Preview

How Is Human Nature Good Or Evil In Lord Of The Flies

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
273 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
How Is Human Nature Good Or Evil In Lord Of The Flies
Golding uses children to make a point about human nature. The question Golding wants the audience to answer is whether human nature is good or evil when it’s left to develop freely. The best way to show this was to have children, who haven’t grasped the meaning of moral values, live on their own and find out how to survive and make a civilization without knowing the basics of right and wrong. These children are good when observed by adults but when they are left alone and get to pick what controls them, they turn to savagery which brings Golding's point of the inherent darkness of man's heart. Golding’s overall point of The Lord of the Flies is to show that man’s heart is inherently evil. He believed this because of what he saw during World

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    In Lord of the Flies, Golding explores man’s natural capacity for brutality. In the novel we see that at first man can be good but when push comes to shove man will turn for the worst to survive. Golding uses irony within the novel to furthermore explore man’s natural capacity for brutality. Golding also explores the factors that might promote and minimize brutality.…

    • 353 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The English author William Golding was a former Navy Officer, who as the conflict of good and evil throughout his service. He used that experience to create the classic novel Lord of the Flies. The novel focuses on human nature’s way of civilization and society through children. The characteristics of three important characters show the sides of human nature. Jack represents the evil, Piggy the innocent, and Ralph the good. Golding takes a closer in depth look at whether evil is in everyone or not. These 3 children in the Golding’s novel symbolize the picture of humanity on a larger scale then the microcosm of the small tropical island in Carol Sea.…

    • 774 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Golding was in World War Two, he saw how destructive humans can be, and how a normal person can go from a civilized human beings into savages. In Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses the theme of human nature to show how easily society can collapse. Throughout the story Golding conveys a theme of how and where self-destructive human nature can lead us to be. Many different parts of human nature can all lead to the collapse of society. Some of the aspects of human nature Golding plugged into the book are; destruction, demoralization, and panic. These emotions all attribute to the collapse of society. Golding includes character, conflict, and as well as symbolism to portray that men are inherently evil.…

    • 723 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout human history, the issue of power has been the source of countless wars and violence, and so has it sparked inspiration in many philosophers to develop potentially better systems of government. The Age of Enlightenment saw many philosophers sprout with new ideas on forms of government to replace or refine the archaic norm of absolute monarchy; one such controversial thinker was Thomas Hobbes. In his widely-recognized book, The Leviathan, he claimed that, because human beings are naturally selfish and evil, one must cede his or her rights to the absolute monarch so that peace can be established and maintained. However, if all human beings are cruel, then monarchs are not any different from the evil of those he rules. In William Golding’s 1954 novel The Lord of the Flies, Golding reflects Hobbes’ ideas about human nature as he depicts the governing of a cluster of stranded boys on an island, from the lack of cohesion of Ralph’s attempt to rationally lead them back to civilization, to Jack’s manipulation of the children into savagery. William Golding thus qualifies Thomas Hobbes’ position, supporting that humans are naturally selfish and evil but refuting his claim that an absolute ruler would make “wise” decisions through his illustration of Jack’s greed for power, hostile acts to Ralph and Piggy, and manipulation of his followers.…

    • 1210 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    William Golding wrote the novel, “Lord of the Flies” to show the inner darkness of man and the evil within each and every one of us. He shows what human nature is really like, if we could consider it apart from the mass of social detail which gives a recognizable feature in our everyday lives.…

    • 561 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Golding’s book was a battle of civilization vs. savagery. Jack and Ralph battled for power. Jack, being on the side of savagery, and Ralph, being on the side of civilization. The savaged boys were once frightened; now they transformed into the ones being feared of. The civilized boys on the island were helping each other, building shelters, trying to be rescued- working together. Ralph as complete leader and Jack leader of choir. The transitioned savages on the island killed a mother pig nursing piglets, they lost all sense of hygiene, they murdered their friends- they worked against…

    • 522 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Human nature is complex. Even if we do have inclination toward violence, we also have inclination to empathy, to cooperation, to self-control.” Steven Pinker.…

    • 939 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The destruction that occurs on the island is due to the natural instinct of humans to destroy and tear down one another. In Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies Golding uses three major symbols, the conch shell, fire, and the beast support his theme that mankind is evil. The conch represents the order in humanity until it brakes and all hope is lost. The fire represents the hope to be saved yet in the end it only destroys. Lastly, the beast represented the fear of the unknown and is the origin of violence throughout the novel. The three symbols show the humans natural instinct to overrule and destroy one another no matter how young. The boys on the island suffer through the loss of innocence that they come to the island with and by the end of…

    • 1392 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Lord of the Flies is based on human nature and how evil is upon every human. William Golding believed that no matter how good a person is, there’s always an evil side. In the Lord of the Flies, children are tested if they could keep their insanity or not.…

    • 465 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    lord of the flies

    • 544 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In William Golding’s novel The Lord of the Flies , he questions the nature of man and origins of evil within human beings. The plot involves a plane full of British boys, between the ages of six to twelve, crashing on an empty island. There, they are stranded without any adults and as time progresses, the upbringing of the boys regarding societal rules and morals are tested as they revert into a life of savagery. Golding proposes a shocking revelation that human nature is naturally evil. This is demonstrated through mob mentality as well as hidden symbols throughout the book.…

    • 544 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Authors often use their pieces of work and different literary elements to explain their philosophy on certain “ways of life” that humans possess. In Lord of the Flies, William Golding shows his view on human nature with his intense plotline of young boys getting stranded on a deserted island, trying to survive by themselves with limited resources, and then over time losing their sense of civilization. In the beginning the boys combine themselves under one, but as the story progresses, the boys create different opinions on survival thus creating divides in the group. This leads to several different altercations where the boys turn to behaviors that are barbaric. Throughout the book, Golding’s use of imagery portrayed the characters as cruel. It is through the description of their behaviors that Golding depicts a pessimistic view of human nature.…

    • 799 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    What defines something or someone of being evil; how is one truly considered evil? Evil has been defined by so many things. According to Dictionary.com, evil is something that is morally wrong or bad. Evil is also as wicked and or immoral part of someone or something. Common elements of evil are selfishness, ignorance, or neglect. Someone can be evil by doing an immoral act, like murder. Mao Zedong can be considered as an evil person. He has done many immoral actions throughout his life time. In “Lord of the Flies,” Jack can be connected to Mao Zedong. Jack has made some decisions when he has gotten on the island that is morally wrong and bad.…

    • 615 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    William Golding wrote The Lord of the Flies in response to another story of desertion, where characters were stranded on an island and left to fend for themselves. This story described the lonely lives the characters faced, but it was not in the way that Golding perceived it to be. Golding believed that, if left to his own devices in a society with no rules, man would revert to savagery, a statement which can be proven by the events that occur on the island in The Lord of the Flies.…

    • 706 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Lord of the Flies Essay

    • 1174 Words
    • 5 Pages

    One important reason that Golding makes about human nature in the Lord of the Flies is that there was a lack of law enforcement which forced the boys to lose mortality and act on instinct. In the beginning, the boys made rules and followed them, but eventually, one person spoke out against the rules. As soon as one person acts differently from everyone else, emotions may change for them,…

    • 1174 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    William Golding is an optimist and a pessimist based on the writing he portrays in Lord Of The Flies. William Golding believes that mankind can become better and treat each other better, But also believes all people have savagery and hatred inside of them. Goldings shows his optimist point of view best through the character of simon. Golding’s pessimist views are shown through the savagery of the boys represented through the beast.…

    • 408 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays