Good And Evil

As part of human nature, we’re accustomed to following a set of rules to have an orderly and peaceful lifestyle. Usually, if those rules are disobeyed, destruction and disorder are bound to come our way. This act is prevalent in two stories, Beowulf and The Lord of the Flies, that were written centuries apart, but yet the concept of how ignoring rules can lead to the downfall of societies is common in both.

Although he was only twelve years old, he believed that the boys had the ability to form a model utopia with happiness and harmony. Ralph was in need of constant words of advice from Piggy, the intellect of the island, because Ralph was more innocent than Piggy since he had not yet learned that people could be hurtful to one another. Piggy would have made the most effective leader on the island, but his asthma, overweightness, and insecurities restrained him from taking charge. Ralph and Piggy were the leaders that were aware of the isolation and possible outcomes if the measures to being rescued were not taken. Like Piggy, Simon was never specifically pointed out as a leader, but he represented the Christ-figure of the story. “As Simon thought this, he turned to the poor broken thing that sat stinking by his side. The beast was harmless and horrible; and the news must reach the others as soon as possible. He started down the mountain and his legs gave beneath

“When we was coming down I looked through one of them windows. I saw the other part of the plane. There were flames coming out of it”(Golding 8). The novel “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding starts with a group of boys whom their plane is shot down, as the story takes place in World War Two. The British boys are stranded on the island with no adults around. They want to be rescued, as they delegate tasks at first, however, the story unfolds in a way that shows the savage and iniquitous side of humans as the boys become less civilized. They become less logical, and the little ones start to think there is a beast on the island, which causes them to kill their friend, Simon, thinking he was the beast. They are constantly stressed out and their behaviors change as the story progresses.

Simon is depicted as Jesus or Christ-like in the book. His name also has a symbolic reference to one of the apostles of Jesus in the Bible. “(He) smiled pallidly at Ralph and said his name was Simon” (…). In the bible, there was an apostle named Simon, whose name was turned into Peter. Peter is the meaning for rock, or stronghold. The character, Simon was like a stronghold for the boys, he was the one who discovers that the beast, rather than a physical object, was themselves, “maybe it’s only us” (…). However, this was not what the boys wanted to hear. Like Jesus, Simon who wanted to save the boys and tried on multiple occasions, was killed for trying to save mankind, or in this case all the boys on the island. Upon his death, Golding depicts Simon death as,

Lust and greed are more gullible than innocence by Mason Cooley. In the book Lord of Flies , schoolboys from England crashed on an island , near the Pacific. Their innocence starts to slowly drift away as the longer they stay at the island. The boys tried to keep their connection to the adult world , but the boys were losing hope. The schoolboys lost their innocence by killing a mama pig , killing another school boy named Simon and hunting down another school boy named Ralph, to the point of almost killing him.

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

In Lord of the Flies there are many of decisions to be made. Is the the savage and immoral behavior be from the biological factors? I believe that the biological factors play a big role in the boy's actions and decisions.

Through vivid imagery in chapter 9, Golding paints a scene that uses Simon's death to patently resemble the crucifixion of Christ. The boys on the island are now in dire need of a Christ like character to guide them. To be a “Christ figure” a character must attain and exemplify the traits and values possessed by the Biblical Christ. Although Simon portrays qualities that a Christ figure needs to succeed, he completely fails as evident in his brutal but ineffective crucifixion and his fruitless attempt at martyrdom.

When they attack Simon, they chant as a show of their savagery. They chant, “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!” (Golding 152). This shows the human nature of children and men when they are away from society and order for a long time. If they do not get what they want, then they will drive themselves crazy trying to fight and in turn, become savages, who are focused on killing and hunting. They are blinded by their anger and illusions that they forget about the real point, which is trying to escape from the island and their new goal is to kill each other off so they alone can be the chief of the island, but eventually all the boys will have to end up dying from natural causes or battles if they are not saved by a ship. Their morals are ruined and this leads to further chaos on the island. Once the chaos starts to happen on the island, Ralph also starts to rethink his idea of being chief. This only increases the level of chaos when Jack decides he wants to be chief, but is all about savagery and

Thesis Statement: In Lord of the Flies William Golding throughout the book is trying to show you that society should recognize man is evil.

When the boys get stranded on this island they must take care of themselves and try to get rescued. As the boys climb this mountain to get home they face new challenges which resulted them to descend into savagery. With these new challenges of killing the pig for the first time, them breaking the conch, and deaths of Simon and Piggy they to descend into savagery causing them to lose their innocence. After the boys crash landed on the island it was only a matter of time before the boys descend into savagery because lack of leadership, need for survival and loss of innocence. Their first goal on the island was to have fun and get rescued but throughout their stay, they get further away from that.

It is said that most people if put in a particular situation they would not do things they would normally. In the novel Lord Of The Flies, by W.Golding, a group of young boys are stranded on an isolated island cut off from society, having no adults or figures of authority on the island, the boys become savage. Examples of such savagery would be the murders, the cruelty of Jack, and how even Ralph could succumb to it as well

Evil and savagery lives within and it can be brought out when you are forced to fight for something. We all have a dark side that may not show until faced with a challenging task. Lord of the Flies is about a group of young boys stuck on an island after their plane crashes. There are no adults and they are left to survive by themselves. They have to decide between right and wrong. The boys have an unjustified fear of the “beast”. In chapter nine specifically, Simon wakes up and realizes that the beast is actually just a dead man who had crashed on the island after his plane exploded. Simon goes to tell the others. They are in the middle of a feast and are filled with excitement and end up killing Simon. This is a turning point in the novel. The boys were pushed to this level of savagery by the need for power. In chapter nine of Lord of the Flies, William Golding employs symbolism, repetition, and animal imagery to convey the theme that the need for power can cause people to become savages.

At the beginning of the story the boys are very scared and confused on where they are because this place is a unknown entity they have no clue what could be on the island and how they are going to survive. This is symbolism of human instinct, because when people encounter unknown experiences they start to freak out and make irrational decisions on easy problems with simple solutions. This occurs most in Jack because he wants to be the leader of the group of boys but when Ralph gets leader he tries to sabotage it in different ways by creating more fear and promoting protection of the group from “The beast”. “If you’re hunting sometimes… you can feel as if you’re not hunting, but being hunted”. While Simon is still scared he is not making irrational decisions, he is trying to figure out how to survive and follow orders and creating shelters and fire. This is a foil to Jack because Simon is trying to maintain order, while Jack tries to cause

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.