Is Mankind Inherently Evil Essay

In the history of humans, the idea that they could possibly be inherently evil is fairly new. Until the 19th or 20th century, religious groups especially enforced the ideology that people are inherently good. However, I believe that humans have a tendency to do evil. I believe this because they constantly partake in needless murder and are insatiable in their hunger for power and control. William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies shows that humans are evil through the murder of the most innocent boy on the island, Simon. Simon, often interpreted as a Christ-like figure for the boys due to his lonesome nature and meditative habits, is brutally murdered by just about every boy on the island when he comes out of the forest to tell the boys about the Beast. He is the only one who truly grasps the idea of the loss of innocence,

Throughout the whole book, we get a bit of a pissing contest between Jack and Ralph for the title of chief, but it hits a fever pitch when Ralph completely upstages Jack during a meeting. Jack, wounded ego in hand, says, “I’m not going to play any longer. Not with you” (127). Upon saying this to Ralph, Jack unlocks his inner savagery, which, awkwardly only unlocks because he throws a fit because no one wants to do what he says. Jack leaves the group, and being the best hunter, is able to win many to his side with promises of meat, a rare treat for the boys. Eventually, Jack has all the boys that are alive except Ralph and Piggy. His crew is also very brutal, with Roger hurling a boulder down the cliff that kills Piggy. The vengeance that Jack seeks knows no bounds, and Golding really captures the pain of a man who has had his ego damaged when Jack starts hunting Ralph instead of pigs. The boys are so brutal that even the naval officer says that he didn’t think that British boys would be this bad