Children In Lord Of The Flies Essay

Children are perceived in today's society to be naive, some people agree and some do not but in the novel by William Golding, Lord of the Flies, he expresses his opinion on the topic through many examples. In Golding’s Lord of the Flies, he uses child protagonists to demonstrate that mankind is naturally evil through Roger holding himself back from throwing rocks at people, Jack’s obsession to be a group leader on the island, and also Simon’s death that occurred at night. One of the ways Golding demonstrates this is through Roger holding himself back from throwing rocks at people only because of his fear of punishment from the old world. Jack’s obsession to be a group leader on the island is revealed by showing that without anyone in charge

Throughout the book Golding makes these references, some are more obvious than others but they all get the point across that children are naturally evil when there is no one to stop them from doing

Golding does this in one way by presenting Roger throwing rocks. Golding suggests that the only reason that kids act with decency is because of fear of punishment by higher authority. “Yet there is a space around Henry, perhaps six feet in diameter, into which he dare not throw” (Golding 91). This quote is explaining that for some reason his own body wouldn't let him throw into an area around him, like an invisible barrier. This next quote shows that society made Roger scared of throwing rocks because of the punishments that come along with doing wrong things. “Roger’s arm was conditioned by a civilization that knew nothing of him and was in ruins” (Golding 91). Roger’s arm just expects punishment and does not think that there will not be consequences. The only thing holding back the evil within the child is the old civilization and since that is gone, the realization that punishment does not exist will follow closely behind. In conclusion, children may seem naive which they are, naturally they would do things much differently if they were exposed to things instead of being sheltered from