Are Humans Good People

“Inside each of us, there is the seed of both good and evil. It’s a constant struggle as to which one will win. And one cannot exist without the other.” As Eric Burdon said, we have the potential of both good and evil, but it isn’t fixed at birth. People cannot be born with a bad heart, they do not start on the “ the dark side” so to say. They grow to be evil and brooding depending on their circumstances, the situations that they have been put through, and the choices they make during them. People also need a guide, or friend to help them stay on that side, never letting them into wrongdoing. This is shown in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies , as the boys are pushed through terrible obstacles, and the task to survive. Golding shows amazingly

In Lord of the Flies, William Golding conveys using rhetorical devices that everyone has innate evil and when evoked, it overcomes one’s sense of civility and humanity. The author creates a scenario whereby he places a group of boys onto an uninhabited island and examines how the group are effected over time. Through the course of the novel there is a considerable change in mentality throughout the group. The change is due to the lack of a strict and functioning society and ultimately the boys have degenerated into primitivity. In addition, the boys are becoming more evil, embodying evil in their own ways. For example, Jack has enacted his evil by feeding his bloodlust and brutally murdering sows in the jungle. Furthermore, the evil within the entire group is prevalent in

Are humans instinctively evil? Savage? In Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, young boys are left to organize themselves into a society to keep balance and peace on the island. When the society crumbles beneath their feet, one must ask these questions. The downfall and overall plot of the book is largely telling of human nature, and may be a smaller analogy for human nature in itself. The theme of human nature in The Lord of the Flies permeates the book through the characters, their archetypes, and the plot itself.

The boys in The Lord of the Flies had driving factors portrayed as symbols like the beast, the dead paratrooper and the conch shell which progressed their downwards spiral in the direction of savagery. Golding created a novel which had many events similar to the real world today. For instance, many people have fears and suspicions which withhold them from uncovering new realizations and discoveries. In addition, when power gets into the wrong hands, and organization and order are no longer priorities, people tend to go crazy. The boys in Lord of the Flies are similar to the real world today, but on a much smaller scale. Golding probably wanted to portray the message that evil and potential savagery is within each human, that everyone is capable of becoming civilized with a few key

But although humans do contain this goodness, it is usually not strong enough to overpower the evil. Forty years after writing “Lord of the Flies” the author explains this exact concept. He states, “We are born with evil in us and cruelty is part of this. Though there is also a capacity for selflessness and love: otherwise we are denying part of our human nature” (Golding, “Why”). All of the boys on the island had both good and evil within them; however, the evil was much stronger and conquered them in the end. The boys were put in a rare situation that combined two deathly aspects: fear and chaos. When people are afraid they realize the violence they can cause, “and when they are afraid together they discover that the violence within them can be almost bottomless” (Golding, “Why”). On the island, there were only two boys who put a firm fight against their violent nature. But in the end this resistance, was what ultimately killed them. No one can argue that there is a share of good and evil in humanity, but when in a tough situation evil has proven in many cases to beat the

“All things truly wicked start from innocence,” Ernest Hemingway, (A Movable Feast.) The nature of evil lies within all human beings whether they realize it or not. Both Lord of the Flies and A Long Way Gone have main characters who struggle with the temptation of evil, and eventually give in to their dark side. Under harsh circumstances, the evil within all people comes out as an attempt to adapt to their environment.

Are humans born savages? Yes, humans are born savages; and William Golding’s Lord of the Flies proves this. In Lord of the Flies, William Golding shows the kids’ return to their natural state of savagery as they drift further and further away from civilization. Civilization is just a facade and inside each and every human there is the basic instinct of survival, and that drives the savagery within. Everyone is capable of stabbing, shooting, or murdering someone, however, everyone has their own trigger… for some, it might be jealousy or envy and for some, it could be pure anger. Since humans are born savages everyone has an evil lying within, therefore when something happens that triggers that evil the human will resort to their natural sense of savagery because that is their nature and because civilization is just a concept that keeps us from showing our true selves.

I believe good is intrinsic, while evil is extrinsic. Intrinsic means essential. Extrinsic means not part of the essential nature of someone or something. Everyone is born with a friendly soul but they have the ability to learn to become evil. Some people in life may seem along the lines of evil since they were born. The reason to that is, something in their life could've happened to them to make them that way or certain people, in general, make them like that. There is good in everyone sometimes you just have to look deep to see it.

In Lord of the Flies, a novel by William Golding, there are several themes expressed through the boys from the beginning to the end. The main theme conveys that man is inherently evil. This can be understood from most aspects of the book. Golding conveys that man is inherently evil through the boys need to undermine each other and the loss of morality in their decent to chaos.

Lord of the Flies provides an example of how imperfections in human nature start to surface when people are in a groups. One imperfection is their tendency to do violent and demeaning things as a mob. When Jack and his hunters are looking for meat in the forest, they violently torture and kill the pig, sticking a spear “right up her ass” (Golding 121). The group of boys have the ability

Simon met his fate, getting dismembered, Cato was cruelly devoured while Katniss watched, Rue was stabbed fatally, Ralph was ruthlessly hunted. These events all have exactly one thing in common, the brutality of children. Throughout the books Lord of the Flies and The Hunger Games, many ideas about human nature have been brought forth, they have been shown through characters, like Ralph and Katniss, through objects, like the representation of fire, and through events, like the degradation of civility throughout the books. So, what is being said about human nature?

In the Roman Empire, England, France, and the Middle East, ever since people have been around, there has always been conflict and fighting. A common theme in war is inhumanity. For example, in World War I mustard gas would produce terrible blisters on soldiers who were exposed to it. Empathy for those suffering young men was not present in those causing the pain. While war is still ongoing in the world, Europe is much more peaceful today then it was a hundred years ago and people in general are being taught to resolve conflict in a humane way. Since William Golding wrote Lord of the Flies there have been many improvements in society over the last 70 years. While William he was alive, teenagers were often mean and inhumane like those portrayed in the book. If William Golding were to observe the life of a teenager in 2018 he would be impressed and pleased about the acceptance of others, the use of technology, and the teaching of humanity to children as these things did not occur during the 1950s or in the book.

William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies does not simply describe the life of a group of children stranded on an island, but rather it is a representation of the qualities of human nature. As the novel progresses, the children grow deeper into savagery, performing actions that would be often criticised in society. The absence of law and order devolves even those that attempt to recreate it, like Ralph and Piggy. In this novel, Golding uses children to answer the question whether or not humans are born inanimately good or truly evil. Golding answers this question by symbolising the main characters and their descent into savagery. He uses Ralph and Piggy to describe the well-educated that attempt to grasp civilisation, but ultimately fail to deliver. His symbol of Roger as an ordinary person that breaks loose of the chains of society once disconnected from it. Finally, the nature of Jack is a depiction of the power hungry that will do anything to lead.

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. The message of inner evil is portrayed throughout the book by the destruction of the conch, terrifying beast, and character developments to establish the hidden message throughout the novel.

Evil has always been evident, throughout the history of man examples of evil are apparent, so why would our literature be any different? Written in 1959 William Golding's novel Lord of the Flies is no different, as its theme explores the natural evils of man through the plot. The book tells of the events that occur after a group of young boys are marooned on an island, the main characters Ralph, Jack, Piggy, and Simon, grapple with finding food and water while they struggle with the return of more animalistic instincts without the guiding hand of civilization. The intrinsic evil and unavoidable sins of man are are exposed through William Golding’s characterization and overlying themes in Lord of the Flies.