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Is Lord Of The Flies Inherently Evil Essay

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Through the lens of the Lord of the Flies, we think to ourselves, Are we as humans inherently evil? In this novel, Golding commonly flips to discussing whether humans are inherently evil. Lord of the Flies gives a glimpse of how a group of boys behave in an uncivilized environment where civilized standards are not met. Throughout “Lord of the Flies”, this novel covers the idea that the boys are savage on an empty island. However, later on in the novel, the story emphasizes that evil can be the result of external influences and a lack of societal expectations. Many argue that humanity’s inherent evil surpasses its good traits. It is clear that in the Lord of the Flies novel people are inherently evil because of the boy’s fear of the beast, Jack's manipulation, and the boy’s excitement of violence. …show more content…

The fear of the beast manipulates the boys and pushes them to savagery; this results in their downfall from morality. With Simon's death, we are able to see how their fear reflects the decline of their society. “At once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt on to the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore. There were no words, and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws” (Golding 187). This demonstrates how the boys’ inability to agree on different issues is causing them to split into two separate groups. Their weakened society becomes disrupted as superstitions about the beast proliferate among the boys. The instincts about the beast are increased by this terror, causing the boys to act more aggressively to defend

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