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Human Nature In Lord Of The Flies By William Golding

569 Words3 Pages

Exploring One's Nature. Human nature is very fascinating. Everyone is driven by a large number of instincts, emotions, and desires. We have both traits of kindness and cruelty, and love and hate. The contrasts of those traits shape one's behavior and interactions. One side may help us to seek connecting with others, but however, the capacity for greed, and aggression is also possessed. This is a balance between these two dualities that define human nature. The book Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the short film The Monsters are Due on Maple Street by Rod Serling, as well as the movie The Purge by James DeMonaco all demonstrate how human nature can really affect someone. In the book Lord of the Flies, the boys are trapped on the island …show more content…

At once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt on to the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore. There were no words, and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws.” They had thought they killed the beast, but instead killed Simon. “Simon’s dead body moved out toward the open sea.” The boys mistook Simon for the beast they all feared. These quotes show us how they quickly went into survival mode, but didn’t seem to think beforehand. In chapter 11, Roger brutally murders Piggy by pushing the boulder off the hill. “Piggy fell forty feet and landed on his back across the square red rock in the sea. His head opened and stuff came out and turned red. Piggy’s arms and legs twitched a bit, like a pig’s after it had been killed. the body of Piggy was gone.” Roger wanted to show his importance and how powerful he was. This shows how cruel and brutal humans can be. The breakdown and morality on the island was definitely demonstrated here. In the short film “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street”, the neighborhood got involved in chaos, which then made the residents suspicious of one another which caused all of them to feel fear and

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Roger chose to torture the boys, and eventually he chose to kill Piggy. The experience of the island pulled something ugly out of him specifically, but in all the ways that matter, he was fully aware and in control of his choice to murder another person. The other murder, Simon’s, is different in that no one person chose to kill the boy. No one in particular summoned the malice to beat him to death, but the group as a whole lost their individual values and assimilated into the group. Chapter 2 of Opening Skinner’s Box explains that people abandon their core beliefs in order to satisfy some primal need to conform.

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Roger begins to lose his innocence when he kills the piglet, he is the only one to chase after the piglet instead of the mother like the rest of the hunters. This shows that Roger’s innocence is being replaced with darkness. When Roger finally loses his innocence is when Ralph, Piggy, Jack, and his tribe members start to argue over Piggy’s glass, which are seen as a symbol of hope. Roger, who is Jack’s right hand man, is on top of a perch with a giant boulder held by a stick. Finally losing all sense of morals, Roger pulls the stick which drops the rock on top of Piggy, instantly killing him.

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After being on the island for a long time, the boys start to become uncivilized too. After Roger already becomes a criminal by aiding in the murder of a boy, Simon, he murders Piggy on his own. Roger understood that he was committing murder, so he should be fully responsible for his actions. What Roger did is unacceptable, he murdered someone by choice. Because even though “We are born with evil in us...

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There are conditions in which cruelty and violence become very present, “Chaos is one, fear is another” (Golding). Chaos and fear can cause the boys on the island to become aggressive, leading Roger to Piggy’s death. Chaos is especially present on the island when the boys are hunting down a pig and doing insane dances with chants. The boys all chant and dance, which makes them more violent than ever before on the island. Fear also comes into play when all the boys believe that there is a big beast that comes in the night.

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705 Words | 3 Pages

This scene was foreshadowed earlier on in the story when Roger was throwing rocks at the littleuns but he purposely didn’t hit them, because he knew it wasn’t right. But as the story progressed Roger becomes Jacks sidekick and his internal evil begins to reveal itself. Golding said, “Roger led the way straight through the castles, kicking them over, burying the flowers, scattering the chosen stones.” (60) This shows that Roger is trying to destroy anything that is good on the island. At first Piggy's death may have seemed like an accident to some but Golding wrote, “Roger, with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever” (180), proving that this was not an accident.

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832 Words | 4 Pages

When Ralph calls a meeting in chapter two regarding the rules of the island Piggy says some pessimistic things regarding being rescued. “Nobody knows where we are,” said Piggy. He was paler than before and breathless. “Perhaps they knew where we was going to; and perhaps not. But they don’t know where we are ‘cos we never got there.”

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727 Words | 3 Pages

This represents the intellectual side of humanity. His eyesight may be weak, but his insight is powerful. Piggy is bullied to the point where his glasses are taken away which he depends on, so the consequence is being helpless whereas the others can handle the rigor of the island. Piggy’s character is unappreciated by the boys and his intelligence is ignored and uncared for. They see him as just another animal hence him being killed as though he was one.

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His death is significant to the theme of the loss of innocence, as he is the very first killed on the island by the boys, although it was accidental. His character symbolized saintliness and human goodness -- losing the one person that still had these qualities suggests that the savages are now without much hope, and will continue their descent into savagery and evil. In contrast to Simon’s death, Piggy was killed deliberately. Golding writes, “High overhead, Roger, with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever. The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist” (Golding 180-181).

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Although Ralph may be a good leader and Piggy may be smart, they both have evil inside of them and want to be a part of Simon’s murder. Ralph and Piggy are nowhere near being savages at this point, but their love of death still shows, even if they regret it later. Their savagery is just the result of the evil human nature inside of them that is left unchecked by civil society. On the island, the boys do not have the benefit of civilization, so they revert to human nature and instinct for survival.

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Later that time he trips over rocks and the boys gets confused, so they rip him apart and violently kill him. The evidence I found was "Shouting that he is the beast, the boys descend upon Simon and start to tear him apart with their bare hands and teeth. Simon tries desperately to explain what has happened and to remind them of who he is, but he trips and plunges over the rocks onto the beach. The boys fall on him violently and kill him." (William 167).

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799 Words | 4 Pages

This example of situational irony is used to represent how depraved we all are. In addition to that, the book states, “The rock struck Piggy. traveled through the air sideways from the rock, turning as he went. Piggy fell forty feet” (181). Roger pushed a boulder down the island and hit Piggy with it, leading him to his death.

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1054 Words | 5 Pages

It is evident that the characters are children due to the immature actions they showed and absurd notion they conceived. However, even though they are youthful and inexperienced boys, some of them desire and have the ability to kill, specifically Roger. On chapter 11, page 180, it stated, “Roger, with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever”. This passage of the novel reveals the ruthless behaviour of Roger that eventually lead to Piggy’s death. It also manifests the point that evil is not only applicable for adults, but for children as well.

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715 Words | 3 Pages

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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1127 Words | 5 Pages

No Piggy to talk sense, no Simon, and Samneric wasn’t by his side. Eric says, “Ralph, Jack, the chief, says it’ll be dangerous and we’ve got to be careful and throw our spears like at a pig. We’re going forward from this end until we find you.” (Golding, 170). Ralph has worked tirelessly to retain the structure of civilization and maximize the chances of being rescued.

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957 Words | 4 Pages

After Piggy’s death, Ralph is the only representation of civilization left on the island. The sharpened stick is meant for his head, and Roger’s obedience indicates that he is not ashamed of attempting to take the life of another human being, and he, in fact, takes pleasure in it. The balance between reason and emotion has been destroyed, and now, nothing keeps Roger from hurting others, and inevitably, eradicating civilized

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