Humanity's Hidden Malie In Lord Of The Flies By William Golding

Humanity’s Hidden Malice
William Golding uses his novel, Lord of the Flies, to support his belief that humanity is born with the propensity to do evil. Although Jean-Jacques Rousseau blames the environment for changing the way humans act, Godling counters this through various characters in the society that they created.
One of the many characters that prove humanity has the tendency to be malicious is Jack Merridew. Jack is a character full of evil and selfishness consistently throughout the novel. From the moment the boys grouped, Jack reveals his ambition and lack of empathy. Jack uses verbal abuse towards everyone in order to gain control, but especially Piggy. When Piggy tries desperately to be heard while creating the fire, Jack tells

At first, Ralph does not prioritize hunting; he prefers to focus on getting rescued. However, this changes when he gets into a situation where he gets the opportunity to hunt. Once he hits the boar, “He sunned himself in their new respect and felt that hunting was good after all”(133). Ralph could not contain his pride with having an advantage over the animal. This implies that even though he clings to society, he has malice inside of him like the other hunters. Having power over the boar gives him a sense of superiority and pride which is shown when he boasts. Ralph’s intention to kill shows that he has evil hidden inside his heart, although he tries to hide his own

Jack and his new clan are shown to be more violent and malicious then when Ralph was in charge. His clan, including him, disguised their identities in face paint, and it seems as if when they put it on, they became a new person free of consequence. While Ralph is hiding from the rest of the boys on the island, “He had even glimpsed one of them, striped brown, black, and red, and had judged that it was Bill. But really, thought Ralph, this was not Bill. This was a savage whose image refused to blend with that ancient picture of a boy in shorts and shirt” (184). The masks make Bill, along with everyone else, completely invisible from their past identities. This sense of invisibility allows the boys to participate in barbaric actions that they would not have done if punishment were involved. For example, after Jack’s clan viciously murders a mother pig, “[Jack] giggled and flicked them while the boys laughed at his reeking palms”(135). They become desensitized to their violent and evil ways. Before they had the masks, the boys were less hostile because they still felt some guilt, but without any trace of identity, their true colors arise. Jack, along with the other boys in his group, laugh and celebrate without a trace of guilt or