Human Identity In Lord Of The Flies By William Golding

William Shakespeare states, in one of his famous plays, Hamlet, that “We know what we are, but not what we maybe,” (4.5. ). The author suggests the idea of the human’s true self, hiding behind one’s mask, which further leads to the question of human identity. The question “Who am I?” becomes one of the most complex topics in literature and philosophy because no one yet finds the answer. This subject inspires different writers such as Phillip K. Dicks, Aldous Huxley, and William Golding to pursue people seek for the unknown. One of the dystopian novels, called Lord of the Flies by William Golding, tells the story of a group of children, on an uninhabited island in the Pacific Ocean during the atomic bomb war. By choosing the character between

William Golding expresses his opinion through Piggy, whom is smart, but never respected by others, by letting him ask the question. Piggy questions the boys about “What” are they, “Humans?” “Animals? Or savages?” when their attempt of democracy about to crash (Golding 91). By letting Piggy show the boys how they about to lose themselves, William Golding simply suggests that human beings return to their natural creatures without identity reminding who they are. Furthermore, this also helps to demonstrate the fact that environment impacts human identity. Aldous Huxley clearly points out, in his novel Brave New World, which the society plays an important role shaping one’s self. One of the characters, Henry Foster, explains the “conditioning” that “Epsilon,” “Beta,” and “Alpha” have, would make any of them “no less thankful” not to be each other (Huxley). As like William Golding’s idea, human beings turn into other creatures by losing themselves, Aldous Huxley further demonstrates the environment also a big factor to decide if a person could keep or lose one’s identity. Furthermore, there are multiple other factors that can impact one’s identity beside the surrounding environment, such as religious beliefs and

For example, people argue whether human beings were born good or evil. Each side of the argument has its own opinion, such as “if men were born innocent, then at what age does evil enter their soul?” Or “if men were born evil, then what pursue people to be good?” People determine that individual identity allows one to conceal the natural creature and maintains one’s goodness. Consequently, as people lose themselves more often in the society, the lack of identity can create the less self- consciousness, which further develop violence and crimes in the community. For example, sociopath cannot feel remorse due to his lack of consciousness and missing identity. This proves that although humans have the power of creating new identity, the inner monsters of men might be strong enough to take over their