Top-Rated Free Essay
Preview

Connecting Stanford Prison Experiment and Lord of the Flies

Good Essays
522 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Connecting Stanford Prison Experiment and Lord of the Flies
Connecting the Stanford Prison Experiment to the Lord of the Flies “But look out the evil is in all of us” stated William Golding in his novel Lord of the Flies. This quote means; watch out, because even the sweetest have evil on the inside. Golding’s novel and the Stanford Prison Experiment conducted by Philip Zimbardo, both show a very disturbing transformation of young men. Evil became trapped inside the young boys of Golding’s novel, and the young men in the Experiment. Once innocent, now turned to evils doorstep. Given the situation, when ones innocence is being tested, the evil that lives in everyone is revealed. In the Experiment, college boys were given roles to play in a fake jail, which later engulfed them. In the jail the guards became fearless and the prisoners were truly horrified. “You really became the person of your uniform” stated a guard. The guards had a hungry desire for power. They began treating the prisoners like they were the dirt on the bottom of their shoes. The prisoners lost any trace of their humanity. “I wasn’t myself, I was my number, I was prisoner 416” stated the prisoner. They became crazy. They couldn’t tell night from day, they began revolting, they acted crazy just to leave the jail, they were treated awfully, they were truly prisoners, and they knew it. The boys in Golding’s novel became lost in their roles too. Golding’s book was a battle of civilization vs. savagery. Jack and Ralph battled for power. Jack, being on the side of savagery, and Ralph, being on the side of civilization. The savaged boys were once frightened; now they transformed into the ones being feared of. The civilized boys on the island were helping each other, building shelters, trying to be rescued- working together. Ralph as complete leader and Jack leader of choir. The transitioned savages on the island killed a mother pig nursing piglets, they lost all sense of hygiene, they murdered their friends- they worked against each other. The savages role played the killing of the pigs and even created a chant, “kill the pig, cut his throat, kill the pig, bash him in!” the boys became helpless of the savages. The experiment and Golding’s novel relate with one another. There are a desire for power, a definite fear, loss of identity, and major transitions in both. They both tell the story of young transitioning men. These stories make you wonder if you were in that situation would you resist or give in. transitions happen in a blink of an eye, and sometimes you won’t even realize anything happened to you. But the people around you will.be careful the evil of having too much power will take you on the wrong course and you will become lost, much like it did for Golding’s boys, and the guards. If you give evil a chance it will take you over completely. Don’t give in, resist: because evil is in all of us just waiting to break through the surface. Avoid evil at all costs *and maybe even power* for your sake and your friends.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Stanford Prison Experiment was an experiment that Philip Zimbardo evented. He wanted to study the human response of captivity, of the prison life. Zimbardo randomly assigned roles to the prisoners and the guards. Each role was uniquely identified. For example, he gave the guards sticks and sunglasses and the prisoners were arrested by the police department and were forced into the basement of the jail which was converted into the psychology department that was converted into a makeshift jail. Zimbardo wanted the experiment to be as realistic as he possibly could have made it, therefore, he assigned each role to help do so. Testing each individual and then assigning them to roles would of gave inconclusive readings and therefore, it was…

    • 164 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Golding was a part of the Royal Navy in WWII, he experienced the “evil” in man with the killing and how it affected them mentally therefore is a microcosm to boys on the island. Jack, Roger, and Ralph have lost their way of innocence, mentally turning them into their own way savages from being on the island so long and trying to survive. Golding uses Jack, Roger, and Ralph individual personalities on the island as a microcosm.…

    • 771 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Imagine a thick mixture of blood and sweat streaming down from your temple, the sound of your heavy breathing is deafening against the pitch black night. You run into an alley way when you hear footsteps running past. Sirens blasting, tear gas fill your lungs with every inhale, and you hear distant screams. The sound of a club striking something… someone until the screams are gone. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, he expresses humanity’s capacity for evil. Destruction and demoralization comes out to play when civilization and order are absent. The book takes one through a time when there was peace and law, but gradually illustrates corruptions strength on the boys’ minds. This book relates to problems we’ve seen in the past and what…

    • 987 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Stanford Prison Experiment was an experiment conducted by everyday college students and led by professor Philip Zimbardo from Stanford University which aimed to see the psychological effects of imprisonment. The purpose of the experiment was to investigate social behavior and how people would adhere to social roles by stimulating a prison setting with guards and prisoners. Philip Zimbardo advertised the experiment for two weeks and more than 70 applicants were reviewed. Applicants were removed and weeded out and due to medical disabilities, histories of crime and drug abuse, psychological problems and personality issues. The final tally resulted in 24 male students who were paid paying $15 a day to participate in the experiment. Surprisingly,…

