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State Of Nature In William Golding's Lord Of The Flies

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Different philosophers have different views on state of nature. State of nature is a pre-social condition in which man exists/existed in the absence of society. Jean-Jacques Rousseau believes the State of Nature is a wonderful, rich environment for early humans living solitary peaceful lives. He once said, “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.” On the other hand, Thomas Hobbes, English philosophers, believes, “Life in the state of nature is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” Though William Golding introduce an idea of good in human nature at the few front chapters, ultimately, he illustrates a pessimistic view of human nature that human is inherently evil through violence existed in Lord of the Flies. Furthermore, from …show more content…

Paul Crawford, a professor of health humanities in the School of Nursing, Midwifery, and Physiotherapy at the University of Nottingham, states, “Golding’s harrowing experiences during World War II inspired him to write of the capacity for racial violence in society.” Therefore, the setting is based on evil human nature. Like the conflict between Jewish and Nazi, the conflict can be shown also in Lord of the Flies: Piggy and the group of boys. The name, “Piggy”, does not merely symbolizes obesity. It implies the lower-class Piggy who is always on the periphery of the group of schoolboys, always mocked, never quite belongings. The pig hunting foreshadows the link between the pig symbol and the extermination of those considered alien or outsiders. ““You’re always scared. Yah-Fatty!” “I got the conch,” said Piggy bleakly. He turned to Ralph. “I got the conch, ain’t I Ralph?” Unwillingly Ralph turned away from the splendid, awful sight.” (Golding, p.36) The group of boys were looking at Piggy as if he is the worm. In addition, the conflict between littluns and bigguns portrays a hierarchy violence. ““Use a littlun,” said Jack, and everybody laughed.” (Golding, p.102) At the moment when the boys lost the sense of morality and enjoying hurting and giving pain to others, Jack said there need to be someone to pretend like a pig, and that the bigguns can use the littluns in the next “game”. Jack’s thought reveals that bigguns belittle littluns and take advantages of them to fulfill their desire. Although the boys do not carry out a plan to use the littluns, the fact that boys find it exciting rather than horrifying demonstrates human impulse towards

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This symbolizes how in a similar way that conch was forgotten and left on the platform, so was the order they had created. As the fire is being formed, it is described with, “one side the air was cool, but on the other the fire thrust out a savage arm of heat that crinkled hair on the instant.” (page 41). This creates a chaotic feel and gives the idea of nature being very hostile. This in turn resembles the boys exhibiting animal like qualities in the way they treat Piggy.

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In the first two chapters of Lord of The Flies, we can see a growing tension between Ralph and Jack's group as the boys are taken by a spirit of savagery and engage in controversy regarding their fear and inclinations towards their state of remoteness. Golding also represents conflict and hostility through the harassment of Piggy, who is constantly interrupted by Jack and underestimated by the boys, as we can see in in a quote by Jack" 'You're talking too much', said Jack Merridew, 'shut up, Fatty' " and " 'I got the conch-' Jack turned fiercely. ' You shut up!' " Golding represents the conch in the book as a democratic symbol, which allowed every boy to contribute to decisions.

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Instead of responding to Piggy’s arguments, the savages use violence and noise to drown out any opposition with no real reasoning to back them up. The main theme emphasized in Lord of the Flies is that humans are by nature corrupt and evil. This passage embraces that theme because the savages make immoral decisions to gain power and silence the voices projecting against them. It is a turning point in the book where the darkness in the boys’ hearts wins over their compassion and empathy. The real struggle for power is over and hatred has proved to be stronger than kindness and

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The littluns believe there is a beast and it is causing fear throughout them. Ralph as the leader could also see that the fear of the beast was causing terror and disagreement amongst the group of littluns and the older kids. “We’ve got to talk about this fear and decide there’s nothing in it.” (pg.

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All of the children soon begin to “lose their minds,” but the debate is: are the actions of the boys based off of their environment, or biological factors? The behaviors of the boys are directly related to biological factors, because of past experiences, lack of resources, and brain development. First and foremost, the behaviors of each boy may be directly related to biological factors, because of past experiences. It is a part of life that there are superior moments, and bad moments as well. However, in most cases the bad moments are what shape us as humans today.

