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Human Nature In Lord Of The Flies

1520 Words7 Pages

Krish Patel
Mrs. Kirkpatrick
English 10 - period 6
3/13/2023
The Evils of Human Nature
Throughout history there has been a big question over human nature that has not been answered to this day, is human nature evil? William Golding uses his Novel, Lord of the Flies, to give his answer by using kids marooned on an empty uncivilized island. In Lord of the Flies, Golding implies that human nature is evil, which is a fair assessment. There have been many instances throughout history and literature that show the evils of humans being aggressive and savagely.

Golding shows his point of human nature being inherently evil by using children separated from society as his main example. He gives many examples of human nature being evil, one of them is …show more content…

In the Stanford Prison Experiment, college students are separated into two groups, the prisoners and the guards and are required to play the parts. The Stanford Prison experiment shows how abusive humans can be, in real life, to their own classmates in a short amount of time. This is shown when, “Within hours of beginning the experiment, some guards began to harass prisoners… Push-ups were a common form of physical punishment imposed by the guards. One of the guards stepped on the prisoners” backs while they did push-ups, or made other prisoners sit on the backs of fellow prisoners doing their push-ups…The guards again escalated the level of harassment, forcing them to do menial, repetitive work such as cleaning toilets with their bare hands” (Mcleod). Only a couple of hours in, the guards are already harassing and punishing the prisoners with punishments that get worse and worse, some of the reasons that the prisoners are being punished are not even bad, but they still get cruel punishments. The guards are hurting the prisoners, who are actually their classmate and friends, and finding it amusing, showing off the evil human nature in them. The punishments are physical at first but as time goes on they start abusing there mental stability as well, “Next, the guards broke into each cell, stripped the prisoners naked and took the beds out. Soon #8612 “began to act ‘crazy,’ to scream, to curse, to go into a rage that seemed out of control.” It wasn’t until this point that the psychologists realized they had to let him out… The psychologists removed the chain from his foot, the cap off his head, and told him to go and rest in a room that was adjacent to the prison yard. They told him they would get him some food and then take him to see a doctor. While this was going on, one of the guards lined up the other prisoners and had them chant

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The prisoners had seen and experienced so much brutality, endured repeated beatings, and humiliated beyond imagination, so one more death did not affect them. Their emotions hardened to the point of being non-existent… or so they thought. Although the prisoners seemed hardened and unaffected by death, a different hanging did deeply affect them.

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The Stanford Prison Experiment: Human Nature and the Power of Social Roles Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment (as well as Milgram’s obedience study) are absolutely fascinating. In fact, their studies are largely the reason why I became interested in pursing psychology as my major. I have seen numerous documentaries about the psychology of evil, as well as read many books and articles pertaining to this area. I find these types of social psychology studies enthralling because I have trouble wrapping my mind around the idea that normal people are capable of such heinous acts. Moreover, theses classic studies leave me constantly questioning whether or not I would have behaved in a similar fashion.

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In the end there were less than half of the original inmates left, and one of the stand-by inmates had gone on a full blown food strike, and was severely reprimanded for it. The guards posed the other inmates against him and made him look as if he was the bad guy. Guards started to make his cell mates force and mock him in order to get him to eat. This tactic was to no avail, so they ended up putting him “in the hole” for three hours, even though the established limit was only one hour. It is completely understandable why the men that played the inmates were so enraged, there were established rules that were by no means followed throughout the experiment.

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It was also interesting that none of the other prison guards ever said anything to him about his behavior and even went along with him. I think it was unethical of the psychologist in charge of the experiment to react as the prison superintendent when

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The experiments became popular when trying to understand what having power (in this situation the role of the guards) would do to a normal person. The article The Stanford Prison Experiment explains the experiment and its process. After running for 6 days, it revealed there was real danger of someone being mentally or physically harmed if it continued. The experiment was said to have proved that people easily conform to the social roles they are given (McLeod 2-3). This, however, can be proven wrong in many ways.

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This experiment was conducted in Stanford University by Dr. Zimbardo. During this two week long session, Dr. Zimbardo had several volunteers agree to act as prisoners and as prison guards. The prisoners were told to wait in their houses while the guards were to set up the mock prison, a tactic used by Dr. Zimbardo to make them fit into their roles more. The official police apprehended the students assigned to the role of prisoner from their homes, took mug shots, fingerprinted them, and gave them dirty prison uniforms. The guards were given clean guard uniforms, sunglasses, and billy clubs borrowed from the police.

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The Stanford Prison Experiment is one of the most infamous and controversial psychological experiments to ever take place to this day. In 1971, Phillip Zimbardo created an experiment that tested the changes one endures when they have to adapt in a prison environment and provided an explanation for the dehumanizing effects of the penile system. 24, college-aged, men were chosen to participate in the 2 week long experiment by flipping a coin to decide whether they’re given the role of prisoner or guard. After their roles were determined, they were given uniforms, cells, identification numbers, etc. Little did he know that the results of this experiment would give some of the most ethically challenged results of time.

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Other rooms were designated for the guards and the wardens. Two tiny spaces were also left for the confinement room and prison yard. The participants were then randomly assigned to be prisoners or guards. The prisoners were asked to stay in the cell 24 hours a day and the guards were asked to work eight hour shifts. After each shift, only the guards could return home.

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The "good" guards may have felt compelled to align their behavior with the prevailing norms and expectations, even if it meant following the orders of the tough or bad guards. The guards' behavior in the Stanford Prison Experiment could have been influenced by a diffusion of responsibility. When individuals are part of a group or system, they may feel less

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THE GUARDS At the beginning of the experiment the guards were told at orientation to do anything to maintain law and order, avoid physical violence, and prevent prisoner escapes (Sedacca 2017). They did not have adequate training on how to appropriately handle intense situations. The five psychological tactics the guards developed to keep control of the environment was to dehumanize the prisoners, took their name away, their masculinity, the way the prisoners wear their hair and took away all decision making. The guards dehumanized the prisoners by humiliating them. The guards would make the prisoners defecate in buckets in their cells, taking away their basic human rights, and demeaning them by calling them names.

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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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Josh Elliott Mrs. Jackson English 10H P.3 March 15, 2023 Hidden Nature of Humanity At the dawn of mankind, human nature could best be described as primal, brutal, and savage, a trait passed down by generations. These traits of humanity are represented in the spiral away from civilization in Sir William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. Where when unchecked, human nature starts to show its sadistic aspects. Such is the case with Animal Farm, by George Orwell.

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Several of the guards became very cruel, especially when they thought the cameras that were recording them were turned off. They performed blindly to their assigned role. After only six days of a planned two weeks, the experiment was shut down for fear one of the prisoners would be seriously hurt. Healthy college students are transformed into unstable, suffering prisoners and brutal prison guards by the power of the situation in which they found themselves.

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Throughout high school I took several classes like biology and chemistry and was a part of a club called HOSA (Health Occupational Students of America), which helped me move towards my goal. These classes and club helped me learn more about the medical field and how each job was different but each one was needed. Ever since my freshman year in high school I knew I wanted to become a pharmacist. I love the idea of being able to supply people with the medications they need and even doing research to find cures. I am going to major in biochemistry in order to achieve my dream of becoming a pharmacist.

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Humans are complex creatures. Understanding human nature is difficult, but the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding helps to show what true human nature looks like. Humans are inherently evil, but that evil is hidden by societal dictates. Throughout the novel, the human societal mask is stripped away and true human nature can be seen. Society enforces rules and trends that people feel they must follow.

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