Lord of the Flies and The Stanford Prison experiment exemplify the true darkness of human nature. The novel and the experiment show the evil nature that humans naturally gravitate towards when left to their own devices. They show normal boys, losing their humanity, and descending into the animalistic nature that all human beings have inside them. The Stanford Prison Experiment, shows the depravity of human nature. The abuse that the prisoners suffered throughout the experiment shows the sadism that all humans have within. The prisoners are subjected to psychological torture daily, for a total six days. They are brainwashed into believing they are lesser, and to thinking they are truly prisoner. On day six, the last day of the experiment, …show more content…
The events in the book and the experiment show how quickly human beings lose their humanity when the societal rules are no longer in place. In Lord of the Flies, you’re introduced to seemingly normal, well-adjusted young boys, as they find themselves stranded on an island. Within a matter of weeks, the boys go from well-mannered children to savage beasts. When they first arrived on the island, they clung to what they knew. The boys created a kind of democracy, deciding who would lead their group. They established a routine on the island, a routine that would soon be abandoned, once they realized there was no real authority. That created a spiral effect into the later events, leading to the killing of the Simon and Piggy, as the boys descended into anarchy. Jack decided to take leadership into his own hands, banishing Ralph and any who chose to follow him. Later, the boys are faced with the evil of what they have done, as they are rescued by men from the navy. Confronted by their actions, they begin to cry, realizing that they have lost themselves. The similarities between this book and the experiment are uncanny. Simon says, “Maybe there is a beast… maybe it’s only us.” An eerie realization, tying into the idea that human beings are the real beast. Seemingly normal, privileged boys, descending into a sadistic way of life, when given power and exemption from the order the government puts in place. …show more content…
You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are?” Simon’s hallucination, being a manifestation of his own thoughts, shows him coming to the realization that the beast is within us. The awareness of the fact that human beings are the beast, in our very nature. The Lord of the Flies and The Stanford Prison Experiment, show the sadistic ways that human beings naturally lean towards, when given power. The animalistic ways that humans quickly partake in, when given the opportunity to do so. Between the young men in the experiment being forced to preform demeaning acts to one and other, and the boys in the book quite literally ripping each other to shreds, the evil ways of human nature, shine
In The Stanford Prison Experiment it explains how guards take power over the prisoners. In paragraph 11 it tells how they are tormenting the prisoners and enjoying the things that they are doing. The guards demanded even greater obedience from
“Cruelty is all out of ignorance. If you knew what was in store for you, you wouldn’t hurt anybody, because whatever you do comes back much more forceful than you sent it out.” (Willie Nelson). The Stanford Prison Experiment was extremely similar to the concentration camps of the Holocaust in many was however the one think that that makes then similar was the fact that they were both extremely cruel and dehumanized people. Three things that the victims of both events faced are dehumanization, cruelty, and extreme mentally scaring things that they will never forget. Both the concentration camps in the Holocaust and the Stanford Prison Experiment were things that did not go well and were immensely traumatizing.
Human’s innate behavior after the constraints and expectations of society disappear is the recurring theme centering the characters. William Golding’s Lord of the Flies uses the righteous Simon to highlight Jack and his evil role throughout the novel of savagery and civilization. The foil characters in Lord of the Flies exhibit the contrasting ideals and characteristics, the dissimilar symbolism of both characters, and the circumstances which lead both characters to follow one’s natural tendencies. To emphasize the message of Lord of the Flies, two young innocent boys will gradually begin to show their individualism.
In 1971 a group of 18 students took part in what was to become the
A review on the Stanford Prison Experiment - 1) Philip Zimbardo wanted to demonstrate how the environment can change people. To this end, he launched a study called The Stanford Prison Experiment. Zimbardo was trying to show what happened when a human being was stripped of his individuality and dignity and his life was completely controlled. He also wanted to show the dehumanization and the collapse of the social and moral values that could happen to the guards immersed in that situation. The duration of this experiment was initially planned to last two weeks.
The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, is an allegory that connects the boys’ behavior in the novel to the basic behavior of human nature. In the novel, the boys fear a wild beast that has the potential to kill them off. However, Simon, a quiet boy, finds that the beast is not an animal that everyone should fear, but is a part of each boy himself.
