Human Nature In Lord Of The Flies Research Paper

Human nature, which inhabits all of mankind as a whole, is defined as “the general psychological characteristics, feelings, and behavioral traits of humankind, regarded as shared by all humans”. Human life has all throughout time, constantly been put into situations which reveal the true nature of mankind. Hardships and dire situations are the moments in which human nature tends to unveil itself the most. Humans have an innate selfishness which is what pushes them to survive, and thrive. As a result, humanity has been bent towards causing its own destruction through violence and war, and is therefore inherently evil. Humans do not always show their bad side however, because they are taught from birth to consciously suppress this evil in society.

“human nature starts to assert itself, and their mini-society descends swiftly into antagonism, hostility, and violence” (Lord Of The Flies...Blueprint for Savagery). “Existence of fear and man’s inability to cope with fear bring about the worst in him” (Cousins, Game of Cards). In the Robbers Cave experiment, the boys that find themselves stranded on an isolated island eventually lost their grip on reality, and things begin falling apart. When people are put into rough situations, they begin to lose their sense of rationality and reason. “In a dark time, the eye begins to see” (In a Dark Time). This is directly relating to the fact that humanity in dark times, finds itself losing rationality and doing whatever it needs to survive, thus exerting its true

Wars are most often caused by a refusal to change, or by change itself (http://www.economist.com/node/12758508). Humans want more for themselves and to be in the best condition, and when this is threatened by change, this forces the repulsion of it and leads to violence and destruction. “In most cases wars are initiated by governments...they are the result of disputes over resources and land, or of a government’s desire to increase its influence and power” (http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/05/why-human-beings-keep-fighting-wars-warfare). Human beings fight over the basic necessities which everyone needs to survive. This pointless conflict humans put themselves through just goes to show how sometimes the evil side of human nature takes over and pushes people to do irrational