Human nature has two sides to it; good and evil. Within both passages, written by Rodney Torreson and William Golding, show both side. However have a different spectrum of what is bad in nature. Regarding human nature, both Torreson and Golding suggest that humans are savages however differ in actions that determine a savage.
In “On a moonstruck gravel road” by Rodney Torreson, humans are savages through the sheep-killing dogs. “The farm boys, asleep in their beds, live the same wildness under their lids” (line 6-7). The humans are exposed as savages in their dreams within this poem. Torreson shows that the humans will treat the sheep-killing dogs by petting them to silence the other world. (Line 11-13) When Torreson does so, he is referring to “the other world” as all that is good in the world. Torreson tells the readers that humans will commend the savages as well as only wish upon doing as a savage. But, the humans will never do as the savages out of fear. Torreson believes that commending a savage is the same as being a savage.
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Golding shows Jack as the dark side of human nature. Jack is brutal in his actions of not showing anyone any care or support. (101) Jack kills pigs for fun throughout the book and is always putting the others in danger. However Golding represents the good side of human nature through Simon. Simon often is caring and selfless throughout the story. (85) Golding outlines that bad sometimes overrules the good in nature out of intimidation. By half way through the book readers will relieved that jack has the power over the island. Golding tends to focus on the bad compared to the good in nature. Therefore Jack is mentioned more than
While Jack and Ralph represent the distinct polarization between civilization and savagery. Simon is separated from both of these dimensions. Simon represents built-in goodness. The other boys who hold on to their sense of morality only do so because society has conditioned and trained them to act in a certain way. They do not have an innate sense of morality. Unlike the other boys on the island, Simon does not act morally because an external force has compelled him to do so, instead he finds value in performing good actions.
Golding exhibits the gradual deterioration of Jack’s morals to reveal a character of savagery. The downfall of Jack’s morals begins when he loses the vote for chief His lack of respect and empathy is
“I’m not going to play any longer. Not with you.” (127). Jack leaves Ralph’s tribe because Ralph is a coward and he makes the rules. Jack’s leadership qualities comes back with a force and he makes his own tribe. Jack does like anyone telling him what to do and he is frustrated because of Ralph taking over him. Another reason to make his own tribe is that Ralph does not appreciate Jack hunting and he accuses him to let the fire out. His leadership skills become stronger but in a negative way. His behavior has changed because of hunting and by spending time on the island. Jack has become a sociopath. Even his hunting style has become more violent. After hunting a sow, he tortures the pig physically until the pig has a painful death. He also cuts the throat of the pig and places the head on the stick as a sacrifice. This action shows psychopathic tendency and how he was not able to kill the pig in his first attempt in hunting and now he abuses the pig and sacrifices the head. “He squirmed and looked down.”(160). When Stanley, a member of Jack’s tribe asks Jack about the death of Simon, Jack replies him by nervously saying no. This response by Jack portrays that Jack is trying to tell himself that he his not responsible for his own actions. During Simon’s murder, Jack was wearing a mask on his face and that makes him not responsible for Simon’s murder. During the end of the novel, Jack starts wearing his mask all the time because he does not want to be responsible for his own actions. ““He’s going to beat Wilfred.” “what for?” Robert shook his head doubtfully. “I don’t know. He didn’t say. He got angry and made us tie Wilfred up. He’s been”-he giggled excitedly-”he’s been tied for hours, waiting-”” (159). This quote from the novel clearly shows how Jack has been treating his tribe members. He is beating them for no reason by tieing them up for hours. Jack shows no emotion and he has become cold blooded. The
In conclusion, we can see how Jack’s character changes through the novel and why this is so significant. Without these changes, Jack would not have been able to gain power over the boys and influence them into becoming more savage similarly to him. It is also very important that Jack’s character changes as Golding is able to show that he completely regresses from civilisation which represents that all humans can become savage and evil.
Many people have different views on the moral subject of good and evil or human nature. It is the contention of this paper that humans are born neutral, and if we are raised to be good, we will mature into good human beings. Once the element of evil is introduced into our minds, through socialization and the media, we then have the potential to do bad things. As a person grows up, they are ideally taught to be good and to do good things, but it is possible that the concept of evil can be presented to us. When this happens, we subconsciously choose whether or not to accept this evil. This where the theories of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke become interesting as both men differed in the way they believed human nature to be. Hobbes and Locke both picture a different scene when they express human nature.
Human nature has been debated for centuries, everyone coming up with their own theories, pulling their sources from religious texts, wars, experiments, or daily life. William Golding and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, born in very different times and countries were very opposite in their views compared to one another. William Golding believed that human nature was immoral and evil, and there has been evidence of this all the way to the beginning of human society. Without laws or moral boundaries, humans would plunder, steal, and murder to their hearts content, delighting in their new found freedom to let go of social philosophies imposed upon them. Rousseau, however, believed that human nature was naturally just and moral, and it was society’s laws that made them immoral. Social norms and laws create limitation and superfluous need, and it is within those boundaries that humans become enslaved to “moral inequality.” Without laws and social norms, humans will revert back to their natural goodness. It is the polar opposite of Golding’s belief. Golding’s philosophy, however, is more in line to my own, as in my opinion, Rousseau’s belief is a rather naïve outlook on life.
