The Steps Towards Evil in Lord of the Flies
“All evil begins with 15 volts” (Zimbardo). Psychologist, Dr. Philip Zimbardo conducted the Stanford Prison Experiment where he came to the conclusion that evil begins with a small innocuous act. Zimbardo’s theory is applicable to William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies as the characters’ evil behaviour commenced with small acts of acrimony. It is difficult to believe that twelve year old boys are capable of any immoralities; however, Jack’s desire to gain power, the character’s mob mentality and lack of responsibility all initiates with small acts of evil, which are all a combination of factors that leads to the boys to a savage state.
To begin, Jack’s ambition to gain power begins when he paints his face, kills the pig, and hunts for the beast, subsequently leading the boys to a savage state. Initially, Jack’s face paint is the first act that initiates his evil acts, which leads to the…show more content… How many are we? And yet we can’t keep a fire going to make smoke. Don’t you understand? Can’t you see we ought to- ought to die before we let the fire out?’” (88). The boys are lead to savagery as Jack and his tribe believe that hunting is more important than the fire, therefore, showing their lack of value in the fire, and lack of morals because they believe that hunting is more crucial than attaining the fire. Moreover, Roger comes across a rock, which demonstrates the character’s lack of responsibility. A lack of responsibility is shown as “Roger, with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever” (200). Roger’s lack of responsibility leads to savagery as he loses his morals and responsibility as he intentionally leans on the lever, which releases the rock that then kills Piggy. Therefore, the extinguishing of the fire, the release of the rock, and the minimal motivation to work, all demonstrates the characters’ lack of
