Environment In William Golding's Lord The Flies

The Environment Can Control
In times of difficulty, individuals tend to change who they are. For example, when one tends to grow up and go through the stages of adulthood, they change their ways in which they act or think. Situations and environment are able to control and manipulate an individual. Situations can become so severe that they can lead to savagery in one’s individual environment. Golding states in the novel Lord the Flies, “Simon was mistaken for the beast and the boys get together and kill him” (Golding 147). This proves that the environment controls people because the island starts to slowly change the boys in becoming more and more vicious. According to the “Stanford Prison Experiment” article, “For the most part, however,

“The simulation became so real, and the guards became so abusive, that the experiment had to be shut down after only 6 days rather than the two weeks planned” (“More Information: Frequently Asked Questions”). This demonstrates that situations and environments can control an individual because one can become physically violent and the situation can become so real that one’s self will lose the ability to determine right from wrong. Golding himself writes, “Jack was chief now in truth; and he made stabbing motions with his spear. From his left hand dangled Piggy’s broken glasses” (Golding 168). This evidence supports how the environment starts to slowly change Jack into becoming more vicious and aggressive in the novel, Lord of the Flies.
Some may argue and say that situations and environments can control the individual. On one hand, this is true; however, most individuals can control themselves in the environment in most cases. This evidence supports my counterargument because an individual can control his or herself when it comes to different changes in the situation or environment. This evidence refutes the argument because an individual is in control of the situations and