Inherent evil is found in many places, particularly within humans. It usually is not present however, where law and order are present. In his novel, Lord Of The Flies, William Golding shows how difficult it is to remain innocent and pure, rather than corrupted and evil where no social order exists. When a group of young British boys crash on a n island, they try to act civilized and good. While the adult world is caught in an atomic war, these twelve year old boys struggle to remain orderly. Roger seems good at first, but commits evil deeds, like murder. Ralph becomes the chief, elected by the boys. Jack, another boy, tries to usurp Ralph's job as chief. Using Roger, Ralph and Jack, William Golding illustrates inherent evil in the human condition when outside forces are absent.
Roger illustrates inherent evil while on the island. Roger is a civilized young boy until he spends quality time on the island without adults. Roger goes from innocent to corrupt on the island. Roger killing Piggy with all intent is a show of evil. When Piggy and Ralph try to make Jack give back Piggy's specs, Roger silences Piggy: “High overhead, Roger, with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all of his weight on the lever” (Golding 200). This brutal killing of killing Piggy proves Roger's evil. Roger's intention to behead Ralph also shows evil. When Ralph asks what is going to happen to him, Samneric reply,“Roger sharpened a stick at both ends” (Golding 210). Samneric know that Roger intends to behead him, but Ralph does not understand this foul deed immediately. This intended
Muscat 2 beheading by Roger proves his evil. Roger's implied use of torture shows his evil as well. When Samneric tell Jack where Ralph is hiding, Roger threatens them: “I...
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... shows Jack's evil. Over the course of their time on the island, Jack's inherent evil becomes progressively more apparent.
William Golding illustrates inherent evil in the human condition when outside forces are absent through the characters Roger, Ralph and Jack in his book, Lord Of The Flies. Roger shows evil by killing Piggy, his implied use of torture on Samneric and the intended beheading of Ralph. Ralph shows his evil by denying Simon's death, contributing to his death and taking pleasure in wounding the boar. Jack also shows evil by killing animals for pleasure, ruthlessly murdering Simon, and beating Wilfred for no apparent reason. By using these characters, Golding illustrates inherent evil. These three characters show how without civilization and order, it is very difficult to stay pure and true. Without civilization, inherent evil slowly becomes present.
This action shows that Roger is very disrespectful, and that he does not care about inflicting pain on someone who does not deserve it, by doing something disrespectful. This action may cause a series of problems later on in the novel, because Roger seems to like being rude to others and insulting them.
Roger struggled with anger issues and with expressing his feelings, yet he managed. Roger was well known for his physicality with other kids at school once he returned from the island. Similarly to what we saw on the island, Roger showed no sympathy. An example of this is observed when Golding writes: "round the squatting child was the protection of parents and school and policemen and the law." (p.60). This quote represents how Roger feels no remorse for his actions, and does not have much respect for the law. Surprisingly, however, these traits work out in Rogers favor as he saves his cousin's life 20 years after he saved Jack’s on the island. Golding writes: “Ralph stood to face them, his spear ready. By him stood Piggy still holding out the talisman, the fragile, shining beauty of the shell. High overhead, Roger, with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever.” (p.180). Roger let that rock go to save a threatened Jack. Roger did this in a sense of self-defense, not anger. Roger did the same for his cousin who was being attacked one night by gang members on a walk back from dinner. Roger saw his cousin was cornered and acted quickly to save his cousin by whacking the gang members with a pipe, Killing them both. Roger’s cousin was untouched. Although Roger has lethal tendencies from time to time, he uses
When the boys first landed on the island, Golding describes Roger in the quote, “There was a slight, furtive boy whom no one knew, who kept to himself . . . He muttered that his name was Roger and was silent again,” (Golding 14) Roger wasn’t really one of the bolder boys and was timid at the beginning, when they had first landed on the island. He says his name quietly and that is all to be heard of shy little Roger. Roger is also the one who suggests having a vote to pick a chief, ending the argument between Ralph and Jack and coming up with a solution that is more sophisticated than other options. When they are trying to light a fire, Roger says “‘You make a bow and spin the arrow,’ . . . He rubbed his hands in mime,” (Golding 32). This indicates that Roger knows about how to survive and that he is slowly coming out of his shell, the transition to savagery has begun.
Jack is the perfect example of a boy whose dark side took over when he
Roger has shaped his identity throughout the book by doing actions to form his new cruel, violent identity. Roger has done things such as throw and release rocks at two boys, and then viciously hunting a pig and killing him.
