The Boar’s Head Scene from Golding’s Lord of the Flies and the Grove Scene from Conrad’s Heart of Darkness

1098 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The human condition in literature

Mankind is a species, a timeline, and even an idea. Many over the years have tried to put a direct definition to mankind, and they don’t get very far. It is impossible to cram the essence of human beings into one sentence. There are so many different elements that go into being human that are different for every person on earth. One thing is for sure: there is a series of actions that each person will take, or a series of events that will encompass each person’s life that are similar throughout humanity. This is known as the Human Condition. Literature is often based upon the Human Condition, and authors or poets or professors will write about it in covert ways, so the reader doesn’t immediately know the central theme of the text is the Human Condition. These texts can teach a lot about society and mankind in general. Two such texts, novels, are Golding’s Lord of the Flies, and Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Each story has a pivotal moment that doesn’t even really affect the outcome of the plot, but is possibly the most important moment in each book. The Boar’s Head scene of Lord of the Flies, and the Grove scene of Heart of Darkness each attest to some element of the Human Condition, and each scene has many of the same elements that give insight into understanding mankind as a whole.
Lord of the Flies has a scene that implements the Human Condition, and the first element it conveys is the need for control over any and every situation. Control is the oldest of arts, and it should be considered as such. It has been executed by some of the greatest people to ever live, even if some of those people have been some of the most terrifying. “The half-shut eyes were dim with the infinite cynicism of adult life. They assured Simon that everyt...

... middle of paper ...

...across native slaves who were sent there to die. The difference between the Grove scene and the Boar’s Head scene concerning death is Marlow is faced with death, but by people who are still alive. “And this was the place where some of the helpers had withdrawn to die.” (Pg. 24) The people he comes across are not dead yet, though they will be soon. This rattles Marlow to the bone. Death is hanging in the air of the grove, almost as if waiting to pounce like some sort of jungle creature.
Mankind cannot be reduced to one simple definition. The closest we can get to defining mankind is the Human Condition. The Human Condition has many different elements, and a few of these are illustrated in the Grove scene of Heart of Darkness and the Boar’s Head scene of Lord of the Flies. The Human condition is something unescapable, that we all must deal with. It is a fact of life.

Show More
Related

  • Analysis of Juthith Butler´s Besides Oneself: On the Limits of Sexual Autonomy

    818 Words  | 2 Pages

    Are we really humans? What is the definition of a Human being? What makes us Humans? Society is so complicated that anything can be true these days. In Judith Butler’s essay, “Besides Oneself: On the Limits of Sexual Autonomy”, she talks about how humans are vulnerable to life around us socially and physically, and humans are dependable on others. She also uses examples such as grief to define who we are because when humans go through the grief process it reveals who that person really is and it can change that person forever in. Some people go through the grief process differently because it affects everyone. Losing someone close to you can change your prospective about life and how you look at things. We live in a country where everyone is going to be judged and looked at differently no matter what gender a person is.

    Read More

  • Main Themes In Christopher Mccandless's Into The Wild

    1143 Words  | 3 Pages

    that is exactly what the reader is faced with themes about human nature, life and God “The

    Read More

  • Control in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey

    3216 Words  | 7 Pages

    This struggle for control proves to be futile for both characters as they watch what control they thought had collapse like a house of cards. The element of control in Cuckoo?s Nest contains a certain definition. Control as it applies to the characters in Cuckoo?s Nest means that one character has substantial influence over the actions of another character. This control can influence another character?s attitudes, emotions, reactions, or even how they live their day-to-day life. The character of Chief Bromden provides an excellent example of how strong an influence control has over a character in Cuckoo?s Nest.

    Read More

  • (A Comparison of the Statements made in Famous Scenes in Lord of the Flies and Heart of Darkness)

    770 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout the course of my senior English career, there aren’t any texts I’ve read that have affected me as deeply as Lord of the Flies or Heart of Darkness. Not only are they shocking and saddening at face value, but once you realize the symbols represented by their most famous scenes, they become so much more than words on paper. These texts become testaments to the faults of humanity on a global scale. These aren’t your average symbols of some romantic idea. When the realization hits you, you can almost feel it. But, with how different these two works are, can they have similar messages about humanity? As a matter of fact, they do. The shared messages about the human condition in The Lord of The Flies by William Golding and Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad are that there is evil in all of us, we all lose our innocence, and we are manipulative.

    Read More

  • The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

    528 Words  | 2 Pages

    What is human nature? In almost every century someone has asked this question to try and find the answer. Each individual had a specific way of debating the matter. One specific author, Robert Louis Stevenson, described the duality of human nature in his book, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

    Read More

  • Frankenstein and Blade Runner

    794 Words  | 2 Pages

    The notion of humanity is a picture intricately painted using the ideals and morals that define us as human beings in contextual society. The audience is influenced by the morals and values present through techniques in texts to paint their own image of humanity. Our ideals and morals that differ in texts through context, scrupulously shape our image of humanity

    Read More

  • Authors' Conceptions of Human Nature

    3888 Words  | 8 Pages

    Authors' Conceptions of Human Nature. Philosophers, politicians, and writers throughout the western world. across all of our written history have discovered the importance of knowing human nature. Human nature is responsible for our definitions of abstract concepts that are surprisingly universal across the western world, like justice, equity, and law. Human nature must also be carefully studied in an effort to understand, obtain, or maintain power within society.

