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Hobbes Lord Of The Flies Argumentative Essay

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The natural way of humans has long been debated by several philosophers. One may agree with Hobbes’ perspective, all humans are naturally evil, creating chaos and disorder; or one may side with Locke’s perspective that all humans are naturally good, kind creatures. Still others do not side with either philosopher, believing that instead, humans actions result of their environment. This has fueled the debate about where human behavior derives from: the biology or the environment. The realistic fiction novel the Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, brings up this debate as it follows young British schoolboys who crashed onto an island. The boys then have to figure out how to survive on their own, forming their own leadership and organization; …show more content…

The brain accounts for the main portion of one’s personality: “The cerebrum is also the seat of intelligence and personality.” More specifically, the prefrontal cortex of the brain accounts for the personality of one person; therefore, biology is the reason for decisions as biology determines personality, and personality is a part of the decision making process. One instance of this may be seen in the Stanford Prison experiment, an experiment complete at Stanford, where several college students played the guards and some prisoners. From the experiment extreme treatment and abuse from the guards to the prisoners was seen; however, this abuse depended on the guard, “Not all of the guards showed sadistic tendencies, with some seeking to actively help prisoners and show sympathy towards them.” (Shuttlewarth). Depending on the guards personality, the reactions were different, varying from being malicious and torturous to the prisoners, to being kind and reaching out to help them. Additionally, personality playing into decisions and behavior is seen in the novel when Piggy says “‘Which is better -- to be a pack of painted Indians like you are, or to be sensible like Ralph is?’ … ‘Which is better, law and rescue, or hunting and breaking things up?’” (Golding 164). Piggy discusses the different personalities of Jack and Ralph. Their personalities played a large part in to how …show more content…

Their biology deciding their factors is due to their underdeveloped prefrontal cortex being underdeveloped, causing for poor decision making; their susceptibility to peer pressure due to their brains; and their personalities, which are determined by the frontal lobes of the brain. The decisions and a behavior all emerge from their biology, often leading to poor decisions. They are poor decision makers, and, due to the stage that their brains are currently in, are especially prone to submit to peer pressure. This leads to the poor and absurd decisions and behavior from the boys in The Lord of the Flies, and the poor decisions made by adolescents worldwide. The biology of humans leads to their behavior, especially in young adults and children due to their brain development. Everyone makes decisions in their life; everyone behaves a certain way. Behavior stems from the biology of humans, so how one will act, the decisions one will make, they will all occur, due to one’s brain and

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Our Personality from Decisions The product of condition does not determine our behaviour; the reaction to a circumstance induces it. This statement is evident on Stephen Covey’s quote, “I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.” John Wyndham

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Humans, according to the philosopher Thomas Hobbes, are selfish by nature. In his landmark work, Leviathan, he explains the importance of a strong government in society. According to Hobbes, without a strong system of government people would revert into a primitive state; war would run rampant, the natural law would not be abided, and those once tamed by society would become evil. William Golding based his novel, Lord of The Flies, on a similar idea. In this novel, many characters digress from civility into savagery.

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William Golding’s fictional, British novel, Lord of the Flies, presents a character that serves a two-part function as a “scapegoat” and a certain commentary on life. During WWII, a group of British boys are being evacuated via plane when they crash and are stranded on an island without adults. As time progresses, the innate evilness of human nature begins to overcome the savage society of young boys while Piggy, an individual representation of brains without brawn, becomes an outlier as he tries to resist this gradual descent of civilness and ends up shouldering the blame for the wrongdoings of the savage tribe. Up until his untimely death, Piggy is portrayed as the most intellectual and most civil character in the group of stranded boys. Right from the beginning, Piggy realized that “[they] got to do something,” (8) and he recognized the shell Ralph had picked up as a conch.

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It has been said several times throughout history that human nature is constitutionally a negative force. This is further shown in William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies when numerous young boys aged twelve and under are stranded on an island after a plane crash during World War 2. These children abandon all civilization and grow more savage as the literature progresses. The main boys: Ralph, Simon, Piggy, and Jack change exponentially throughout the novel, gradually losing themselves and any culture they had. Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, depicts human nature’s inherent evil and man’s inability to escape it.

