The Psychological Theory Of Nurture In 'Lord Of The Flies'

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

There are primal instincts within everybody, even you. Before humans gained moral values, they needed primal instincts to be able to survive in a harsher environment before civilization. Our species were ruthless murderers a long time ago, before civilization and morality. These primal instincts of survival have been drowned out by the conformities of society. In the book Lord of the Flies by William Golding, and the play Macbeth written by Shakespeare, a desire for power causes Jack and Macbeth to lose connection with civilization, and become ruthless and remorseless. Their newfound primitivity sends Although our human nature is to have good intentions, our desire to obtain power awakens our primal instincts, causing a descent into evil.

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.

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.

In the Lord of the Flies, we encounter a group of boys who have been stranded on an uninhabited island after a plane crash. They are English school boys who have been taught proper manners and understand what it means to be under authority. They demonstrate this by their initial election of a chief and the establishment of a certain degree of rules and order. However, this falls apart very quickly and the boys’ sense of right and wrong are abandoned. What was the driving force behind the savagery and chaos that developed as the structure they established deteriorated? Was it the environmental factors they were cast into, or was it an innate biological instinct that drove them to the edge?

Fragile. Naive. Innocent. These are all characteristics of children. Adolescence is a time to develop character, and learn valuable life lessons. However, when children do not have guidance from adults, these lessons are not learned. Lord of the Flies, by William Golding focuses on children, and the effects isolation has on them. In the novel, a group of schoolboys are stranded on a desert island after a plane crash. Shortly after, they elect a leader and attempt to survive. The boys are faced with many challenges, both internal and external. These hardships and the lack of structure caused the boys to revert to savage behavior. At first, being on the island seems like all fun and games, however, the boys come to realize the only beast was inside themselves. Golding’s depiction of childhood being a time of tribulation and terror proves to readers that without society to set rules in place, people will eventually regress and act savagely, because of lack of regulation, the pressure to conform, and the selection of Jack as the new leader.

Humans are shaped through nurture in a way they their experiences and what people tell them could change the person that they are. Meaning, if a person experiences a bad situation, this might affect how they act from now on. One book that showed this scenario was the Lord of the Flies written by William Golding. Golding wrote about a main character named Ralph who was left on an island with a bunch of boys and barely any supplies. On this island, he was first elected leader and then everything went downhill from there. This character was put through countless exhausting troubles and complications during the the story. Relying on the theme that humans are shaped through nurture, the book proved that Ralph did change because his experiences showed that he lost his innocence and his leadership qualities were diminished.

Humans have a monster inside of them that is subdued by society, and if society is taken away, then that “monster” will consume them. This is true for most people, but not all humans are like that. One of the most notable humans to over come the “monster” is Simon, a character from the book “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding. The story is set on an island in the Pacific Ocean. A plane full of British schoolboys crash lands on an island and they’re stranded there with no adults, no society, and no rules. Simon is one of the few characters that stay sensible and good throughout the story. He has a sixth sense about things happening around him, he is kindhearted, and he faints a lot which give the appearance of him being weak.

In the novel, Lord of the Flies, William Golding is able to use his outstanding writing abilities utilizing metaphors, symbolism, and other literary devices to establish a hidden message throughout the novel. The hidden message that Golding builds on is that there is a natural evil inside every human being, which is suppressed in an organized society through laws, rules, and punishment. The young boys in the novel are on an island all by themselves. There is no punishment for their actions, therefore allowing that evil to come out of most of the boys. All humans have an innate evil within them and that evil is brought out when there is a lack of civilization and consequence as seen in Simon’s murder,

While many believe that we are both nature and nurture, some still takes sides and argue whether we are nature or nurture. The topic nature vs. nurture has always been debated. Nature is our inborn abilities and traits, what we are born with. Nurture take the traits we have and mold them as we mature and learn new things. Scientists argue if who we are is shaped by our genes and/or the environment. In the novel, Lord of the Flies, by William Golding it focuses on a group of boys stranded on an island and their attempt to govern and take care of themselves. Most of the boys become savages. The nurture theory impacts us everyday in our environment. Everyone cares about what others think of them. One follows the current fashion. They try to be like others and start acting like them.

What was it that caused the aggression and dominance exhibited by the boys of Lord of the Flies? Was it some metaphysical, spiritual force, or perhaps their genetic makeup? Could it have been the influence of their peers or families, or was it the media that inspired this dangerous pattern? Conceivably, their gender had something to do with this appalling trait. It all begs the question, would the same experiences have occurred had females been stranded on the island instead of males? Had females been in a similar situation as the boys in Lord of the Flies, they would have fared abundantly better. Initially, this paper will address society’s role in encouraging males’ violent behavior, as well as females’ politeness and passivity.

Some speculate that the people who commit extremely appalling acts as adults were raised to commit these ghastly crimes, while others believe that everyone is born with an evil already inside of them. In William Golding’s psychological fiction Lord of the Flies, the idea of being born innately evil is recurrently alluded to. The novel is about a group of young British boys who crash land on a remote island. They are left with no laws to tell them what they can or cannot do, and are extremely frightened of a so called “Beast” that they expect lives on the island. In the Lord of the Flies, “The Beast” symbolizes the evil and devilish proclivity inside of all humans. Through the use of “The Beast”, William Golding illustrates how the novel is

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.

In viewing the aspects of the island society, the author William Golding's Lord of the Flies as a symbolic microcosm of society. He chooses to set the children alone in an unsupervised world, leaving them to learn ‘ the ways of the world’ in a natural setting first hand. Many different perspectives can also be considered. Golding's island of marooned youngsters becomes a microcosm. The island represents the individual human and the various characters represent the elements of the human psyche.

William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, narrates the story of a group of English boys as they struggle to survive on an uncharted, uninhabited island. The boy’s airplane crashes into the island and kills any adults on board -- leaving the boys to fend for themselves. Ralph and Piggy meet each other first and, upon Piggy’s counsel, Ralph decides to call a meeting of all the boys by blowing on a conch shell. The boys quickly begin to form a society in which they elect Ralph as their leader. A boy called Jack quietly disagrees and believes that he should lead the group. As times passes, Jack and his choir become hunters for the rest of the boys and they begin to enjoy the ways of a predator. As Jack grows more savage, he becomes unhappy with the