The Genesis 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.

In certain situations even the most delightful people could become evil. In the book Lord of the Flies by William Golding’s book takes place during world war II a plane full of british schoolboys crashes, the only survivors are the children. They attempt to form a type of government but two people want to be leaders. Ralph is suppose to be “chief” but Jack also wanted to be, later in the book he got his wish. They kill two of their friends and try to kill another. They eventually get rescued by a naval officer. Golding’s major argument throughout the novel is that evil is an inborn trait of mankind.

Although not mentioned much at the start of the novel, by the end, Roger becomes Jack’s right-hand man. The following quote best captures Roger’s merciless savagery, Golding writes, “‘High overhead, Roger with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever… The rock struck Piggy a gleaning blow from chin to knee… the body of Piggy was gone.”’(Golding 181). Roger, in this scene, murders Piggy in cold blood. Roger clearly knows it is wrong to kill; but, with “abandonment” pushed the rock. Roger, who was first seen throwing stones at Henry, throws the rocks in the area around Henry. This demonstrates that he still has traces of civilization left and that the thought of rules exist. Roger; although, slowly afterwards loses most of his civilization. Once again seen with Jack after they kill the mother pig, Roger, tortures the pig with no remorse. During this sick scene, Roger stabs the pig in whatever place he can find. After all of this, the first thing Roger asks is how are we going to cook it. Finally, when Roger kills Piggy he reaches his final transformation into savagery; therefore, without parental supervision, Roger’s extremely corrupt human nature emerges. Along with Roger’s exhibition of corruptness, Ralph also displays the true human

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.

potato is about a group of boys stranded on an island. As time progresses, they become more like savages and animals as their grasp on humanity slips. The real problem faced by the boys in William Golding’s Lord of The Flies is their inner evil; their solutions fall short because they are afraid to admit that they are the problem.

William Golding contends in his novel “Lord of the flies” that the dangers of evil which lurk inside all of us savagery are through the character Roger. When one considers the word savagery, specifically within the frame of william golding’s novel, savagery comes as a result of freedom and no consequences. In the novel when Roger gets stuck on the island he isn’t certainly evil in fact he is a very shy kid . Although as the story progresses we see him descending into it evilness and savagery. We see that when Roger is walking on the beach with mauris after kicking the kids sandcastle, “Roger stooped, picked up a stone, aimed threw it at henry….threw it to miss.”(Chapter 4) This was a sign of savagery growing inside of him. He wanted to hit

Thesis Statement: The novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding portrays the theme that regardless of each person’s different background and characteristics, every individual has the ability to commit brutal acts. While this book depicts Ralph and Piggy as the most civilized characters, and Jack and his hunters as young English choir boys, their actions reveal that they all have the capability to act violently.

The Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a novel about a group of boys stranded on an island with no adults and no rules. Golding believes that humans all have a capability to do wrong, and through The Lord of the flies portrays how certain situations make a human’s capacity for evil more prominent. Golding shows how the boys’ civilization deteriorates from being good British kids to murderous savage people. The novel can easily be connected to the Stanford Prison Experiment, and how what happened to the boys on the island can happen outside the realm of fiction. Golding shows the reader what the Lord of the Flies is in the book and how the namesake of the book is found in all of us.

When stalking Henry, Roger “picked up a stone, aimed, and [...] threw it to miss. [There] was a taboo of the old life [...] [his] arm was conditioned by a civilization that knew nothing of him and was left in ruins” (62). Roger “threw to miss” mainly because he still had some empathy within him and knew that it was wrong to hurt Henry. He was thinking about the consequences when throwing; similarly, this would be the kind of behavior he would exhibit at home when about to break a rule. The adhesive effect of civilization is strong within him as he throws because he intends to miss; however, the action of Roger throwing the rock is already detrimental which signifies the growing of evil in him. The consequences were imposed by adults in “old life,” but now, there are none to impose restrictions on him. Slowly, he realizes that there is no wrong in doing such things because of the lack of real authority and begins to regress in qualities. The adults in Roger’s “old life” taught him to not throw rocks, but not the difference between right and wrong. The “state of nature” is shown when Roger performs the malevolent action of destroying sand castles and subsequently contemplating of whether to harm Henry with rocks or not. In expressing his regret, Roger is indicating that the difference between good and evil is not one that he is familiar with. Some will argue that Roger is evil because he was the one responsible for Piggy’s

The self-restricted actions of Roger before savagery fully settles on the island are the result of the imposed order of everyday human life. Roger is playfully throwing stones at Henry, but does not allow any of them to hit his target. To show the importance and connection of Roger’s actions, Golding writes, “Roger gathered a handful of stones and began to threw them. Yet there was a space around Henry, perhaps six yards in diameter, into which he dare not throw. Here, invisible yet strong, was the taboo of the old life” (Golding 62). Roger, throwing rocks at someone to begin with, has a desire to hurt people. The “taboo of old life”, however, is able to completely restrict this desire from doing any harm, being “invisible yet strong” as well as making Roger unable to “dare” to throw a stone close to Henry. This language makes it seem as if Roger, having gone through the civilization of “old life”, is forced to

In the book Lord of the flies by William Golding, around 15 boys between the ages of 9 to 12 were left stranded on a deserted island. As they navigate through the ways of survival, many of the boys find their cause to fall into savagery. Throughout Lord of the flies, Golding draws a fine line between savagery and civilization as the novel progresses. The author suggests that human nature has an inborn sense of savagery, and evil that lies within that is only controlled by the pull of civilization.

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.

    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

He seems to be Jack, the story’s main antagonist’s, right hand man, and is seen throughout the book blatantly showing his evil side. Earlier in the book there’s a scene where Roger is throwing stones at a littlun, but misses him on purpose. This is because Roger had been conditioned in his life before the island by society’s expectations not to do violent things like hit people with rocks. In this passage, which occurs towards the end of the story, Roger ends up hitting Piggy with the giant boulder positioned for the defense of Jack’s tribe, symbolizing that the boundaries set by society had no longer had a hold on Roger’s actions. Golding’s use of symbolism in Roger’s rock throwing helps reveal how much farther evil has infected Roger’s mind. The rocks represented his desires to do evil things and him missing or hitting his target symbolizes the presence or absence of the barrier set by society. Not only does Roger show this change in discipline, but the way he sees the other boys also changes. As he stands on the top of the hill with his hand on the lever that would release the boulder, “Below him, Ralph was a shock of hair and Piggy a bag of fat.” (Golding, 180). Roger no longer sees Ralph and Piggy as humans, but as inanimate objects.He goes on to release the boulder down the hill. It then hits and

Since Roger is getting away with all of his sadistic actions no one on the island will prohibit him from murdering Piggy with a boulder. After all Roger throws rocks at little kids and nobody stops him so his cruelty has only escalated. When Roger is on castle Rock there is a boulder balanced on a lever above piggy giving his speech. Piggy is talking about being rescued, and fairness on the island, these are things that Roger no longer cares about because he’s become so savage. This makes it more enjoyable for Roger when he leans into the lever “with a sense of delirious abandonment” and kills Piggy(180). Golding uses a descriptive