelligent, kind, sympathetic, and many other qualities. In William Golding’s book, Lord of the Flies, the boys on the island all have different opinions on what manhood is, and their thoughts are shown through their actions. The author illustrates the characteristics he thinks defines a man, an allegory of manhood, through his characters in the book. The character Simon shows helpfulness, Jack displays toughness, and Ralph exhibits maturity.

In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, in the chapters 4 through 6, one major form of conflict is man versus self. This is one of the major types of conflict, because the boys are constantly at war with themselves over whether or not this idea of a beast that lives on the island is real or not. When one of the boys speak of a beast that comes from the water, the group of boy’s “last laugh [dies] away” (88). The boys are mentally deciding on whether or not the idea of a beast coming out of the water and onto the island is credible or not. This is man versus self conflict, because they have to fight their own mind and childish terror in order to maintain a good mental sanity level. The littluns are the ones having the biggest difficulties with

William Golding is heavily influenced by his service to the royal navy and the events of World War One. “Human beings are savage by its nature, and are moved by urges toward brutality and dominance over others”. This is a recurring issue in William Golding’s, Lord Of The Flies. Not only where characters demonstrate elements of human nature beyond civilized human beings as they were struggling in a society with no rules nor civilization, but also as the novel is Golding’s attempt to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature. The world is an evil place within which living without fear would be a dream come true. The fear inside the boys had a major negative impact on the dramatic change of human nature

William Golding’s Lord of the Flies is a gritty allegory of adolescence, innocence, and the unspoken side of human nature. Countless social issues are portrayed, however one of the most reoccurring is the nature of man. Throughout the novel there is an ever-present focus on the loss of innocence amongst the boys, shown by the deterioration of social skills and their retrogression into a barbaric form of society. Also portrayed is the juxtaposition of a cruel, evil main character and a more classically good counterpart, and their eternal rivalry for power and authority over their younger subjects. Does society or the lack thereof create evil in human nature, or simply magnify a pre-existing

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.

    Despite the progression of civilization and society's attempts to suppress man's darker side, moral depravity proves both indestructible and inescapable; contrary to culturally embraced views of humanistic tendencies towards goodness, each individual is susceptible to his base, innate instincts. In William Golding's Lord of the Flies, seemingly innocent schoolboys evolve into bloodthirsty savages as the latent evil within them emerges. Their regression into savagery is ironically paralleled by an intensifying fear of evil, and it culminates in several brutal slays as well as a frenzied manhunt. The graphic consequence of the boys' unrestrained barbarity, emphasized by the

James Madison once said, “If men were angels, no government would be necessary”. But men are not angels and there is a need for government, because men are not inherently good. Throughout the novel, Lord Of The Flies, William Golding successfully portrays his view of human nature as inherently evil by the actions and thoughts of the boys who are stranded on an island. The catholic church’s standpoint that human nature is inherently good is overpowered by William Golding’s view. William’s view is expressed throughout the Lord Of The Flies through the savagery in the book, the desire to kill/ hunt, and the loss of their innocence.