Preview

Human Nature in “Lord of the Flies”

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
310 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Human Nature in “Lord of the Flies”
Men need laws in order to keep him line. Golding shows how different people have stronger instincts of civilization. In his novel, Lord of the Flies Golding shares his view of human nature and the idea that “the beast” is within each of us. As readers follow the story of proper English school boys who become savages, Golding teaches his audiences about the human need for a structured society with law and order by creating characters that need government in order to prevent them from killing each other and becoming animals.
When the boys end up on a deserted island they initially act civilized. In the beginning of the novel their plane crashed and was dragged out to sea, leaving the boys stranded on an unfamiliar island. Because of the atom bomb's devastation, it's likely that no one knows where the boys are at. Piggy and Ralph were the first ones to meet up and they figure out a way out of the jungle and find a beach. Ralph finds a conch shell which he uses to bring the entire survivor on the island together. Between the boys they discuss a leader and choose Ralph over Jack. But Ralph makes him the leader of his choirboys and calls them “Hunters". Ralph and Jack decide to search the jungle with a couple of guys and exclude Piggy from the search party. They enjoy exploring the wild, experiencing the thrill of adventure, and the new friendship forming between them. Of course, there is plenty of fruit on the island, the boys have discovered. But they hunger for more substantial fare: Meat. As the days go by they start living like savages and forget their civilized ways. For example, they start killing their friends and actually enjoy it.

Without rules there won’t be not any consequences if you do break the rules.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    "Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed."-Mahatma Gandhi. Everything man needs is right in front of them, but human nature drives them to be evil. Savagery and civilization is what the humans conscience battles. William Golding addresses this argument in the novel, Lord of the Flies, through an island of lost boys. They are strive to live civilized however, the evil inside begins to seep out, transforming them into savage hunters.…

    • 550 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Lord of the Flies was a very interesting book. It was about these kids stuck on a island. The first boys to be on the island were Piggy and Ralph. They were just walking and talking about who they were and were they were. As they were walking Piggy found a shell. He was very happy to have found that shell he sounded it and told Ralph that they could use that to bring up others boys to where they were. When they were sounding it a lot of boys came out of the trees and came towards Ralph and Piggy and sat on the rocks. Ralph grabbed the shell out of Ralph’s hand and sounded it and then a group of boys where the last ones to come out. He asked where was the one that made that noise. Ralph and Jack both went towards him. The boy thought that…

    • 892 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Golding uses Lord of the Flies to make clear the flaws of every government. He begins his novel with young, innocent boys who have never had any experience with leadership before and writes of their shift to maturity through their attempt to form a functioning society. Golding’s novel demonstrates how no government is flawless and how they lead to Anarchy. With corrupt leaders or mob rule, society will come to a fall. Golding book highlights the problems of government and how they still apply to modern society, making it clear there is no real perfect…

    • 833 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In a civilized society, rules play an extreme part. In the novel, Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, Golding demonstrates how a civilized society with a series of kind and cruel leaders, and no rules, can slowly turn into a group of reckless, savage boys. Lord of the Flies explains how a group of boys with no rules can slowly turn into a disaster. Golding shares, that without rules cruelty takes place. Every human is not born perfect but they are kept under control by societies rules, as there are no rules on the island, they boys slowly turn into cruel savages.…

    • 484 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Imagine a thick mixture of blood and sweat streaming down from your temple, the sound of your heavy breathing is deafening against the pitch black night. You run into an alley way when you hear footsteps running past. Sirens blasting, tear gas fill your lungs with every inhale, and you hear distant screams. The sound of a club striking something… someone until the screams are gone. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, he expresses humanity’s capacity for evil. Destruction and demoralization comes out to play when civilization and order are absent. The book takes one through a time when there was peace and law, but gradually illustrates corruptions strength on the boys’ minds. This book relates to problems we’ve seen in the past and what…

    • 987 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

    Ralph makes friends with Piggy during the start of the story. Like Ralph, Piggy is very mature for he’s age however Piggy is seen as weak because of he’s glasses and obesity. Ralph and Piggy join forces and try to get rescued. Meanwhile, Jack does not care about being rescued and soon the other boys agree by making Jack leader instead of Ralph. Jack takes all the boys hunting animals, firstly for food but then for fun. The boys see Jack as protecting because of he’s size and because he is stronger than any other boy on the island. Jack takes full control of the island with almost every boy on he’s side. Even though Ralph has better intensions than Jack, the boys abandon Ralph. As Jack takes control the boys become more aggressive. Under Jack’s leadership, the children start hunting and killing animals to eat and for fun, although Ralph clearly states that this is not necessary because there is fruit on the island. Because of all the hunting that takes place the children’s behaviour soon gets out of control and they start being cruel to animals. The aggression shown in the film increases over time which results in the murders of Piggy and…

