Comparing Hobbes And Rousseau In Lord Of The Flies

For centuries, the natural state of man has been a major theme in political philosophy. and two major contributors to this philosophy are Thomas Hobbes and Jean Jacques Rousseau. Their theories both appeals to the state of nature as a phase before the formation of a political society, however, their views of a man’s state of nature are quite different. With that being said, many will read William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, and will see what Golding’s view of man’s state of nature is like, but disagree with each other if it takes the side of Hobbes or Rousseau. To help identify which comparison is more well suited, one should think to himself if humans are innately good or bad people. Rousseau believed that in order for a society to be justified,
Without having any parents on the island, the kids are now living their dream — or nightmare — of living within a society where they can decide if and how to enforce rules and laws on their own. As the novel progresses, we see the nature of the boys to begin to change, and Golding uses this in attempting to expose the nature of man, which includes the good, the bad, and those in between. Golding uses different objects to help symbolize how the boys evolved from being civilized and friendly to becoming evil savages due to the corruption in their government. These symbols include the conch shell, Piggy’s eyeglasses, the fire, the “beast”, and the Lord of the
The conch shell lost its power and influence among the children and we see that in chapter five; Ralph was afraid to blow the shell knowing that it will be ignored and that any vestige of order it had left would disintegrate. Later in the novel, Roger rolls a boulder onto Piggy, resulting in the death of Piggy and the crushing of the conch shell. This scene signifies the demise of the civilized instinct amongst almost every boy on the island. The “beast” is used to show who the boys evolved into. The littluns tried to express their emotions of how they had seen a monster which then scared everyone on the island, however, the monster the littluns have feared was actually themselves. The group of boys became that monster after trying to become a group of civilized people. In the beginning of the novel, the boys did not want to start killing each other, but as the novel unfolds, we saw a number of deaths which resulted due to the savagery of the boys. When it comes to the death of Simon, the Lord of the Flies — the pig head — becomes both a sign of the beast and a symbol of evil. “Well then, you’d better run off and play with the others. They think you're batty… You knew, didn't you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are?” (Golding 143) The lifeless Lord of the Flies was telling this to Simon, laughing at him. Simon