    Read More

  • Comparing Neanderthals with Modern Humans

    1272 Words  | 3 Pages

    To get a sense of what it is to be human, at least in the evolutionary world, we need only to compare our modern selves to our ancestors such as the Neanderthals. The Neanderthals were our closest hominin relative and died out thousands of years ago. Like us, they walked on two legs, hunted , made fire and tools, and lived in shelters (caves). They were more advanced than many of us imagine they were thanks to the way they are portrayed in the media. They had brains similar in size to ours, they stood fully upright (not hunched over), and had a surprisingly complex culture. When asked what it means to be human, you can compare many different aspects of our lives, such as biology, culture, and even religious beliefs. We obviously have no way of comparing our relgious beliefs to those of the Neanderthals, so in this essay, I will compare modern humans to Neanderthals on a biological, behavioral and cultural basis.

    Read More

  • Loss of Innocence in Heart of Darkness

    1713 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...s of the jungle, which sought to swallow him whole like the snake devouring its prey, sending it deeper within its body digesting it by stripping it of its layers one by one, paralleling the snake-like qualities of the river that drew Marlow deeper and deeper into its dark nothingness. And just like the Ancient Mariner, who is doomed to tell his tale for the rest of his life for the sake of penitence, Marlow, too, seems to retell his story of the tragic loss of innocence, of death and rebirth. Regardless of how many times the story had been told before it got to the narrator who eventually transcribed the events, it is one of great importance. It tells us that we must not judge a book by its cover, regardless of how convinced we may be of what is inside.

    Read More

  • Human Condition In The Fall Of The House Of Usher

    723 Words  | 2 Pages

    The human condition, a concept prevalent in several pieces of literature, encompasses the emotional, moral, questioning, and observant nature of humans. This concept is often used by authors to emphasize the characteristics that set humans apart from other living creature. Edgar Allan Poe’s dark fantasy piece “The Fall of the House of Usher” perfectly depicts the human condition as it conveys how fear and over-thinking can control one’s actions and life.

    Read More

  • Being Human in The Cold Equations by Tom Godwin

    567 Words  | 2 Pages

    What does it mean to be human? To most people it means being high on the food chain; or having the ability to make our own choices. People everywhere have a few things in common: We all must obey Natural laws, and we have preconceived ideas, stereotypes, and double standards. Being human is simply conveyed as human nature in “The Cold Equations”, by Tom Godwin, where the author shows the common ground that makes each and every one of us human.

    Read More

  • The Importance of Government As Shown In "Lord of the Flies"

    862 Words  | 2 Pages

    At the beginning of Lord of the Flies, the boys create a democratic government. As the story progresses, the initial democracy on the island is ignored, and a dictatorship rises in its place. This dictatorship fails to keep the boys in order. The author, William Golding, shows that without the institution of a strong government and set of rules people will become impulsive and seek instant gratification. In the absence of order, people tend not to become disciplined of their own accord, but rather dissolve into destructive chaos.

    Read More

  • What Makes Us Human?

    1725 Words  | 4 Pages

    Humans are extremely complex and unique beings. We are animals however we often forget our origins and our place in the natural world and consider ourselves superior to nature. Humans are animals but what does it mean to be human? What are the defining characteristics that separate us from other animals? How are we different? Human origins begin with primates, however through evolution we developed unique characteristics such as larger brain sizes, the capacity for language, emotional complexity and habitual bipedalism which separated us from other animals and allowed us to further advance ourselves and survive in the natural world. Additionally, humans have been able to develop a culture, self-awareness, symbolic behavior, and emotional complexity. Human biological adaptations separated humans from our ancestors and facilitated learned behavior and cultural adaptations which widened that gap and truly made humans unlike any other animal.

    Read More

  • Hamlet's Perception Of Human Nature

    805 Words  | 2 Pages

    How are the perceptions of human nature conveyed by individuals subject to the influence of

    Read More

  • Analysis of 12 Angry Men

    1246 Words  | 3 Pages

    In viewing 12 Angry Men, we see face to face exactly what man really is capable of being. We see different views, different opinions of men such as altruism, egoism, good and evil. It is no doubt that human beings possess either one or any of these characteristics, which make them unique. It is safe to say that our actions, beliefs, and choices separate us from animals and non-livings. The 20th century English philosopher, Martin Hollis, once said, “Free will – the ability to make decisions about how to act – is what distinguishes people from non-human animals and machines 1”. He went to describe human beings as “self conscious, rational, creative. We can fall in love, write sonnets or plan for tomorrow. We are capable of faith, hope and charity, and for that matter, of envy, hated and malice. We know truth from error, right from wrong 2.” Human nature by definition is “Characteristics or qualities that make human beings different from anything else”. With this said, the topic of human nature has been around for a very long time, it is a complex subject with no right or wrong answer. An American rabbi, Samuel Umen, gave examples of contradictions of human nature in his book, Images of Man. “He is compassionate, generous, loving and forgiving, but also cruel, vengeful, selfish and vindictive 3”. Existentialism by definition is, “The belief that existence comes before essence, that is, that who you are is only determined by you yourself, and not merely an accident of birth”. A French philosopher, Jean-Paul Sartre, is the most famous and influential 20th - century existentialist. He summed up human nature as “existence precedes essence”. In his book, Existentialism and Human Emotions, he explained what he meant by this. “It means that, first of all, man exists, turns up, appears on the scene, and, only afterwards, defines himself. If man, as the existentialist conceives him, is indefinable, it is because at first he is nothing. Only afterward will be something, and he himself will have made what he will be 4”. After watching 12 Angry Men, the prominent view on human nature that is best portrayed in the movie is that people are free to be whatever they want because as Sartre said, “people create themselves every moment of everyday according to the choices they make 5”.

    Read More

More about The Boar’s Head Scene from Golding’s Lord of the Flies and the Grove Scene from Conrad’s Heart of Darkness

Open Document