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Are Humans Naturally Good Or Evil In Lord Of The Flies

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Humanity has always had a fascination with its own nature. Many great philosophers have argued about whether humans are naturally good or evil, and no final conclusion has ever been reached. However, many have attempted to illustrate their view on humanity, such as William Golding. Golding's most famous book, The Lord of the Flies, explains his view that humanity has naturally evil tendencies which are exposed in survival situations. The story is an allegory for the primitive nature that humans have never been able to escape. The most complex part of the story is the characters and what they represent. The characters in Lord of the Flies represent the states of humanity where Ralph represents learned civility, Jack represents the embrace of …show more content…

He has a pure heart by birth, and does not act out of selfish interest. Simon represents “a rare type of person that does not exist. There are people who give of themselves because it is their nature or their sole ambition. They do consider their own needs from time to time, but are principally concerned with the needs of others” (Olsen 16). Simon is constantly helping the boys. He helps Ralph build shelters and he assists the littluns in picking fruit, but he also makes time to go off by himself and reflect introspectively. Only because he more insightful about himself and others, he is the character that discovers the true nature of the Beast. When he encounters the Lord of the Flies, a pig's head on a stick, he has a metaphorical conversation with it where he realizes that the Beast, the Lord of the Flies, and fear itself are all the same thing. The figure tells him, “'There isn't anyone to help you. Only me. And I'm the Beast,” (Golding 143). Now, not only is he the character that has the purest of intentions, he is also the wisest. However, there is a darker consequence to his good, enlightened nature. As he tries to tell the others, they think he is the beast and they “leapt onto [him], screamed, struck, bit, and tore” and eventually kill him (Golding 153). This is the bleakest aspect of the metaphor that is Lord of the Flies. Golding is portraying the idea that the rare, natural goodness in the world is overwhelmed and eventually snuffed out by the evil darkness of everyone else. Although inexplainable valuable and rare, goodness comes with a steep price to

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