ipl-logo

Character Analysis: All Quiet On The Western Front

1083 Words5 Pages

The question as to whether humans are inherently evil or good has been asked time and time again. Despite the fact Humans are naturally evil based on how they act under grim situations, the tendency of people to follow leaders that are evil, and how people have caused destruction, and have committed terrible acts throughout time. Humans often do terrible things when the situation for them is dire, even with the knowledge that doing said terrible things will only further the problem. A famous example of this is present in the story surrounding the wreck of the french ship, the Méduse. The raft was on its own, provisioned with only a few caskets of wine and some soggy biscuits. The men and one woman on board entered one of those mind-numbing …show more content…

While the lesser guards were largely passive at the beginning of the experiment, they turned aggressive while under the leadership of an evil person. It is important to note that the “prisoners” were actually volunteers, not actually hardened criminals. This is relevant because the guards were verbally and physically harassing innocent people, who had done nothing, under the leadership of Jaffe.When placed in stressful situations humans look for leaders whom they believe are more powerful and will lead them through problems,following them sometimes regardless of whether or not the leader is the best for them in the long …show more content…

During the whole of human existence it has been humans that cause the most tragic events, or simply stand by passively and let them happen. One perfect example of this appears in Goldings Lord of the Flies. During the descent into savagery that is present in the story, Jack and his group start to show the dark side of human nature. What starts as the beating up of a littlun, eventually leads into the murder of two main characters in the story, Piggy and Simon. This is a horribly evil act, and completely unjustifiable seeing as the characters murdered were the most passive of those trapped on the island. This is representative of humanity as a whole, as the story can be seen as an allegory for civilization and society. Humans are conduits for tragedy , and unfortunately tragedy is very common in the

Show More
Related
962 Words | 4 Pages

William Golding's book Lord of the Flies, shows how evil humans are at heart. The book is about a group of British boys who crash on an island and slowly turn savage. Jack and Ralph are split into two groups and after all the conflict ends up with people dead. William Golding in his book Lord of the flies tells us that people are more evil than good. This is shown in the killing of Simon, the killing of Piggy, and the killing of the sow.

Read More
1003 Words | 5 Pages

Ever so often we are faced with the horrendous acts humankind is capable of. The Lord of the Flies written by William Golding is a fictional book about a group of british school boys who get stranded on an island which showcases the savagery we are all capable of. They lose their civility and become savages, and as a result some die such as Simon, Piggy and the boy with the birthmark. Until they are saved at last by a naval officer. All in all Ralph’s poor leadership and Jack’s unrestrained brutality were the ultimate reason for the islands demise.

Read More
674 Words | 3 Pages

What is also awful is how humans are evil due to their own

Read More
529 Words | 3 Pages

In the novel lord of the flies the connect that humans are naturally evil and when not guided will turn aginst eachother. One way we see humans inherently evil is through the character development of jack. In the begging the was obsessed with hunting pigs but could never had the heart to kill them. “He raised his arm in the air.

Read More
843 Words | 4 Pages

Whether working with a co-worker, learning with a classmate or hanging out with a friend, the thought of any of them having the potential to be evil does not cross the mind. Everyday people are not typically evil beings, but if people are not evil beings then why do they commit actions like torture, killing and genocide? Could it be that the certain people committing the acts are just monsters deep inside, or could the actions be mere products of circumstance? In his article "The Genocidal Killer in the Mirror", Crispin Sartwell, a journalist and philosopher, advises his audience to take a look at the heinous acts people have committed throughout history as a way to show us how anyone could commit evil acts, including ourselves. Marianne Szegedy-Maszak,

Read More
639 Words | 3 Pages

When it comes to the novel, Lord of the Flies, some of us will readily agree that the boys’ immoral and savage acts exposed at the end of the novel, demonstrates the evil that lives naturally within humankind. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of was the cause for the boys’ immoral and savage conducts a biological or an environmental factor. Whereas some are convinced that biological factors are to blame, others maintain that the situation or the environment is to blame for their behavior. In my own view, both factors are to blame for the boys’ immoral and savage behavior, but the environment the boys’ where force to live had the most impact on their actions. Being deserted on an unknown island can cause any individual to experience a variety of emotions all at once; from fear, to anger, and then excitement.

