Good Human Nature In Lord Of The Flies

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.

Human nature is flawed, which is mentioned in one of Lao Tzu quote. In Lao Tzu’s quote, it explains that at first, human nature is perfect; but eventually people somehow forget about those moral instincts. This quote is commonly referred to Jack in the Lord of the flies. In the story, Jack is the antagonist and he is very jealous of the protagonist Ralph which Jack is very cruel everyone throughout the story. Jack usually treats everybody as his own personal slave; and creates his own group that usually hurts and kills members of Ralph’s group.

When the debate of whether humanity is fundamentally good-hearted or wicked is brought to attention, people tend to focus on the evil around them since there is an abundance of it, and throughout William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, and the literary elements of foreshadowing and internal conflict, he proves that humans are essentially evil.

First, Ralph’s views are shown through the literary devise of imagery. Throughout the beginning Ralph was walking on a “narrow strip of

A quote from the book showing Ralphs leadership qualities says, "and if we have a signal going they'll come and take us off. And another thing. We ought to have more rules. Where the conch is, that's a meeting. The same up here as down here" this statement shows a few positive aspects of Ralph trying to make rules, organizing the group, and affirming who is in charge.

“There is a way that seemeth right unto man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” (The Bible, Prov. 16:25). Thoughts that come to men stem from their participation in society or their natural state of good and evil. However, society’s morals mask the natural man—who is more vulnerable to natural evil than good. Because of this, every man is susceptible to ignorance and savagery. William Golding exemplifies this idea in his novel Lord of the Flies. When a group of military boys find themselves stranded on a deserted island, their ignorance soon leads to the inevitable savagery present in the end of the novel. The maturation process of Ralph illustrates the fight between man’s tendencies of natural evil and natural good when morals

William Golding has realized how because readers are so different from each other, one still has to collaborate to get the best results and has proven to every person that we should all work together. For example Piggy, a fat and a weak boy contributes so much, even though his own friends made fun of him, but Piggy devoted himself because Golding has claimed “Piggy was so full of pride in his contribution to the good of society that he helped to fetch wood”(Ch#8). William Golding illustrates an example of human nature in which he shows how there is a struggle between right and wrong. Human nature in this case also has shown how boys listen and work accordingly towards the demands of Ralph because he claims “We've got to have rules and obey

Golding maintains order in society by portraying Ralph as having the two most important qualities in a leader, rationality and responsibility.

Throughout William Golding’s book, Lord of the Flies, there lies an interesting battle between being civilized and adhering to one’s primal instincts. This is clearly illustrated through two distinct characters: Ralph and Jack. While the two of them clash, they are still strangely able to get along at times. By illustrating this relationship, Golding is able to present both an intriguing duality and represent the two characters as the "Id" and the "Ego”.

Human nature is complex. It may take over an individual’s mind in many desperate and threatening situations. In Golding’s compelling novel, Lord of the Flies, it is implied that the evil, or bad side of humanity will overshadow the good. However, there are certain situations present in the novel that portray the opposite. The depiction of human nature in this novel creates a nice balance between the positive and negative aspects of humanity. Although Golding’s novel is portrayed as pessimistic, Ralph’s words and actions when dealing with various situations, Sam and Eric’s loyalty to Ralph, and the boys’ rescue at the end of the novel contradict this idea, creating a commendable balance of pessimistic and optimistic situations.

However, the noises in the forest are almost reason for him to ignore these instincts. “The cries, suddenly nearer jerked him up…/Ralph gripped his fingers into the earth. Be ready now, just in case” (198). The sounds of the forest make Ralph realize that danger is in the area, and he might not survive. He now knows that he needs to be prepared to run, and escape the danger of the savage. “The seconds lengthened…/Now he’s seen you. He’s making sure…/A stick sharpened at both ends” (199). Now that the savage has seen Ralph, and is making sure it is him, Ralph knows how important it is to him to listen to his

Ralph, the protagonist and the ‘leader’ of the novel, has always tried to keep the peace on the island, but when heinous act are committed it is hard not to just follow the instincts and ways of others. At the beginning of the novel, a conflict quickly arises, when the stranded boys have to make a decision on ‘who will be the chief?’. This is between Ralph, and the choir boy leader,

Every human being has a neutral nature, but making that nature inherently good or bad depends on the person and his surroundings. In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, talks about a plane that crashed into an island and killed all the adults, but a group of school boys left survived, and they became increasingly savage. The characters’ natures are inherently good in this text.

William Golding, author of Lord of the Flies, once said, ”man produces evil as a bee produces honey.” While humans are capable of being good and bad, Golding believes that a human’s natural instinct is evil. No matter how good someone will try to be, falling to evil is easier than it is to be good. In Lord of the Flies, Golding explores this idea of good versus evil by depicting a group of boys stranded on an unknown island. Ralph, a boy elected as chief, tries to maintain a sense of civilization on the island. Jack, the novel’s antagonist, leans towards the idea of savagery and the worst of human would behave in survival. Through this novel William Golding shows that a humans’ natural response is cruelty. William Golding’s Lord of the Flies can be interpreted as a multifaceted biblical allegory that is meant to show, through the depiction of the island and its characters, the sinfulness of humankind. More specifically, the story can be seen as an allegory for Adam and Eve, Jesus and the devil’s temptations, and the Biblical end of times.

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.