Human Nature And Violence In Lord Of The Flies

Submitted By llwhite425
Words: 2301
Pages: 10
Open Document
Lora White
Dr. Richard Baker
English 355
7/8/14
Human Nature and Violence When William Golding wrote Lord of the Flies he explained the theme of his novel as “an attempt to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature. The moral is that the shape of society must depend on the ethical nature of the individual and not on any political system however apparently logical or respectable” (Epstein 204). Golding understood that human nature has many flaws but did he believe that we are inherently evil? The debate of nature vs. nurture is an old one. In his novel Golding uses the young boys stranded on an island to symbolize, just a few, of the character traits we witness in modern societies all over the world. The most predominant characters in the novel such as Ralph, Jack, Simon and Piggy each symbolize a basic character type in our world. Looking at how Golding uses these characters in his story gives insight into his view on this age old debate.
Ralph is the first character Golding introduces us to. He is described as “the boy with fair hair”(Golding, Lord of the Flies 7) and Golding says “you could see now that he might make a boxer, as far as width and heaviness of shoulders went, but there was a mildness about his mouth and eyes that proclaimed no devil” (Lord of the Flies 10). A major tool used by Golding in Lord of the Flies is the description of physical appearance to symbolize something more. Ralph’s physical appearance is a symbol of good. He is pleasant to look at and his stature is one of strength and power but his face does not show any evil accompanying the strength and power. Ralph is immediately selected as the “chief” of the boys based on his physical appearance, then, throughout the story his actions show that he was written to symbolize not only leadership but responsibility, civilization and democracy. Ralph, following Piggy’s advice, suggests to the others that they need to make a signal fire in order to be rescued. He is personally taking responsibility for their situation and their hopeful rescue. He then puts the boys in charge of various tasks such as tending the fire, hunting, and building huts. He is attempting to form an ordered society with rules and a plan of action. His creation of the rule that whoever is holding the conch shell has permission to speak shows the human need for democracy and civilization. The interesting thing about Ralph is that, while he symbolizes what most of us would want to embody as our own human nature, Golding also shows how fragile this character type is. Ralph repeatedly loses sight of his “responsibility” to get the boys rescued. He allows himself to get caught up in killing the wild pig and also in the murder of Simon. The defining factor for Ralph’s story is that he feels guilty afterwards and is able to pull himself back on the track of civilization. Golding allowed Ralph to survive in the novel for a very specific reason. In an interview with James Keating Golding said “If I’d gone on to the death of Ralph, Ralph would never have had time to understand what had happened to him, so I deliberately saved him so that at this moment he could see-look back over what’s happened- and weep for the end of innocence and the darkness of man’s heart, which is what I was getting at” (“Interview with William Golding”). The second character introduced is a boy nicknamed Piggy. Piggy is one of Golding’s most basic character types. He is the intellect who supplies intelligence, civilization and voice of reason. Our first view of Piggy is “The naked crooks of his knees were plump, caught and scratched by thorns. He bent down, removed the thorns carefully, and turned around. He was shorter than the fair boy and very fat. He came forward, searching out safe lodgements for his feet, and then looked up through thick spectacles” (Golding, Lord of the Flies 7). As the novel progresses we learn that Piggy is asthmatic, extremely over weight and basically blind
Show More

Related Documents: Human Nature And Violence In Lord Of The Flies

Essay on final draft

Assignment: Persuasive Final Draft Persuasive Final Draft Charity Holmes October 22, 2013 Community Violence: A Piece of the Devil's Pie If an automobile company had cars that would cause an accident one out of every eight times, would you buy from that company? Of course you wouldn’t. No one would accept that many innocent mishaps. That’s about the same number of innocent people that is being violated on a weekly basis in the small community of Itta…