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The children find themselves between two extremes: the honor they hold for the conch, and the savagery developed from the hunt. On the civilized end of the two extremes, the conch is a symbol of a functioning society. Ralph to further organize their meetings decides, “‘[He’ll] give the conch to the next person to speak,’” stating firmly that, “‘[the member] won’t be interrupted’” (P.33).

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William Golding’s fictional, British novel, Lord of the Flies, presents a character that serves a two-part function as a “scapegoat” and a certain commentary on life. During WWII, a group of British boys are being evacuated via plane when they crash and are stranded on an island without adults. As time progresses, the innate evilness of human nature begins to overcome the savage society of young boys while Piggy, an individual representation of brains without brawn, becomes an outlier as he tries to resist this gradual descent of civilness and ends up shouldering the blame for the wrongdoings of the savage tribe. Up until his untimely death, Piggy is portrayed as the most intellectual and most civil character in the group of stranded boys. Right from the beginning, Piggy realized that “[they] got to do something,” (8) and he recognized the shell Ralph had picked up as a conch.

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With Piggy and his conch gone, all order and sense are lost. He finds himself an outcast, alienated and isolated. In trying to come to terms with the outer world, he discovers the horrible inner self of man. Ralph weeps "for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart...

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In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, young boys get stranded on an island with no adults in the midst of a war. The boys were orderly and civilized in the beginning but then as they began killing pigs they slowly became savages and lost their civilization. The boys began turning on each other and the evil within them became present. Golding uses a variety of literary devices including personification, symbols, metaphors, and irony, to project the theme that pure and realistic people in the world can be unheard and destroyed by evil.

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Thesis Statement: In Lord of the Flies William Golding throughout the book is trying to show you that society should recognize man is evil. Introduction Paragraph: In the book Lord of the Flies the author William Golding shows a group of boys losing their innocence throughout their life stuck on this inhabited island in the pacific ocean. These boys go from being quiet and shy to violent and dangerous young little boys. Golding uses the pigs, hunting, and the boys face painting to show their lose of innocence throughout the story. There 's no rules of any sort on this island these boys landed on they are free to do whatever they want whenever they want.

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“The desire to squeeze and hurt was over-mastering.” (pg115) The more the boys hunt, the more they feel the desire to kill. Eventually, they stop differentiating from killing pigs and humans. One boy, Jack, jokes about killing a littlun.

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Many of the boys are also overtaken by the fear of the beast. For example, the littluns have nightmares and trouble sleeping at night. “Last night I had a dream, a horrid dream, fighting with things. I was outside the shelter by myself, fighting with things, those twisty things in the trees” (Golding 84). Jack also has to take charge when it comes to hunting, but the first time he did he ended up being scared to kill a pig.

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Golding’s views on human nature is very deep but it influenced the theme of the novel. The Theme of Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, is influenced by his early life, his experiences in the war, and his view of human nature. Golding’s childhood consisted of him being a bully and life in the war was awful because he saw things happen that humans just became inhuman and just kill and last of all his views on human nature is the evil is in everybody no matter who you are, or where you come from. In the novel all of his life event were summarized at different parts of

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In Lord of the Flies, Golding explores the idea that human nature, when left without the regulations of society, will become barbaric. As one of the prevailing themes in his work, the dark side of human nature is represented through the novel, not only in symbols and motifs, but in his characters as well. The dark side of human nature is an integral part of the novel 'Lord of the Flies.' William Golding, a British novelist employs symbols, motifs and characters to create the idea that human nature, without civilisation will become barbaric.

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Throughout the novel of Lord of the Flies, William Golding provides a profound insight into human nature. Golding builds on a message that all human beings have natural evil inside them. To emphasize, the innate evil is revealed when there’s lack of civilization. The boys are constantly faced with numerous fears and eventually break up into two different groups. Although the boys believe the beast lives in the jungle, Golding makes it clear that it lurks in their hearts.

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