“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
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.
One of the underlying commentary of the novel is how each person’s mental state affects the group and derives the ever ascending madness. Which, in the end, causes mass chaos and ultimate destruction. Golding was beautifully able present the 3 different mental states and show the descending into evil. He is able to show the psychopathic plotting of Jack,the sociopathic tendencies of Roger and the fear of paranoia for the entire group. Even though they may have been strong and full of willpower at the beginning, Golding demonstrates the deterioration at a rapid rate and the inner workings of some of the character's minds.
Initially, when the boys landed on the island, they were still displaying telling signs of culture and sophistication. Ralph even stops and jerks up his stockings, “with an automatic gesture that made the jungle seem for a moment like the Home Counties” (Golding 7). Jack informs the group that they have “ got to have rules and obey them. After all, we’re not savages”(42). This statement sums up the very beginning of the boys’ extended stay; they are eager to create rules and establish guidelines. Ralph, Jack and the others are imagining a neat, orderly society, with all of its little citizens behaving and following the rules. Enthusiastic compliance is expected. Very soon, however, a sort of causal negligence and lack of effort develops. The boys would rather have fun and play than help build shelters or fill coconuts. Ralph bemoans the carelessness of the others to Jack; “All day I’ve been working with Simon. No one else. They’re off bathing, or eating, or playing” (Golding 50). The final basic evolution of the boys is far worse than lax, however; they become violent and unrestrained, acting first and thinking later, if at all. They develop a game in which one of their own pretends to be a pig, and they gather around and ‘hunt’ him. Even Ralph, the most rational, got carried away “by a sudden thick excitement, grabbed Eric’s spear and jabbed at
– J Cole This relates to the book Lord of the Flies in the fact that William Golding exposes how the boys on the island grow to become savage and lose their ties to civilization when taken out of society. In the novel Lord of the Flies, the character Jack is the more dominantly evil person on the island. Meanwhile, Piggy and Ralph are the people on the island who try and connect everyone through order and keep their ties to civilization. Ultimately, this does not end up happening, with Jack starting his own tribe and leaving Ralph and Piggy utterly
When humans are pushed to survive, they are willing to do anything to do so. In the novel “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding, a group of boys are stranded on an island and have to survive, however as the story progresses the boys become more barbaric and savage like. Even though there are good people in this world, there will always be evil. Why does evil exist? Golding’s belief of human nature is that humans are naturally evil and savage. However, law and civility keep humans from turning into this natural state of evil and Golding uses the development of Jack to show how savagery is created.
The boys are to young to under stand how to keep their civilized behaviour in check. All the boys on the island are under the age of thirteen so they haven’t fully developed in the matter of being civilized. The boys end up killing more then two of the boys that original started out on the island but the two biggest deaths in the novel are Simon and Piggy deaths. “The body lifted a fraction of an inch from the sand and a bubble of air escaped from the mouth with a wet plop”. (9,170) After Simon’s death Piggy, Ralph and other boys reflect on what happened the night before and try to make it seem okay for what happened to Simon. The boys from the conch group are upset of what happened to Simon the savages are not upset at all as they think it
Although humankind attempts its best at preventing evil actions, eventually evil rises above all else. While humans are living ordinary lives and living in ignorance, evil is always scheming and waiting to slide up behind the turned backs of society as depicted in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. One could argue that this is not the case and that good deeds always overshadow evil and that evil is just an occasional blip. However, what one’s opinion of society does not outshine the cold hard facts of humankind’s natural tendencies; specifically, how things are never as they seem, how easily humans can betray their emotions and how humans choose to ignore difficult situations in the search for an easy
