Why Boys Become Vicious William Golding

Today we live in a scientific era, a modern world, where everyday a new invention amazes us and changes the lives of common people in ways in which we couldn’t even have imagined. Technology has grown at an exponential rate ever since the industrial revolution and we know how every single piece of the human body operates, down to the atoms that it is composed of. And yet the common public refuses to let go of an age old misconception - that it is a single, tragic moment in a child’s life that triggers their transformation from good to evil. In his article, “Why Boys Become Vicious”, William Golding misinterprets fear and chaos as the direct cause of evil when it actually the neurological and genetic makeup of a child that proves to be the true culprit. However, Golding accurately pins the background of a child as one of the key causes of evil in children. Golding is not the only one that believes that some children are destined to be evil, In Michelle Griffin’s article, “Bad to the Bone”, researchers believe that there are certain neurological defects in children who

The connection between environmental factors and a child’s mental health is just as important as their physical health. While Golding does assert that children lacking adult protection are prematurely exposed to an environment of fear, he fails to make the connection to gradual change. At a young age, the minds and nature of children are easily moldable. They adapt to their surroundings and mimic the actions of others. If brought and left in a world of fear, hate, and violence, these are the core principles that the child will walk away with and maintain. Parents are usually the primary factor of control, mitigating any fear or danger in the kid’s world. But remove this factor from the equation and these children are left unprotected against every evil thrown their way. They then mimic these evils and become the John Venables of