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Is Human Nature Good Or Evil In Lord Of The Flies

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One of the most debated topics for decades has been whether human nature is inherently good or evil, this topic has divided people since the idea was introduced. However, human nature is fundamentally good, it is not anywhere near evil. In Golding’s Lord of the Flies he alludes to the idea that human nature is evil , savage, and violent however the true overall nature of people is kind, civilized, and nurturing which is evident in “The Real Lord of the flies: what happened when six boys were shipwrecked for 15 months” and 12 Angry Men.
Throughout Golding’s Lord of the Flies he tries to prove how violent human nature is, however, human nature is truly nurturing as seen in “The Real Lord of the flies: what happened when six boys were shipwrecked …show more content…

Golding believes that human nature is honestly evil as shown when,” Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart” (Golding 202). Ralph is quite literally weeping, because he fears the darkness of man’s heart if human nature was honestly evil, he would not be weeping about this, he would be in agreement with this resolution. The overall idea Golding was trying to prove through this quote wrapping up his book is how human nature is dark and evil and when the laws of civilization are taken away people truly let themselves become what he believes is their human nature which is evil. Though, in 12 Angry Men a fictional story about a jury of a murder trial uses a character Juror 8 to portray the kind and compassionate parts of human nature. Which is seen when Juror 8 sates,” There were eleven votes for guilty—it’s not so easy for me to raise my hand and send a boy off to die without talking about it first” (Rose 15). Though there is a lot of evidence against the man on trial Juror 8’s kind and compassionate nature cause him to want to deliberate for a longer amount of time so that the wrong decision is not made, and they do not potentially send an innocent man off to be killed. Highlighting the good, kind aspect of human nature which proves how human nature at its core is kind and compassionate not …show more content…

Throughout the Lord of the Flies the boys slowly devolve into savages, they begin to paint their faces with clay, harm each other with spears, and use hunting dances and chants to hunt not only animals but each other. As seen when,” Jack and the two anonymous savages with him swayed, looking up, and then recovered. The littlun went on howling” (Golding 140). The boys have lost sight of any laws or civilization, they are even howling like animals, which conveys Golding’s belief that human nature is savage. Still, this is simply not the case in 12 Angry Men when the jurors are faced with deciding upon whether a man should be convicted of murder and killed Juror 3 expresses,” Everybody gets a fair trial… That’s the system” (Rose 12). Even when many of the Jurors disagree with each other they remain civilized and remember the laws of their country and do what they can do to ensure the trial is fair and their verdict is correct. Another source that helps proves how human nature is civilized is “The Real Lord of the Flies: when six boys were shipwrecked for 15 months”. This article discusses the events that happened while the

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