Evil In Lord Of The Flies

Society Cannot Make a Person Good

As people grow up, they look to their parents and community when forming their understanding of behavior. When the constraints of society are eliminated, the raw human nature takes over. This is a major subject in William Golding's novel The Lord of the Flies. All social restraints are eliminated when the schoolboys in The Lord of the Flies are dumped on a remote island. Exposing that their morals are limited to society, and showing the truly good from the bad. While some characters, such as the leader of the group, Ralph, still seem to have their morals, Ralph is human. William Golding not only believes human nature is instinctively evil, but that every man is born that way. Golding describes The Lord of the Flies as “an attempt to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature” (Spitz par. 1). One boy, Simon, has no problem being taken away from society, and never stoops to the level that the other boys do. Simon is innately good and Ralph is only good because of society. Simon has no savagery within himself so he is not changed by being free from social moderation. “All of the boys, so it is argued, removed from the pinfold of civilisation, inevitably regress to savagery. But Simon doesn’t regress to savagery”

When he makes the signal fire, while it will help everyone, he is truly doing it because benefits himself. “[Ralph] attempts to control Jack and engage his energy for the tending of the fire” (Henningfeld par. 9). Another incidence of this is the building of the huts. While it seems that he is doing it for everyone, no one else really seems cares about it. On the other hand, Simon has numerous scenarios of helping others with nothing in return. One occasion discussed above, is Simon helping the littluns. He did not do that to benefit himself or make his life easier. That shows the true kindness and unselfishness he has within