Human Nature In Lord Of The Flies Essay

Irrepressible Urges There are urges in this world that are simply irresistible. In The Lord of The Flies by William Golding, the concept of human nature is depicted through a story of schoolboys trapped on an island. Throughout the novel, Golding illustrates a battle between the schoolboy's primal vs. civilized desires, which cements itself as the root cause behind the majority of decisions that happen on the island. Golding claims that in human nature, our primal desires intoxicate us into believing in senseless dominance, and our civilized desires become less desirable as a result. As the boys hunt for meat, they unfortunately fail to do so. Rather than mourn their failure to catch the boar, Ralph instead gloats over his ability to impale

Roger’s assimilation proves how these primal desires completely envelop someone in the moment, thus showing how intoxicating these primal desires can be. The fantasies of unpunished savagery plague Roger’s mind, “teasing” him with the potential pleasure that he may feel; moreover, the control that these desires have over Roger exposes the vulnerability of civilization, thus proving how quickly these primal desires overrule morality in the absence of civilization. Regardless of age, desires for authority have always been present — as shown by the potency of these primal desires — yet there’s only so little time before a man sees himself completely indulging in these desires. In the middle of Jack and Ralph’s confrontation, Roger interrupts by throwing stones from above, aiming purposely to scare Sam and Eric. This did not satisfy Roger enough, for later on, “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, et al., 1998).