Evil, the Inborn Trait of Mankind, from Lord of the Flies

8WHC Huang
Ms.Friessen
English Language Art
22 April 2015
Evil, the Inborn Trait of Mankind
For thousands of years in the history of human development, ideologists argued about whether the evil side of human nature is inborn or not. This book, Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, showed a great example that the evil side is inherent, no matter what we do, we cannot destroy it., rules and education can only hide it up. This kind of evil is show by the form of destroying, and not doing what they should do. This idea go against with the Chinese base knowledge about moral------human is born pure and harmless.
Human beings are born to destroy things, which mean that they are naturally violent and destructive. In nowadays, people destroy the environment to gain resources, making machinery that ruin everything. Baby throw and break things as soon as they touch it. In Lord of the Flies, there are also many ‘great’ examples. In chapter 2, the kids went up to the mountain and tried to set the fire for the first time. They succeed, but set up a big one, which is so big that it nearly burns the entire mountain out. People might say that this is just an accident of careless, but there is more. In chapter 4, “Roger led the straight way through the castle, kicking them over,burying the flowers, scattering the chosen stones. Maurice laughing, and added to the destruction.”(Golding 76). Roger and Maurice kicked the sand castle made by Henry and and throw rocks to others.
Education, learned civilization, can only cover up the evil instead of get rid of it. When Roger threw rocks to Henry, “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. Round the squatting child was the protection of parents and school and policemen and the law.”(Golding 78). Even though he did not throw directly, Roger have the thought of doing this, but only the . This is a ‘great’ foreshadow to what happened in the later chapter, Roger is the one who “with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever.”(Golding 222). In the book, conch is the symbol of rules, which can also known as the representative of civilized, which is also destroyed by Roger, indirectly. Roger is a extremely important role in this book, he is the deputy of those people who can only control by rules, in fact, there is a lot of people like Roger in today’s world. If people were born civilized instead of evil, they won’t do things like robbery, steal and so on.
And lastly, the most important character of this book, Ralph, who known as the representative of normal people, well educated people. Nonetheless, even Ralph shows his evil side. Firstly, in chapter 7, Ralph also took part in the hunt, which excited him, as an action to hurt and destroy. Also, Ralph involved in the dance that killed Simon. In my opinion, even the best-educated people in this book show evil.
“Lord of the Flies expresses what can happen to man when there is not structure and little mean of survival. The boys prove man to be inherently evil through control, mistreatment, and murder. ” (Young, “Inherent Evil: Lord of the Flies”). William Golding used his pen, wrote down this story. He used kids, which are regarded as the most “innocent” kind of human being in the world. An island that is cut off from the outside world, no other influence, no limit, no law or protection. This is a heaven, a heaven that mankind can show the true side of themselves. Utilizing the most extreme way, the author proved that the evil side of human being is inborn, civilization is so weak and useless in front of fear, evil, and the natural instincts. I think the evil side of human nature is inborn even ‘innocent’ kids have it.

Work Cited
Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. London: Faber Limited, 1962. Print.
Young, Hayley. “Inherent Evil: Lord of the Flies” StudyMode.

Cited: Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. London: Faber Limited, 1962. Print. Young, Hayley. “Inherent Evil: Lord of the Flies” StudyMode.