Researchers used mostly qualitative methods. Videos, direct observations and interviews were used. The experiment should have least 14 days, however, it had to be stopped just
Although this was not direct physical violence, sleep deprivation and rigorous physical activity could have been detrimental in other ways to the prisoners’ bodies. Also, when Zimbardo was confronted by one of the prisoners requesting to leave the experiment, he responded as a superintendent and negotiated the prisoner into staying at the prison, causing him to endure further torment by the guards. This would not have occurred had Zimbardo responded in a transparent manner as a psychologist. This prisoner eventually displayed signs of severe distress. This is added evidence that the experiment took a negative psychological toll on the participants. Furthermore, a prisoner who performed a hunger strike was forced into solitary confinement, which was an uncomfortably narrow and dark room. It is generally known that extended periods of stressful isolation can cause psychological damage to an individual. Overall, the Stanford Prison Experiment blatantly demonstrated various types of abuse to its human subjects through its prolonged degradation and harm to the individuals. Ultimately, it violated the ASA’s Code of Ethics. Despite the controversy, many found the results of the experiment interesting.
The Stanford Prison Experiment was a psychological experiment conducted by Philip Zimbardo. Initially expected to last two weeks, it instead lasted a mere six days before coming to an end. The experiment successfully shows that all people, despicable or kind, are capable of truly terrifying things, and also reinforces an already well-known theory, the power of the situation. Originally, the Stanford Prison Experiment was going to be a full two week experiment in order to fully solidify the concepts they were trying to prove. Despite this, the experiment only lasted six days due to the admittedly surprising result: the violent psychological state that both the guards and prisoners had come to, though in completely different ways, and thus
The Stanford Prison Experiment was one of the most criticized human nature experiments in history. In the experiment Dr. Zimbardo wanted to see if people would think for themselves, or fall into predefined roles that they were given. Before the experiment took place, Dr. Zimbardo picked 24 male subjects he thought were mentally and emotionally stable. He also built a mock prison in the basement of Stanford University. During this process all the subjects were divided in half making 12 guards and the other 12 prisoners. To help define the roles even further he dressed the guards in police type uniforms with wooden clubs. The individuals that were used as the prisoners were stripped searched and given smocks as their uniforms. Once the experiment started everyone seemed to fall right into the roles they were given. Even Dr. Zimbardo fell into his role as the prison
1. What was the point of the study? The Stanford prison experiment answered the question that has plagued humanity since the beginning of time. Which one will prevail, good or evil?
The novel, The Lord of the Flies, by Golding illustrates that evil exists in human nature. Society’s rule is what prevents humans from acting on that evil. In the book, the boys and Jack’s behavior dramatically changes and evil comes out in them due to the absence of adults and punishments. Moreover, they continue to lose their civilized identity by acting cruel and ruthless towards weak individuals. The vision Simon experiences clearly demonstrates that the boys identity have become a beast.
The value of the Stanford Prison Experiment in relation to humanity as a whole by showing how circumstances can completely change a person and what he or she is willing to do. It shows that humans can be influenced to the extent that their innate character traits can be manipulated. It also shows that power and authority can change the behavior of naturally good people. That it can turn some people into someone who will do anything to maintain the feeling of power. This experiment has allowed psychologist a new view on human behavior and how easy it is to manipulate.
In this book, we see the good person is Simon, he tries to maintain the peace and then when he is killed all peace is gone, and the island goes into anarchy. Likewise, in the prison experiment, the good guards who did favors for the prisoners but also were fair and listened to the other guards were the peacemakers, which lost their mind and conformed like the other guards. In addition, we see a request for guidance before the state of nature. In the Lord of the Flies, Ralph and piggy requested a “sign” from the “grown-up[s]” (Golding 92). In the prison experiment, the guards asked “what do we do” and were responded to by “it’s your prison”, while given a “warning about physical abuse” (Dreifus 1). The guards then went to do psychological punishment followed by physical abuse as punishments. In the end, after the anarchy is stopped there is regret that occurs. In the Lord of the Flies, the kids cried in front of the British officer, for the fact that they killed Simon and Piggy. In the prison experiment, the guards were disappointed in their behavior, but still were sad that they lost all the
Lord of the Flies and Heart of Darkness are exceptionally well written novels that teach the readers how to live life. The novels portray how a society depends on the ethical nature of an individual rather than on a political system. Both novels explored the idea of darkness in humans that caused by having desire of power and savagery within society. Conard and Golding believed that if a man is kept isolated from a civilization for long time they would be tempted by evil which leads them into iniquitous conflicts. The dark tone left a negative impact on the characters but, the situation they were in explains their actions. Although human thoughts can be potentially wicked and vicious, the prominent qualities of having moral values and realization demonstrated by different characters prove that human nature is truly good.