The isolation that comes with crashing on a deserted island affects all the characters, seen most dramatically through Jack. Being brought into this setting transforms the civilized choir leader into a savage hunter and murderer who’s given into his inner demons. When the boys first crash land onto the island, they were proper English schoolboys. Due to the separation from society, however, the boys start to regress, giving in to their more animalistic instincts. Jack starts off as the ‘‘chapter chorister and head boy’” who tries to take leadership of the tribe the boys form; he fails to do so, turning him away from order and reason (Golding 22). He neglects his duties and turns his attention to hunting the native pigs, prompting him to let the fire, their gateway back to society, go out; this pits Ralph against Jack, who represent civilization and savagery
When they first arrive at the island, Jack and the rest of the boys wears the same mask of innocence as every other human being, but it soon begins to slip. Throughout a massacre of pigs, Jack and the other boys releases their animal nature. Initially, the boys try to set up an island society that mimics the English society, with discipline and authority. The behavior of the boys is the same as they showed at school back home, but the need to be the survival of the fittest pushes the boys’ past their humanized nature. The children want to have familiar rules. Piggy says, “We’ll have rules!” he cried excitedly. “Lots of rules! Then when anyone breaks ‘em--” (Golding 25). Everyone follows the rules in the beginning, hoping that it will lead their rescue. But when their hopes dwindle, they soon fall out of order, becoming two independent and opposed groups. To become superior to the others, Jack kills pigs and humans and earns the place of a tribe leader. His actions show that humans act to
In William Golding's novel Lord of The Flies he shows how evil exists inside of everyone, it is the situation a person finds themselves in allows evil to grow or be controlled. The three boys are an example of this. Jack who only thinks about himself he wants everything immediately which makes his evil grow. Ralph, however, thinks about others but at times can be selfish which can make his evil grow, but Ralph tries to keep his evil at bay. Simon on the other hand only thinks about others, he does not think about himself which stops his evil from arising. Therefore, control of the situation is control of evil self.
Every human being is savage at heart, no matter how hard they try to oppress it. Evil is an instinct, a part of human kind, but what exactly is evil and what defines it? Mr. Golding believes that evil is intrinsic to human beings; he shows some examples of evil in the Lord of the Flies, in a form called bullying. Bullying increases the bully’s self-confidence, while it lowers the victim’s, in this case Jack harass Piggy to increase his self-assurance. Humans have two desires that conflict with each other: to live by civilization and to live by savagery. The civilized impulse we have is to live peacefully, morally, and by rules and laws. The savage characteristic we have is to act violently, using force to gain authority and power over
William Golding is a very strange man. The types of stories that he wrote are very demonic, strange, and very insane to the reader. His demonic ways of life all lead to him writing the novel, Lord of the Flies. Throughout the book, William Golding shows examples of Freud’s characteristics of the three different types of personality. The three characters that show these examples are stranded on an island and showing whether or not they will have the civilized side of them left. ("Id, Ego and Super-ego") The three characters on the island are Jack, Ralph, and Piggy.
Literature for many years has described human nature as being evil once they fear something or are in a chaotic situation. In William Golding?s novel ?Lord of the Flies? which describes horrific exploits of a group of young boys who make a transition from civilized to barbaric. Golding
In William Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Julius Caesar,William Golding’s Lord of the Flies , and C. S. Lewis’s Out of the Silent Planet all depict how mankind is born innocent and turned to evil. The stories show that this conversion to evil is caused by the influence of society or characters acting in the place of a society. The corruptibility of mankind is illuminated in these texts. The treachery, dishonesty, and murder as shown in the stories are not acts of innocence. In their books, the authors point out that mankind is not innately evil but instead born innocent and converted to evil by society.
Imagine a society where there are no rules or order. What would living there be like? Would it be successful? In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a society without stable rules and order is put to the ultimate test. Ralph and the other characters in the novel put the importance of rules and order to the test when they are stranded on an island alone, without adults, and without any of the structure of civilization they are accustomed to having in their day to day lives. In the novel Lord of the Flies, Golding uses Ralph as a character to show that order and structure are a necessity for a society to function properly; and that the Id can easily take over the superego and return society to its primitive nature.