Theme Of Human Nature In Lord Of The Flies

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

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.

“Life is scientific, that’s what it is. In a year of two when the war’s over they’ll be traveling to Mars and back. I know there isn’t no beast, not with claws and all that, I mean but I know there isn’t no fear, either. Unless we get frightened of people.” (84). Lord of the Flies is a novel where civilization is involved and it was found surrounded by a group of little boys under-aged teenagers who try to govern themselves on an island. The boys were found in a plane crash on a island and they try to create a society based on their own rules and laws.The boys: Ralph, Jack, Piggy, and the rest of the boys try to work out their differences and make a civilized little group in order to survive. Everyone on the island wants to survive and hope to be rescued to come home to their families. As the book went on, you see changes in the characters as they are influenced from others or in society. The characters develop as the book goes on and they experiment new beginnings when they are put in difficult situations. William Golding, in the novel of Lord of the Flies, uses the characters, Jack and Ralph, to reveal that human nature is naturally corrupted.

The main theme of Lord of the Flies is that moral nature is not instinctive in mankind. There is a capacity for evil in all people, and their morality is superficial. Nonetheless, it is this moral integrity that must continue in order for a person to be ethical, for society to be maintained, and to keep society from falling in on itself. Society holds everyone together. Without the rules and the structure, evil in everyone becomes more prominent, and ideals, values, and basics of right and wrong are forgotten. Without society's rigid rules, chaos and savagery come to light. There are also a number of secondary themes in the book such as: people will abuse power when it is not earned; people will degrade others to

“The theme is an attempt to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature. The moral is that the shape of a society must depend on the ethical nature of the individual and not any political system however apparently logical or respectable.” This quote from the author, William Golding, summarizes the themes and morals presented in his novel Lord of the Flies. Despite society’s progression towards civilization and acceptance of the idea that human tendencies towards goodness, each individual is susceptible to their natural darker instincts. In the novel, Lord of the Flies, William Golding's characters begin as seemingly innocent school boys who deteriorate into savages. The author uses the characters of Piggy, Ralph and Jack

Imagine if one was asked to compile a list of every flaw of human nature that was demonstrated by the boys in the novel Lord of the Flies. Among the words used would probably be naive, uncivilized, and unfocused. While these words certainly do describe the boys and their poorly constructed society, they also hold the same meaning and truth when they are applied to our own people in our own society. People in both our society and the one described in the novel exhibit a profuse amount of faults and flaws, but this extensive list of faults can be narrowed down to the three most common ones. The three most prominent flaws of human nature are being selfish, desiring power, and not following through with plans.

In William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies”, the novel simulates aspects of raw human nature. One part of this human nature is the division between good and evil, and how it plays a role in the personality of a human. This idea, develops a concept throughout the story. It is that in every person, there is a level of evil and savagery, this cannot be manipulated, but the level of which one displays it can. It develops personality, some people will tend to hold in their anger or distaste, and others will let it loose, altering the personality among people. In “Lord of the Flies”, this level of evil that is shown, varies in each character among the island.

Lord of the Flies, is a story of adventure through nature and the human conscious. A group of boys, stranded on an island, become savage instead of working together and start fighting each other. Golding’s use of the war allegory shows how children can become as ruthless as adults when put in the right setting. While on the island, personality traits surfaced, such as their savageness, their carelessness, their fear, their hunger power, and their childish pride. Golding uses a war allegory to show than man will naturally conflicts with others because of a thirst for power, fear of the unknown, and pride.

The book demonstrates that despite our best efforts, we don’t always get to obtain the goals we once set for ourselves. Both The Lord of the Flies and the story of Jesus Christ relate by having temptations and having to resist them through the belief of something larger. William Golding, author of The Lord of The Flies, advocates that fear causes people to struggle with their belief system despite their best efforts causing many hardships along the way. People fall short because of fear and commit horrendous mistakes without even noticing. With fear and instability, terror will arise, and everything good will defile. Golding’s use of symbolism forces main characters throughout the novel to confront one another. These challenges consist of a battle for power, the struggle of not losing hope and lastly the terror of having fear overcome them. The main characters all having different traits making them unique will not coincide with one another creating a huge

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,

Lord of The Flies is an allegory written by the author William Golding. The narrative is about a group of boys who are stranded on an island after a traumatic crash. The longer they are on the island their inner “beast” start to come out. As their small civilization slowly comes apart a show of true character becomes the basis of everyday life. An allegory is a story in which there are truly two stories each full of symbols. In an allegory the first story is full of literal elements. The second narrative is under the surface and told through symbolism with hidden meanings. There are multiple events of symbolism throughout the novel such as the beast, the conch, and the signal fire.

“This book is terrible, I don 't get it, and it doesn 't even make sense,” that 's what most people would say about The Lord of the Flies. The reason such things are said about the book is because most don 't pick up on underlying themes and metaphors William Golding uses to convey the terrifying message of the savageness that lives within all of us. Golding’s style of ambiguity, his character choice, and symbols bring the work together to express a powerful message of self control and awareness to ourselves and others. His ambiguous style creates a sort of humanity in the narrator to show the absolute insanity of the characters. Golding uses the persona of certain characters in the beginning of the book to explain their behavior in the

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.

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.