Lord of the Flies provides one with a clear understanding of Golding's view of human nature. Whether this view is right or wrong is a point to be debated. This image Golding paints for the reader, that of humans being inherently bad, is a perspective not all people share. Lord of the Flies is but an abstract tool of Golding's to construct the idea of the inherent evil of human nature in the minds of his readers. To construct this idea of the inherent evil, Golding employs the symbolism of Simon, Ralph, the hunt and the island.
Mankind is innately evil. The allegorical novel, The Lord of the Flies, allows for little interpretation about human nature. William Golding depicts the idea, “evil is an inborn trait of man” (Golding). Throughout the novel the children who have crash landed on the island begin to uncover their savage nature. Although all of the children somehow succumb to a heinous behaviour, Jack, Ralph, and Roger become most noticeably corrupt. Ultimately, it becomes clear that malicious intent is intrinsic in mankind.
William Golding’s Lord of the Flies portrays the lives of young British boys whose plane crashed on a deserted island and their struggle for survival. The task of survival was challenging for such young boys, while maintaining the civilized orders and humanity they were so accustomed too. These extremely difficult circumstances and the need for survival turned these innocent boys into the most primitive and savaged mankind could imagine. William Golding illustrates man’s capacity for evil, which is revealed in man’s inherent nature. Golding uses characterization, symbolism and style of writing to show man’s inhumanity and evil towards one another.
Golding has a rather pessimistic view of humanity having selfishness, impulsiveness and violence within, shown in his dark yet allegorical novel Lord of the Flies. Throughout the novel, the boys show great self-concern, act rashly, and pummel beasts, boys and bacon. The delicate facade of society is easily toppled by man's true beastly nature.
...and is being consumed by fire, concludes the end of a long and treacherous experience for each of the boys. Through the process of showing how the boys arrive on the island conditioned by society to act civilized and leave the island at the end more savage and more evil, Golding succeeds in trying to depict how man possesses inherent evil. The concept of inner evil in man can be connected to the inner evil in Brutus, from the play Julius Caesar by Shakespeare. While Brutus is a trusted advisor and good friend to Caesar, he still conspires and is involved with the assassination of Caesar. His desire to murder, even as he holds a prominent position among Caesar’s advisors, provides proof of his inherent evil. Golding ultimately seeks to prove in the Lord of the Flies that evil is the prevalent force in man and that it takes precedence over even childhood innocence.
This paper will explore the three elements of innate evil within William Golding's, Lord of the Flies, the change from civilization to savagery, the beast, and the battle on the island. Golding represents evil through his character's, their actions, and symbolism. The island becomes the biggest representation of evil because it's where the entire novel takes place. The change from civilization to savagery is another representation of how easily people can change from good to evil under unusual circumstances. Golding also explores the evil within all humans though the beast, because it's their only chance for survival and survival instinct takes over. In doing so, this paper will prove that Lord of the Flies exemplifies the innate evil that exists within all humans.
When viewing the atrocities of today's world on television, the starving children, the wars, the injustices, one cannot help but think that evil is rampant in this day and age. However, people in society must be aware that evil is not an external force embodied in a society but resides within each person. Man has both good qualities and faults. He must come to control these faults in order to be a good person. In the novel Lord of the Flies, William Golding deals with this same evil which exists in all of his characters. With his mastery of such literary tools as structure, syntax, diction and imagery, The author creates a cheerless, sardonic tone to convey his own views of the nature of man and man’s role within society.
William Golding’s Lord of the Flies shows man’s inhumanity to man. This novel shows readers good vs. evil through children. It uses their way of coping with being stranded on an island to show us how corrupt humans really are.
The novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding used a group of British boys beached on a deserted island to illustrate the malicious nature in mankind. Lord of the Flies dealt with the changes the boys underwent as they gradually adapted to the freedom from their society. William Golding's basic philosophy that man was inherently evil was expressed in such instances as the death of Simon, the beast within the boys, and the way Ralph was fervently hunted.
In the book Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a group of young boys from England are evacuated out of their country due to a war. The plane is then shot down and results into a plane crash on a deserted island. The boys are left all alone with no adults, no supplies, and no one to come and rescue them. They are all on their own and have to establish a new “society”. The boys have to choose someone to govern them and that person ends up being Ralph, who had an internal struggle between what is right and wrong closer to the end of the novel. The boys turn into savages, killing each other, and showing their evil inside each of them. According to, William Golding man is inherently evil, evil is in all of us, but it is oppressed by society, and comes out when there is not anything to hold us back, civilization is what holds back evil from coming out, or it is what triggers evil inside of man.