What Does It Mean To Say That Your Environment Plays A Big Part In Lord Of The Flies

Your Environment Plays a Big Part in Who You Are
As Asa Don Brown once said, “children are like sponges, soaking up whatever they’re immersed in.” This quote most accurately describes the concerning behaviors of children because they are very impressionable and susceptible to bad behavior. But what more do they know? In Lord of the Flies, a group of kids are stranded on an island after a tragic plane crash took the lives of the adults, that were initially leading them. Without a sense of direction, the children feel compelled to survive by implementing their own rules of civilization. Unfortunately, there are obstacles along the way – which results in the tragic death of a few. Through his novel, Golding uses immature kids to push the narrative

As implied in chapter 9 of the text, Ralph was overtaken by a sudden urge to harm the supposed beast, which was then later revealed to be Simon. On the surface level, this could be a great example to prove Golding’s message that humans have a terrible, underlying nature, since it can be hard to accept that someone like Ralph – who usually showed empathy – could do such a thing. However, prior to Simon’s killing, Ralph actually joined the crew in an effort to experience the “care-free” lifestyle they seemed to have. Consequently, he lost track of his ultimate goal of igniting the rescue fire and became confused. It’s no coincidence that the moment he chose to affiliate with Jack and his followers, he also became exactly like them: violent and corrupt. This reminds me of the time I was visiting my stepsisters during vacation, and they had a habit of pulling all-nighters, just to play games. I never wanted to follow because I’ve always prioritized sleep. However, it didn’t take long for me to come around, and suddenly stay up late along with them. This phenomenon is called the social proximity effect, where the amount of time spent with another person, will slowly allow for their habits to impact your own. In short, it would make sense why Ralph had an unexpected change in behavior. As they say, “Be picky about who you keep around you. Personalities, words, and traits do rub off

They cause a commotion and beat anyone that happens to run into them. This was an actual event in history called The Cultural Revolution of China, that took place during 1966. This horrid point in time began after the revolutionary figure – Mao Zedong – incited violence through propaganda, with the youth being the primary target to these ignorant messages. In turn, brainwashing to the extreme caused an influx of teenagers – who named themselves the Red Guards – to start attacking random civilians, who apparently “opposed the spirit of revolution.” Not to excuse their unacceptable actions, but I find it fitting to address them as what they were: victims of social conditioning. For Zedong to target a vulnerable group, and then get them to inflict violence onto others, goes to show that – and I can’t emphasize this enough – humans can be easily controlled for all the wrong reasons. But I assume that these young people, once never thought of hurting others before they were manipulated. They were sons, students, friends, and more – until they became