Essay In William Golding's 'Lord Of The Flies'

People innately can be “good” or “bad”. This is a question that can be debated upon until researchers prove which the right answer is good or bad. In my opinion I believe people are innately good but are born without knowing what is right or wrong which can lead to evil. In the book “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding, his view on human nature were that people were naturally born evil. In the Stanford Prison Experiment, the point of the test was to see if people given power go straight into the thoughts of evil. In an article written by Tom Stafford on January 14th, 2013 at Yale University there was a test done on babies to see if babies look more towards good or evil at a very young age. This test was very persuading to support my opinion because these babies use knowledge of what they are born with. Over these three opinions on whether people are innately good or bad will be the deciding factor of the final answer on the question.

In an attempt to recreate the culture they left behind, they elected a leader named Ralph with a counselor named piggy. (Cliff Notes) This book showed that putting power into people’s possessions can trigger the evil side of one’s mind. These were average schoolboys who turned into savages and tried to kill their friends. Instead of working together to get off the island they were killing each other. The young boys in this book Jack and Ralph both turned into evil minds and tried to gain all the power and fight each other to survive. This kind of power is what can make good people do bad things. In the book, there are hunters and gatherers. Jack led the hunters and Ralph led the gatherers. These two groups fought over power which ended up in burning up the island and the death of some of the boys. “The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee…” (Lord of the Flies 181). Power is a trait that can make good people do bad