    • 286 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Stanford Prison Experiment was created by a psychology teacher named Phillip Zimbardo. There was 9 prisoners and 9 guards. Those that were chosen were arrested one morning and taken to the station where they were blindfolded. An ad was put in the local paper asking for volunteers for this project. This experiment was to see the psychological effects of being in prison. After reviewing over 70 applicants, they narrowed it down to twenty-four candidates. The candidates were college students from the United States and Canada, they also earned $15 a day. They were separated in two different groups labeled guards and prisoners. On the first day, there were no differences between the boys. Zimbardo used the basement in Stanford’s psychology department and called it the “Stanford County Jail.” The corridor was called the “yard” the prisoners were allowed to walk, eat, or exercise. The cells were created out of laboratory rooms. The doors were replaced with steel bars. There…

    • 898 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Stanford prison experiment was an experiment of the psychological effects of becoming a prisoner or prison guard. He wanted to test to see if that the personality traits of prisoners and guards are the chief cause of abusive behaviour in prison. The actors were told they would participate in a two-week prison simulation. Out of 75 respondents, 24 males were selected. The group was picked on the basis that they had no previous criminal backgrounds and that they were mentally healthy.…

    • 219 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    lord of the flies

    • 544 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In William Golding’s novel The Lord of the Flies , he questions the nature of man and origins of evil within human beings. The plot involves a plane full of British boys, between the ages of six to twelve, crashing on an empty island. There, they are stranded without any adults and as time progresses, the upbringing of the boys regarding societal rules and morals are tested as they revert into a life of savagery. Golding proposes a shocking revelation that human nature is naturally evil. This is demonstrated through mob mentality as well as hidden symbols throughout the book.…

    • 544 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Stanford Prison Experiment was a psychological study of human responses to captivity and its behavioral effects on both authorities and inmates in prison. It was conducted in 1971 by a team of psychologists led by Philip Zimbardo. Undergraduate volunteers played the roles of both guards and prisoners living in a mock prison in the basement of the Stanford psychology building. The experiment was intended to last two weeks but was cut short due to the rapid and alarming results it had received.…

    • 894 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tragic events have always pushed humans towards either acts of great compassion or even greater contempt. In William Golding's Lord of the Flies, this human nature is depicted through his characters. Golding's book portrays his belief that humans are innately evil.…

    • 418 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Experiments have been done for many more years than humans can count on the two hands in which they possess. Two experiments, in particular, were written, “The Stanford Prison Experiment” by Philip G. Zimbardo and “The Perils of Obedience” by Stanley Milgram. These experiments can be controversial for many different reasons, but neither of these experiments were completed under conditions of normality. The information collected in these experiments isn’t exactly based off of real life situations, it becomes difficult not to question the relevance of these experiments.…

    • 743 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Stanford prison experiment showed us that human beings alter to the situation they are put in. The guards won total control over the prisoners who blindly followed orders. All of this in just 5 days of experimental conditions. Zimbardo said that the prisoners had internalised their roles and thus continued to participate in the experiment on their own will. One example of this is when they introduced themselves to the priest with their serial number rather than their real name. Another example would be of the prison consultant who took on the role of an autocratic head of the parole board. After the experiment was over he was said to be disgusted at the person he had become.…

    • 1130 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Stanford Prison Study

    • 614 Words
    • 3 Pages

    This experiment was designed to depict how various situations can affect the behaviour and mindset of an individual. Within an extremely short timeframe it was evident that the mindset of the “prisoners” in this experiment was entirely altered to the point where they truly felt as though they were in jail. This experiment also indirectly indicated how power corrupts, as the “guards” also experienced an altered mindset.…

    • 614 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In life, everyone chooses between good and evil, but whichever is chosen may change due to the development of how certain people react from different situations. When surrounded by many kids of similar age and no parents, some boys in Lord of the Flies change from good to evil as they grow on the island. The evil that they show is not necessarily what boys of young age are usually showing, nor is it what most adults can even think of doing. In Lord of the Flies, William Golding utilizes Jack and Roger to prove that human nature can develop into evil actions when placed into difficult situations.…

    • 821 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The effects of living in a prison cell with no outer contact is very abysmal. People tend to get very friendly with their prison mates and they even plan and talk out many ideas of breaking out of prison. They also tend to feel achy and horrible inside because of lack of sunlight and not much physical activity is being pursued during time in a cell. Finally, they also feel so closed in and hurt inside that they start thinking that suicide or death is a better way out in life when previously they were just normal college kids who were thriving in school.…

    • 1037 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    During arrests the police use procedures that lead people to feel confused and fearful. In the case of the Stanford experiment when the prisoners were arrested a process of humiliation began. The twelve undergraduates selected to play the role of prisoners were fingerprinted, mug shots were taken; they were searched, stripped naked, deloused and their heads shaved. Then they were dressed in cheap smocks, with no underwear and had a small chain around one ankle. This process was useful to dehumanize the prisoners, to start making them feel hopeless and turn them into object making them all look the same. Moreover, their names were taken away and they were given identity numbers; the same process used in the Nazi concentration camps.…

    • 684 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays