Lord of the Flies

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Looking at Lord of the Flies by William Golding, readers may notice both good and evil in each character. Golding wrote this novel to demonstrate that humans are evil and requires the constraints of society to maintain social order but Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s philosophy states that a person is naturally good but is corrupted by society. Taking place during World War II, Golding’s novel is centered around a group of British boys between the ages of six and twelve whose plane was shot down and were left to survive on an island. While on this island – away from the laws of England and the rules of the school – the boys had the freedom to act however their hearts desired but most of the boys became savage and violent proving Golding’s belief, that the evil of a person is kept in order by the restrictions of society, to be true. Rousseau’s belief is defined by the term the state of nature, which in this case, is hypothetical.
Jean- Jacques Rousseau’s philosophy on human nature states that individuals are good but is made ill by society. According to Rousseau, the idea of uncorrupted human beings is achieved when individuals are freed from the grasp of property, law, and moral inequality. Modern society has allowed unnecessary needs to become a necessity which then creates the idea of inequality that leads to desires other than the need to survive. Because property has become part of human needs, it has become a part of survival, thus corruption. To be completely free of society, people must also be free of the law for it is part of a society. On the other hand, Golding’s philosophy states the opposite.
William Golding believes that society, laws, and morals keep the evil of human beings restrained. Experiencing World War II, Goldin...

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...e book, Roger drops a great rock from the cliff that struck Piggy, killing him. This proves Golding’s philosophy still true. When this group of English boys was on the island, they were free from rules and yet they became savages. They were free from society and yet they killed brutally. Rousseau states that if freed from the constraints of society, humans would not be corrupt. What happened on that island is not in favor of Rousseau.
With all that said, agreeing with William Golding is most logical. Humans possess evil in them but society, rules, laws, orders, and morals aids individuals to avoid corruption. Without the law, it is most likely that individuals will do selfish things and become corrupt rather than transform into an ideal person with the need of only to survive. Golding’s Lord of the Flies is an extreme but great representation of the human nature.

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