Read More
870 Words | 4 Pages

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said that, “envy is ignorance; imitation is suicide.” (370). John Knowles’ A Separate Peace is set during World War I at Devon School, a boarding school for boys. The book centers on Gene Forrester, a student at Devon, who could be described as an intelligent, but jealous, conformist. A Separate Peace illustrates Gene’s envy and imitation of his friend, Finny, and how it affects himself and his relationship with Finny, and also how Gene eventually finds peace.

Read More
845 Words | 4 Pages

All Quiet on The Western Front is a novel about growing up in the sense that the reader watches most characters, especially Paul, transform from young, patriotic school boys to shattered men destroyed by the war. Paul and his comrades face their obstacles together and never leave a man behind, but although they have the support of one another, the war still takes a severe mental toll on all the men. Paul enlists in the army with his school friends excited to fight for their country, but soon realises that war is nothing but horror, and forget what they are even fighting for. Throughout the war Paul has experienced so much terror that he can’t even begin to explain what war is like to his family, and finds that things he used to hold dearly

Read More
514 Words | 3 Pages

In “All Quiet on the Western Front,” Erich Maria Remarque makes the protagonist also the narrator of the novel; his name is Paul Baumer. In this writing, I will start of by telling you about Paul Baumer, his appearance and his bigger ideas and feelings towards life. Then I will explain a little about what he went through in the novel. Finally, I will give a few examples of literary elements that are noticeable.

Read More
714 Words | 3 Pages

Barrows Dunham once said, “The evil is not that you cannot change human nature. The evil is that human nature cannot change you. The tragic end of civilization on the island in Lord of the Flies can be credited to the inherent savage nature of humanity and fear. Through the characters and events in the story, William Golding shows the breakdown of order and morality. In the article Why Boys Become Vicious, the idea that fear brings out the evil nature of humans is portrayed.

Read More
1430 Words | 6 Pages

The novel, Lord Of The Flies, demonstrates that humans are essentially evil through the literary elements foreshadowing and symbolism, for that it is their nature when apart from civilization along with being in a state of fear, they will then unleash their true primitive selves. Through Jack's character, it is clearly evident that with the literary element foreshadowing, humans are essentially evil for that it is their true nature. William Golding’s article, “Why Boys Become Vicious” explains how humans are initially bad and how nurture affects the boys’ personality. It is stated that “when children go wrong” they can consistently “go wrong with a vengeance” and the amount of energy in children is more “powerful than any bomb” (Golding).

Read More
1087 Words | 5 Pages

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War is a 2006 novel by author Max Brooks, which depicts a post apocalyptic world, in which numerous aspects of daily life have completely transformed. The transformations occur in environmental, political, and social structures as well as religious and economic aspects. To fully become aware of all the transformations the narrator travels to numerous parts of the world to collect the testimonies of dozens of survivors. Within this novel, there are numerous examples reflecting common human behaviors during an extensive catastrophic episode.

Read More
1007 Words | 5 Pages

Their power was unlimited; they had no boundaries. Because of this, they started doing small, evil acts, which quickly escalated to larger-scale acts of near malice. For the “prisoners”, the system was unsteadily and randomly created and reliant upon the “guards”, creating a very unhealthy system

Read More
1129 Words | 5 Pages

The second aspect that should be highlighted from the author’s hypothesis is that guards themselves, the authority was in a specific mind-set which comes with the role, and most significantly the uniform which played a major role. This enabled them, psychology to commit the negative acts against the prisoners in the experiment. What reinforces this idea the uniforms enabled this is the experiment encouraged negative as well as positive engagement with the prisoners. However most of those involved in the guard roles engaged almost entirely in negative behavior.

Read More
1572 Words | 7 Pages

Why do humans commit evil acts despite good intentions? It is due to the flaws that each human possesses, be those flaws major or minor. Good intentions always have the opportunity to become corrupted depending on how a person acts on them. In the novel Lord of the Flies and the anime Death Note it is made evident that humans are flawed creatures holding equal opportunity for good and evil.

Read More

More about Character Analysis: All Quiet On The Western Front

Open Document