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Psychopath In Lord Of The Flies

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“Evil is the exercise of power. And that's the key: it's about power. To intentionally harm people psychologically, to hurt people physically, to destroy people mortally, or ideas, and to commit crimes against humanity.” When removed from the societal structures that dictate appropriate behavior people will revert to uncivil and often malicious behavior, as we see in Golding’s Lord of the Flies when a group of adolescent boys quickly transition from a structured, governed, society among themselves into violence and cruelty. The horrific acts performed by the boys point to the conclusion that humans as a whole are innately evil, and, if removed from societal expectations, people will give in to their most animalistic impulses. A social structure …show more content…

If you introduce dangerous and unstable people into the population the chances of violence and chaos increase dramatically, particularly when these people gain positions of power, which tend to appeal to charismatic psychopaths. As the boys time on the island progresses it becomes apparent that Rodger is likely a Psychopath, and Jack seemingly has narcissistic personality disorder. Their presence on the island, particularly Jack’s, as he tries to fill the role of chief, make the perfect conditions for violent outbreaks to occur. Even Ralph, who is one of the more reasonable boys on the island finds himself falling into the same sort of violent behavior as the other boys, and losing sight of their goal of being rescued, as Ralph tells Piggy of his growing concern, he says “They don’t care... and what's more, I don’t sometimes. Suppose I got like the others- not caring. What would become of us?” (Golding, 139) The situation is only exasperated when the boys, tired of following Ralph’s instructions and being forced to work break off to follow Jack, where violence is more accepted and even encouraged. Under these conditions the boys quickly progress from killing and hunting the pigs inhabiting the island to killing both Simon and Piggy, and attempting to hunt and kill Ralph. The boys act together as a pact, doing things they would not do as individuals because they gain a feeling of anonymity from being a part of a group that allows them to justify their heinous acts to themselves. This allows them to act on the evil existing within them without having to deal with the

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