Lord of the Flies: The Evil of Human Nature Essay

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“However Simon idea of the animal. there rose before his inward sight the image of a human at one time epic and ill ( Golding 128 ) . This quotation mark from William Goldings novel. Lord of the Flies. efficaciously suggests that human existences are evil ; which is besides the chief subject of the novel. In the novel. the major characters at the stoping reinforce Goldings negative position of human nature.

Golding provides his position of human nature really early in the novel. The island on which the male childs land is described as a Eden with a assortment of vegetations and zoologies. Upon the male childs set downing. the tubing transporting the boys causes a cicatrix on the island. The strength of the devastation caused by the cicatrix is described: All round him the long cicatrix smashed into the jungle was a bath of heat ( Golding 11 ) . However. the devastation does non halt at that place. Later. the boys burn down a big portion of the island as a consequence of their sloppiness. Here. Golding shows that worlds cause devastation even if they did non intend to. He is about proposing that doing devastation is 2nd nature to us worlds. At the terminal of the novel. the devastation comes full circle when Jacks folk Burnss down the full island. The presence of the male child has wholly changed the island from a beautiful Eden to a charred wreckage.

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William goldings pessimistic position of human nature is further expanded with the issue of runing. As the novel progresses. Jacks degree of compulsion with runing continues to intensify until the really terminal of the novel. It is interesting to observe that although the island has an copiousness of fruits and the male childs can easy catch fish and pediculosis pubis at the beach. Jack insists on runing to acquire meat. Subsequently on. he enjoys runing as if it were a athletics: His head was crowded with memories ; memories of the cognition that had come to them when they had outwitted a living thing. imposed their will upon it. taken away its life like a satisfying drink ( Golding 88 ) .

Jack hunts non with the exclusive purpose to acquire meat. but he peculiarly enjoy exerting power over life animals while runing. This shows how much Jack enjoys holding power ; the power to command other existences. Throughout the novel. Jack does everything he can to derive the regard of the male childs ; to derive support for power. Subsequently when he most of the male childs fall in his folk. Jack takes one last measure to procure his place as head of his folk. He goes every bit far as to order his folk to run and kill Ralph to extinguish the last menace to his place. Here. we can see that Jack has moved from runing hogs to runing worlds. Therefore. this shows how barbarian and evil adult male can be as he hunts even his ain family. Besides. these illustrations besides show that worlds have an quenchless thirst for power that if non controlled. will blind us and take over our psyche.

In the novel. Golding uses Jack and his folk to exemplify the effects of complete freedom to adult male. After Jacks folk is formed. the members are no longer referred to as male childs but as barbarians with Jack as their Head. This is a direct mention to the boys arrested development into a crude province of being. Jacks folk besides performs several crude patterns that are normally attributed as barbarian. First of all. they paint their faces and organic structures to hide themselves while runing hogs. Next. they perform barbarous violent death of hogs: Roger found a lodgment point and began to force boulder clay he was tilting with his whole weight. The spear moved frontward inch by inch and the terrorizing squealing became a high-pitched shriek. Then Jack found the pharynx and the hot blood spouted over his custodies ( Golding 168. 169 ) .

Last of all. they give an offering. the pigs caput. to the animal trusting it would non harm them. Therefore. this shows that the male childs do non understand the true nature of the animal. Their state of affairs is similar to crude adult male. who gave offerings to Gods and graven images to protect their ain wellbeing from natural catastrophes they did non understand. It is during the presentation of the offering that Jack said: Sharpen a stick at both terminals ( Golding 169 ) . Obediently. Roger sharpens a stick and Jack skewers the hogs head on one terminal of the stick and topographic points the other into the land. This statement is repeated once more at the terminal of the novel.

When Ralph asks Samneric of what Jacks folk program to with him one time he was captured one of them replied. Roger sharpened a stick at both terminals ( Golding234 ) . Although Ralph would barely understand what the phrase means. the awful truth becomes clear to the reader. Jacks tribe programs to decapitate Ralph and spit his caput on a stick sharpened at both terminals as another offering to the animal. It is. by far. the most barbarous show of human savageness. Without the oculus of alert grownups. Jack and his folk are unmanageable ; and Jack as their leader. has absolute power.

Golding has written Lord of the Fliess based on his experience in war. He realizes that war is the greatest act of human immorality. for it takes the lives of guiltless people and causes nil but devastation. Therefore. it is suiting for Golding to foreground the effects of war in the novel to reenforce his pessimistic position of human nature. At the terminal of the novel. Golding leaves the reader with an image of a war ship. which is one of the many hints of war in the novel. If the reader examines the gap of the narrative. there are mentions to a war traveling on in the universe. such as Piggys reference of the atomic bomb: Not them. Didnt you hear what the pilot said? About the atomic bomb? Theyre all dead ( Golding 20 ) .

The reader discovers that the male childs are stranded on the island because of the war. Besides that. another hint of the war is the dead parachuter. The male childs mistake the dead parachuter for the animal. Ironically. the dead parachuter is the animal in the sense that he is connected to the war traveling on in the universe outside and the animal is attributed to the immorality in human nature. Even the male childs have their really ain war on the island. Therefore. the island could stand for a microcosm of the outside universe. Now. we return to the image of the war ship. The reaching of the ship allows the male childs to be rescued. However. the ship merely serves to remind the reader that although the male childs are rescued. they are taken back to a war-worn universe. After sing one war. the male childs are being taken to another. The circle of devastation continues.

To sum everything up. Golding efficaciously uses the chief characters. particularly at the stoping. to turn out that worlds are more evil than good. The last page of the novel has one last scene of Ralph which summarizes the chief subjects of the novel. From his experience on the island. he is no longer an guiltless kid as he has been exposed to the evil nature of human existences and human savageness: And in the center of them. with foul organic structure. matted hair. and unwiped nose. Ralph wept for the terminal of artlessness. the darkness of adult males bosom. and the autumn through the air of the true. wise friend called Piggy ( Golding 248 ) .

Plants cited

Golding. William. Lord of the Flies. London: Faber and Faber. 1996.

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