In conclusion, Jack was overall an unique leader and person, he went from killing pigs to killing humans, and being the nicest person, to not so nice. With great power comes great responsibility; having determination, being intelligent, and possessing great outdoors skills, is what Jack had to be, to be a great
Jack 's appearance is not the most attractive, in fact he is "ugly without silliness."(27) This could lead one to believe that Jack could be insecure within himself. Being surrounded by other boys who attain characteristics that he does not adds fuel to his insecurities. For instance Piggy who is the voice of reason and advanced intellectually or Simon who is honest and has wisdom beyond his years. Golding 's characterization of these boys gives readers an understanding as to why Jack may be jealous of them. Jealousy has been known to make people do things they would not normally do. Jack craves power to show superiority over others which makes him feel better about himself. However Jack 's envy and hunger for power ultimately ends in both Simon and Piggy 's demise. The forest fire at the end of the novel results from Jack trying to get rid of Ralph who is the only boy left that Jack is threatened by. Ralph is attractive in appearance and is appointed chief at the beginning of the novel, which are two characteristics Jack is jealous of. The fire is meant to kill Ralph, yet it also damages the island which was destined to be destroyed from the start. The terrifying part of Jack 's behaviour is that he must of learnt it from someone. That someone most likely being a parent or adult figure in his life. Children learn by mirroring behaviours they see, so if Jack learnt his immoral behaviour from "the majesty of adult life" (117) what does that say about the adult world? Perhaps that it is not as majestic as the boys believe it to
When first arriving on the island, Jack seems like the typical twelve year old boy, until he is faced with the challenge of killing a pig. After he spares the pig, he becomes obsessed with going through with killing the pig next time so much so that it often puts the rest of the boys in danger. Jack slowly starts to become a symbol for violence. “You should have seen the blood.”(Page 70) Jack boasts about his successful attempt at finally killing the pig later in the book. After this incident, Jack appears more blood thirsty and savage as he slowly starts to take the role of an antagonist in the
Jack and the hunters show that mankind are inheritantly evil, if left alone to take care of themselves, fear will turn tem into the savage roots of the ancestors. This is shown near the end of the novel with the killing of piggy and the hunting of Ralph. Though at first Jack felt guilty for killing Simon, because he was still civilised, however as time goes on it turns into a thirst for blood, to kill anything that stands in his way to become the leader of the island.
In a Man 's Nature is Evil, men are depicted as evil since birth. Hsün Tzu declares that "Man 's nature is evil; goodness is the result of conscious activity" (Tzu 84). He speaks about how men are born with fondness for certain aspects of life such as profit, envy and beauty. Consequently, obtaining these aspects would lead to a life of violence, crime and recklessness. According to Tzu, men are born with a pleasure for profit. However, this need for riches will cause a man to have conflicts and altercations in his life. This is due to the fact that man will have such a great urge to obtain profit in life that he will go to all means necessary, including violence. Man is also born with envy and hate; it is not something he is taught. The internal struggle these two attributes have to offer will once
Human nature is the most debated topic to date. Many people think that mankind is programmed to be evil; on the other hand people argue that it is naturally good. Nathaniel Hawthorne gave his argument with the novel, The Scarlet Letter. The Scarlet Letter showed that mankind is innately good by Chillingworth’s measures, Hester’s capitulates and Dimmesdale’s noble qualities.
We will come to an end. Whether from the beast within or the beast within others, the end is inevitable, and closer than meets the eye. As humans, we struggle to point out this weakness: the inner beast within all of us that corrupts our decisions and clouds our judgement despite clear morals. This undeniable, inevitable beast within us has existed since the beginning of man but we rarely acknowledge its existence. We choose to believe that our civilized morals will always subdue man's primitive, savage instincts when, in fact, we remain far from the truth that our savage instincts will always prevail. Golding uses characterization and symbolism to illustrate man’s savage instincts.
Jack, on the other hand, is doing nothing but causing chaos. Jack fails to realize that the boys need security, stability, and order on the island. Jack was a leader of the choir before the boys landed on the island. These boys, who were in the choir, still want to follow Jack; however, they have no discipline at all. The only thing that is on Jack’s mind is hunting.
Eric Burdon, a famous singer-songwriter and member and vocalist of rock band, The Animals, and the funk band, War, once wrote, “Inside each of us, there is a seed of both good and evil. It’s a constant struggle as to which one will win. And one cannot exist without the other.” Both good and evil are inherent in humans, however it is up to man to discover which trait will be displayed dominantly. William Golding, a witness of the destruction of humanity during World War II, has the ideology that man is inherently evil. Through his novel “The Lord of The Flies,” Golding introduces the thoughts of evil in society. To exemplify that man is inherently evil, a variety of characters, allegory, and metaphors are used to convey the occurrence