Human Nature in Lord of the Flies

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Human Nature in Lord of the Flies

Good morning/afternoon Mrs. Visser and class,

I will be speaking about human nature and what it means to be human. Now what does it truly mean to be human and what makes us human? The main thing about humanity is we see ourselves as superior to nature and the animals in it. We see this in Lord of the Flies when the boys first land on the island. Even though there are animals and plants on the island they disregard it and claim the island as their own.

Now what would make man superior to nature, his ability to think? To alter his surroundings to make his life easier? Arrogance or how about that it is how it is always been? Man seems to try and force his views upon others, through different means. Jack for example uses fear and manipulation to control his tribe, while Ralph hung onto the values he was taught in society.

Now behind Ralph was piggy, who in the novel represented man’s knowledge and civilized man’s ideals. He was the one Ralph turned to when he was in doubt about what he must do, about what the civilized thing to do would be. Behind Jack was Rodger who represented the savagery and nature instinct that a human has to survive. Simon represented the spirituality and nature in the book.

Simon is also one of those that seek the truth. When the beast is mentioned, he was the first and only person until later on to suggest that the beast was human’s. He was the first person to see that the beast was an internal thing. People like Simon who seek the truth soon find that they are not accepted in society. Simon was laughed at when he suggested that the beast was internal. It is in human nature to try and blame something else for our mistakes. This separates him and makes him an outsider as it is in human nature not to accept the truth.

Later on when he finds out who and what the beast is, all the boys help to attack and kill him. This shows that it is in human nature to reject the truth as a lie or even insanity. When Simon dies it shows the death of spirituality and a foreshadowing of what the inherit evil in man will do to nature later on.

The inherit evil in man is represented by in the following ways by the following people:

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