Words 1048 - Pages 5

FINAL DRAFT Essay

Michael C. Rosa Professor Carlin Mackie English 101 26 February 2012 Intersectional Privileges: A Matter of Perception By Michael C. Rosa My name is Michael and I have found the benefits of letting people believe what they will. People’s ignorance with small cultural and racial differences and even some prejudices have become useful to me throughout my life. In some people’s eyes this acceptance that I have developed may seem wrong and maybe even a hindrance to humanities global acceptance of…

Words 1026 - Pages 5

final draft Essay

Noor-ul-ain Qurashi Eng 1301 Summer Session I 08 July 2015 Cell Phone As a child it is hard to understand that there are consequences to every action and that there can only be an effect with a cause. I had assumed that some problems I faced growing up were a stem of just things going wrong since anything that can go wrong will. Later, however, I realized that my phone was the source of many of my problems. Growing up my parents weren’t very strict about me using my phone, until my cell phone usage…

Words 1180 - Pages 5

Essay on Final Draft

Wheeler 1 Madison Wheeler Ms. Kuitems 9th Grade Honors/Gifted Literature 23 February 2015 This Girl is on Fire; An analysis on revenge in Great Expectations “But if the often­repeated word had been hate instead of love­despair­revenge­dire death [...] sounded from her lips like a curse” (Dickens 221). This quote is a perfect representation of Miss Havisham because it tells the readers that she’s cold hearted and desires revenge on other people. The character of Miss Havisham in Charles Dickens’ …

Words 885 - Pages 4

Final Draft Essay

Phong Luong Professor Louis A. Agregán English 101 24 February 2015 Optimistic People often speak of their success stories and how they came to achieve it, and it is by being optimistic. A lot of people would have conceded due to negative outcomes, such as not getting a job at a job interview, if it were not for their optimism. Being optimistic gives people that hope to continue to move forward and keep trying. People convince themselves with positive affirmations, and persist no matter…

Words 1541 - Pages 7

Final Draft Essays

Dominique Arcieri 10/29/14 American Lit Period 4/5 Fahrenheit 451 vs. Today’s Society Fahrenheit 451 is a lot like our society today. People don’t value the true important things in life. Their minds became attached to the trends and popular ideas within the media. The novel almost attempts to warn readers of what society would be like if the media took over our minds. In today’s society, many people focus on the trending idea. Bradbury aims to prevent the future in our contemporary world by…

Words 878 - Pages 4

Final Draft Essays

Child Hunger in America Devourers In America, over sixteen million children live in households without consistent access to adequate food. That's one out of five kids! I have never seen that many children facing miserable lives in America just by the cause of hunger and what most would say are unbelievable but unfortunately it’s true. NoKidHungry states that there are about twenty two percent of kids under the age of eighteen who live in poverty in America and over three million numbers of low-income…

Words 1348 - Pages 6

Final Draft Essay

Jasmine Clark Mrs. Copeland 27 April 2009 English 12-7 Ivy League vs. Historically Black Colleges "Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe"(Abraham Lincoln). Different people will interpret this quote in different ways. Some people may interpret this as a negative message, but I see it as a positive motivator. This is how I understand it: If someone gives a person an opportunity to better himself he should prepare himself as much as possible. I…

Words 1066 - Pages 5

Final Draft Essay

Ryan Ruthrauff Mrs. Day English 11 26 November 2014 The Development of Communication Technology is involved in everything that we do today in the United States. Almost everything involves someone using a computer in some type of way The United States is all about evolving into bigger and better things. We want to have the best of the best and have the best technological advances. The United States has always wanted to make ways better for communicating throughout the United States. Technology…

Words 1106 - Pages 5

Final Draft Essay

New York banning soda is an extremely horrible idea, people need to focus on the bigger picture when it comes to health and obesity. Although, banning soda would raise awareness about the problem of obesity in America. First of all, just because soda is bad for you, doesn’t mean people aren’t going to drink it. “with the regulated soda size being 16oz, you can still get your 128oz drink, you would just have to buy EIGHT regulated soda serving” (Pappas). People can still get refills on their drinks which…

Words 328 - Pages 2