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The hidden savagery of humans that is dormant because of civilization is presented in Lord of the Flies through its symbolism, repetition and diction. The struggle for power and control on the island led to the exposure of savage nature that is present in the boys who were forced into a lawless place. Throughout the novel reason and logic are abandoned, causing the boys to act on whims and be controlled by their instincts rather than control themselves. Civilization has dampened human’s savage ways, but believing that there are no consequences could lead to the downfall of humanity and the return of the primitive ways society believes it has abandoned. Golding wrote Lord of the Flies to expose the hidden savagery that humans possess and how if humans aren’t careful they will become the savages

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How are humans innately created and what alters their behaviors? In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, how humans are innately created and what alters their behaviors is the way of loss in their innocence, their absence of social norms, and savageness and civility . That has shown the message of these acts. Loss of innocence, how humans are innately created and what alters their behaviors is the surrounding around them. From how they had to adapt to what was right and what was wrong.

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Throughout their lives, the boys have been conditioned to believe that with maturity comes knowledge and superiority. Many of them perceive adulthood as a rite of passage to righteousness, and try to imitate adult behavior to maintain order on the island. Ralph and Piggy, two of the boys trying most to preserve civility on the island, hold a particularly glorified image of adulthood. However, as the first signs of savagery emerge, the boys begin to question their successfulness at modeling adult society and become exasperated at their inability to maintain order. They use their immaturity and ignorance to justify their failure.

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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,

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Lord of The Flies: Human Nature Are humans instinctively evil? Savage? In Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, young boys are left to organize themselves into a society to keep balance and peace on the island. When the society crumbles beneath their feet, one must ask these questions. The downfall and overall plot of the book is largely telling of human nature, and may be a smaller analogy for human nature in itself.

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They become different because of the extreme environment and new experiences around them. The characters of Jack, Roger, and Ralph change in terms of their behavior by becoming savagely brutal, which shows the significant influence of their experience on the island. Jack changes his behavior by becoming savagely brutal. He becomes like a savage and very brutal when he kills a sow without hesitation. He is eager to hunt and willing to kill pig after the first hunting

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The boys no longer had adults in their lives, and because of this void, they had to become responsible. They attempted to create rules, shelters, and a way off the island. They attempted to provide for one another, and eventually began to act a little like adults. “…The ground was hardened by an accustomed tread and as Jack rose to his full height he heard something moving on it.

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Many scholars and philosophers in the past have argued that the ability of humans to create a society is what makes us human. In every society created, there are certain standards set that everyone must follow. To thrive in that society a person must conform, and follow the rules. But what if through the act of conforming, a person loses what truly makes them human? Lord of the Flies is a classic tale written by William Golding that explores the many nuances of society by using little boys.

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Diana Baumrind (1971), has been credited for defining three specific parenting styles and their consequences for children. These are: authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive styles of parenting based on levels of warmth and control used by the parent in disciplining the child. According to Baumrind (1991), parenting styles are meant to capture normal variations in the attempt of parents to socialize children. Two points are critical in understanding this definition: i. Parenting style is meant to describe normal variations in parenting.

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William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies does not simply describe the life of a group of children stranded on an island, but rather it is a representation of the qualities of human nature. As the novel progresses, the children grow deeper into savagery, performing actions that would be often criticised in society. The absence of law and order devolves even those that attempt to recreate it, like Ralph and Piggy. In this novel, Golding uses children to answer the question whether or not humans are born inanimately good or truly evil. Golding answers this question by symbolising the main characters and their descent into savagery.

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If we see in that light, we really have not much to do in deciding over actions, as it would be heavily dependent upon the immediate context of our behaviour rather than the our intent to actually do something. Gladwell in his work”The Power of Context” has shown a lot of evidences from psychological studies to prove this theory in action. The study of the prisoners in a simulated environment and their progressed behaviour works in tandem with this theory. People, who showed healthy minds in psychological studies beforehand, started showing repulsive behaviour in just a few days, and the change was so quick that the experimenters had to stop the experiment way before the pre assigned time because of the mental health of the volunteer prisoners. This study was a concrete proof of how our actions may largely depend on our situation in spite of our intent or

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