Lord Of The Flies Inherently Good Analysis

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A natural state is a wild, primitive state untouched by civilization. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, which is the story of a group of young boys stranded on an island away from civilization, Golding states that “The theme is an attempt to trace the defects in society back to the defects of human nature. The moral is that the shape of a society must depend on the ethical nature of the individual and not on any political system” (204). This means that society depends on whether one's natural state is inherently evil or good. Golding attempts to prove that man has the inherent capacity for evil, and throughout the novel this proves correct. First of all, Golding supports the idea that man is inherently evil by showing how Jack goes from …show more content…
A group of thinkers called Transcendentalists are some of the people who believed in the idea of man having the capacity for good because they believed man was at its best when independent and isolated. Transcendentalists would likely support the idea of Simon representing how man is good. One example of a way Simon was good and helped throughout his time on the island was that he, “found for [the littluns] the fruit they could not reach, pulled off the choicest,” and passed it down to the crowd of little kids (56). Although this act of kindness does not seem like much, the way the littluns follow Simon into the forest proves that this process occurs often and that the little kids trust and like Simon because he feeds them. This proves that Simon was good and caring because he was aware of the problems and addressed them by feeding the kids the best fruit possible. Simon can also be seen helping Ralph “work all day,” to build the shelters for the boys (54). Once again, Simon can be seen putting the needs of the group above himself by helping Ralph build the shelters on the beach. He does this in order to protect the boys from the weather and to protect the littluns from the beast they believe is lurking in the dark. Simon is the only boy that helps Ralph to build the huts, even though they are for all of the boys on the island. Finally, one last example as to why Simon’s character helps support the idea that man has the capacity for good is that Simon “shoved his piece of meat over the rocks to Piggy,” when Jack refuses to share any of the pig meat with him (74). In this scene, Simon yearns to be fair and share his meat even though Jack disagrees, which can be seen when he yells “Eat! Damn You!” at Simon for
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