    • 487 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    All the boys deserted Ralph, Piggy, and Simon and chose Jack’s tribe. While the two tribes are separated at the opposite sides of the island they still run into each other with conflicts in hand. Jack’s tribe did not have fire so they snuck up on Ralph's tribe and attacked them while sleeping. They stole Piggy’s glasses and left them with nothing against the spine-chilling night, “We’ve had a fight with the others” (167). Another issue was with the group of hunters that made their first kill when hunting while in charge of keeping the fire going. All the hunters that stayed back decided to leave the fire and to go kill the pig. With no one there to keep the fire going, it extinguished. Meanwhile, on the beach Ralph is looking out to sea and spies a thin line of smoke move across the sea, everyone jumped for joy, but then realized there was no smoke signal to catch the ship's attention. Returning from the forest, the hunters yelling out excitedly, “Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood” (69). Ralph realizes that he can not do everything and feels the heat of being…

    • 760 Words
    • 4 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
  • Good Essays

    Human nature is a double-sided coin. On one side there is the incredible capacity to love and care for others, the willingness to put one’s own needs aside and lay down for the good of his fellow man. But on the other. On the other side, there always remain the horrendous capacity for destruction despite any attempt to bury it within. William Golding exemplifies the darker aspects of human nature in his book Lord of The Flies. He accomplishes this by using characters like Jack, Ralph, and Simon as tools to convey deeper symbolic messages. Golding uses his characters allegorically consistently throughout his novel. Through them he conveys viewpoints on the political viewpoints, as well as the physical representation of many of mankind’s inherent…

    • 2497 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    How strong a community stands is determined by the qualities of the people within it. In William Shakespeare's Romeo&Juliet and William Golding's Lord of the Flies, it is debatable whether one's human qualities serve to break or build the society around them. Unquestionably human qualities destroy a community rather than serving to build it. By examining the outcomes of anger ,immaturity, and fear, it will clearly prove that human qualities tend to break community.…

    • 1384 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Each individual is acknowledged as good or bad, but is there such a thing as good and bad? Golding, who has written the Lord of the Flies, expresses and shows how people react towards each other. The Lord of the Flies shows the image of civilization and influence. Golding articulates each and every individual in detail. Around the 1700’s, two men named Hobbes and Locke had an intriguing conversation, “What are humans?”, “Were we meant to be savages?”, “What would ourselves be without laws?” These questions are yet to be answered by your own opinion. ‘The Lord of the Flies’ has many situations relating to the nature of humanity. The nature of humanity describes the characteristics such as society, influence and individuality.…

    • 997 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A society without rules cannot expect to prosper. Rules are created so that people within the society can operate and function efficiently, with everyone doing their part. William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies, is the result of what happens when a society tries to form without rules at all. Thus, ideas of civility and moral judgment decayed, causing the boys to do actions that society would not have thought of. Throughout this novel, a steady theme of the book is that without rules, people can lose sight of their beliefs and morals. Cruelty is a consistent result of what happens when people do not abide by rules or society’s expectations, causing ethics and moral judgment to disappear.…

    • 809 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Fear Lord of the Flies

    • 367 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Human are the most civilized species on this planet. However, what makes people act civilly is constantly questioned. This question is explored in William Golding’s novel, The Lord of the Flies. In the novel, the fragile state of civilization created by the boys is constantly pitted against the destructive force of fear which motivates the boys to desert their civilized upbringing and hunt first and finally become murders.…

    • 367 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    According to William Golding, humanity has always had a dark side and even the most respectable and dignified people can turn to their dark side if forced to due to their circumstances. I agree with Golding in this matter. The novel Lord of the Flies is a great example of this happening, as in the Minecraft game we played in class and the novel are very similar. In both of them they created factions between themselves.. Many people were killed due to the fact that people mistakenly thought that they were a beast or a zombie in Minecraft. Finally there was a lot of unnecessary killing just because they did not like the other person, for the materials they had or just for fun.…

    • 894 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays