Human Nature Many people believe that humans are born naturally evil, but this is not the case. Throughout the novel Lord of the Flies, the boys on the island start out sane and innocent. As time progresses, they start to become influenced by the society they have created, their loss of morality, and the chaos that ensues when the boys conflict with each other. In Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, he portrays human nature as evil when influenced by society and when faced with power. This is proven by the malicious actions of the boys on the island and the loss of control throughout the book. In Lord of the Flies, Golding portrays the boys stranded on the island as evil when their society becomes corrupt. Once their previously civilized society …show more content…
This was displayed in the Stanford Prison Experiment. This study took participants and assigned some to be guards and some to be prisoners. 12 people were guards and 12 people were prisoners. Within the first two days of the experiment, the guards noticed that, “Push-ups were a common form of punishment imposed by the guards” (The Stanford Prison Experiment). Once scientists looked deeper into this punishment, they realized this was a common form of punishment in Nazi Concentration camps. As the guards were assigning this punishment, it gave them the kind of effects that dopamine provides. This displays the idea that when faced without rules and faced with power human nature will turn evil. After the experiment began, “the “guards” began mistreating the “prisoners”, implying evil is brought out by circumstance” (Resnick 1) The stimulation began to feel real like they were actual prisoners and guards within a prison. This experiment concluded that evil is brought out when people are being influenced. When these innocent people think they have control and power over others they begin to abuse it. This also presents the idea that the guards would behave the same if they were given this much power outside of the