Human Nature Is Evil By Xunzi

“Human
 nature 
is 
evil; 
its 
goodness 
derives 
from
 conscious 
activity. 
Now
 it 
is 
human 
nature 
to
 be 
born 
with 
a 
fondness 
for 
profit. 
Indulging 
this 
leads 
to 
contention 
and 
strife, 
and 
the 
sense 
of
 modesty
 and 
yielding 
with 
which 
one 
was 
born
 disappears.” (Human Nature Is Evil, 1) Xunzi, a Chinese teacher, scholar, and official born in the very end of the Zhou dynasty, was a man who followed the teachings of Confucius. He believed that all humans are derived from evil, as virtuality is only created when people actively attempt to be righteous. It is concluded that without guidance, humans cannot be virtuous. Although people appear to be good, human nature is inherently derived from evil. No matter how
upstanding people seem, that is not their true self. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, he writes the gradual descent of humanity into depravity by detailing how the actions of the boys deteriorate to maliciousness, show symbols of purity become symbols of evil, and how mankind will always revert back to their core nature.
The boys that initially appeared to be good kids turned into savages that hurt others. An example of this occurs in the very last chapter, where Ralph, the representation of good and civilization on the island, gets hunted and attacked by the tribe. In his mad dash away he sees one of the boys in Jack's tribe, Bill and remembers a well behaved, pure boy. Seeing him, Ralph realizes that over time, the boy has lost any semblance of good, reduced to an evil being that is set out to kill him for nothing than primal rage. “[Ralph] had even glimpsed one of them, striped brown, black, and red, and had judged that it was Bill. But really, thought Ralph, this was not Bill. This was a savage whose image refused to blend with that ancient picture of a boy in shorts and shirt," (). William Golding included the word ‘ancient’ to emphasize how much person can be unrecognizable after they have been stripped down to their core being. In the beginning, Bill was a good boy. He was part of the civilized group. But over time his being deteriorated to what the human fundamentally is; evil. Some may argue that Bill was initially a bad person as he supported Jack from the very beginning. While it’s true that he did side with Jack, the group’s initial intentions are mostly pure. The hunters were focused on killing things not for evil pleasure, but to sustain themselves. Compare this to the way that he went after Ralph, viciously and with malicious intent. Bill started out as a morally righteous boy but became an evil savage over the course of the book. Symbols in the story that represent ‘good’ turn corrupt, such as the mother pig that was killed and re-erected as the Lord of the Flies. In a section of the book, Jack and his tribe of savages attack a sow that was peacefully asleep in a sunny field. In fact they don’t simply kill it, they brutally attack and ravenously destroyed it. Jack then hacks the head off and establish it on a stake, leaving it to rot as the ‘Lord of the Flies’, a symbol for evil and fear. This scene shows how the humans on the island have destroyed a symbol of goodness until it becomes an emblem that represents darkness and destruction. The pig becomes an embodiment so strong that it is filled with darkness, and haunts Simon with taunts. ““You are a silly little boy,” said the Lord of the Flies, “just an ignorant, silly little boy.”...Simon found he was looking into a vast mouth. There was blackness within, a blackness that spread,” (). The author chose to include words like “blackness” to emphasize how corrupt the sow became. In innumerable cultures, darkness represents the evil nature of humans. In the dark, people are scared of the beings that lie within it, taking light, comfort, and goodness from the world. The darkness inside of the sow represents how human nature, when exposed, will destroy virtue into sin. It could be argued that not all symbols of decency turn evil, as Piggy, Simon, and Ralph are concluded to be pure and civilized. While that may be true, both Piggy and Simon died in brutal, destructive manner. They both died at the hands of the other boys who are overcome with savagery and wickedness. In addition, though Ralph did not die, he becomes poisoned with sin. He has a hand in Simon’s death, blinded by the vile truth of himself; humans truly are monstrous. The masks that the boys wore represented the evil inside as they strayed from goodness over the course of the story.
In the beginning of the book, Jack tells his hunters that he hasn’t been successful in catching and killing a pig because he needed camouflage. He creates a mask and abandons the fire, the boys’ only hope of getting rescued off the island and back to civilization. “[Jack] spilt the water and leapt to his feet, laughing excitedly. Beside the pool his sinewy body held up a mask that drew their eyes and appalled them. He began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling... the mask was a thing on its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness,” ()The author purposely included the words “liberated” and “bloodthirsty” to draw attention to how much the mask is relieving Jack of his person that was morally right. When he became the tribe leader, all of the boys wore masks as well as they carried out horrible, vile actions, such as creating ‘the Lord of the Flies’, hunting Ralph, and killing Simon and Piggy. Because of the mask, they felt no remorse. Furthermore, Jack had drawn the mask on himself. He is giving himself validation to be that savage that has always been inside him. Although some might say that some savages did not don masks such as Sam and Eric, the mask is only a source of attestation to what humans fundamentally want. Despite not sporting masks, Sam and Eric still choose the evil within when they join Jack’s
tribe. Human nature is not based on good; it is from evil. The core of who we are are not positive, but instead sinful and malicious. As Xunzi states, the basis of humanity is detrimental and requires active effort to create upstanding moral. Because of the overwhelming destruction of judgement in the setting of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the characters’ morality and symbols of virtuality have been destroyed. Many of the characters reflect that theme. “If human nature were good, we could dispense with the sage kings and desist from the practice of ritual and rightness. Since human nature is evil, we must elevate the sages and esteem ritual and rightness.” (Human Nature Is Evil, 4) The only way for humanity to survive is to choose goodness over the impulse of horror and savagery, to teach each other and to learn. Perhaps the boys on that island could have survived as one if they had looked past their selfishness and immorality.