Preview

Evil In Lord Of The Flies Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
884 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Evil In Lord Of The Flies Essay
Furthermore, characters who continuously commit cruel actions fall into an even darker path of evil. Taken out of a community with regulations and expectations, Roger, who has a natural inclination to be evil, becomes a savage beast; turning barbaric and utterly cold. This leads him to commit harrowing deeds and torture the weak for amusement and pure enjoyment. Finding stones on the shore, “Roger stooped, picked up a stone, aimed, and threw it at Henry – threw it to miss…Roger gathered a handful of stones and began to throw them” (Golding 64). The act of throwing rocks at another demonstrates Roger as a childish bully. His evil behaviour starts to destroy the little humanity left in him. Roger was not aiming directly at Henry, showing the …show more content…
Isolation from society provokes the beast within humans releasing their true nature. In the absence of authority, the boys on the island transform into animalistic beasts. Without the presence of law and order, their true character shines through and causes chaos. Golding demonstrates how people unintentionally provide a false sense of morality by conforming to society. Jack, a character who strives for power, exemplifies how one reaches unthinkable lengths of barbarism to achieve their desires. Becoming consumed by the evil arising in his darkening soul, pushes him to act animalistic. In Golding’s setting, the tendency to submit to deeds lurks around every corner on the island. Even the most civil, like Ralph, give into the surrounding malevolence which overpowers the goodness within them. The characters live in an environment where human dignity and solidarity are under constant assault. As the society becomes more uncivil, characters like Roger, seemingly grow crueler. Likewise, having the potential to willingly inflict pain upon others, only magnifies the evil within one’s soul. Desperation and carelessness bring out the animalistic behaviour in humans. Seemingly an unspiritual nature of humans appears in harsh environments. Lord of the Flies shows the darkness of man’s heart where the breakdown of restraints results in killing and violence. Today, society

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    We think of a person that is evil to be bad, although without the presences of a higher figure or rule are people naturally good or naturally evil? What would happen to a people or person that was in a situation where all forms of authority were removed. Would such person remain the way they are, or would they become savage and completely forget what it’s like when there are restrictions. In the book The Lord of The Flies, the author takes the side that people are naturally evil. In a nutshell, the book is about a group of boy’s crash landing on an island and trying to survive until they are able to be saved. As time progresses there is a clear change in the boy's actions. They become more savage like as if they were animals, the boys had completely forgotten about what it meant to be human or civil. The author is showing what he thinks would happen to kids without a figure of power or rules. Without the presences of a higher figure or rules. people are naturally evil, as time goes on in the story…

    • 868 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    1. What does the character do, say, or think that can be classified as morally wrong?…

    • 484 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    '“Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Bash her in.” (p.75) The hunters were chanting this as they were circling the pig that they had tortuously beaten to death. This part of William Golding's novel “Lord of The Flies” foreshadows the theme Civilization vs. Savagery. The three main points in the story that for-shadow civilization vs. Savagery are the part in the story where Roger has a hard time being himself while there is no authority figure around, where Jack displays his need for power and how throughout the book the conch was affected by Jack and Ralph fighting. With no sense of civilization around Roger isn’t quite himself as proven on page 62. “Roger gathered a handful of stones and began to throw them. Yet there was a space round round Henry, perhaps six yards in diameter, into which he…

    • 464 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies, the motif of savagery emerges throughout the book in different forms. Although there are many forms of savagery in the book, masks play an integral role. Throughout the course of the book, a character’s savagery evolves when a mask is applied, and the boys that do not put on masks remain civilized. Masks have the ability to twist a civilized human into a wild savage.…

    • 752 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Roger was never the nicest guy on the island, but it really showed when Roger decided to show his power over the liluns on the island. Henry, one of the little boys on the island was sitting, having fun, doing nothing to bother Roger, when suddenly Roger started throwing rocks at him: “[He] gathered a handful of stoned and began to throw them. Yet there was a space round Henry, perhaps six yards in diameter, into which he dare not to throw. Here visible not strong, was the taboo of old life. Round the squatting child was the protection of parents and school and policeman and law,” stated Roger. Roger used intense force to show his power over the little boy; he felt the urge to torment the lilun. As civilization has not yet faded, he knew not to threw to rocks directly at him, like there were imaginary adults standing there. Again, rules are not present, therefore no one can tell Roger that this is wrong and cruel. Golding provided this piece of information to show that cruelty takes place without a responsible adult to tell them right or…

    • 484 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The author of Lord of the flies, William Golding, uses literary elements such as characterization to support his argument that man’s capacity for evil is revealed in his human nature. Golding uses his main characters- Jack and Ralph- as examples of inner evil. Jack is shown as unjust, mean and self-involved when “[he] took a step and…stuck his fist into Piggy’s stomach” (Golding 71). Additionally, Golding describes Jack as asticious, inimical, and down-right terrible.…

    • 74 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Lord of the Flies, written by William Golding, is about a group of boys that are stranded on a deserted island. They struggle to find civilization because there are no adults to take care and watch over them. Ralph, who is the main character and leader of the boys, tries to establish a civilization by building a signal fire as a sign for their rescue. The boys start to struggle with their persona and they start believing that they might be evil. In the novel, Lord of the Flies, everyone is infected by evil.…

    • 637 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mark Twain once said, “Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody.” In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, a novel where a group of young boys crash into an island and form a society. Eventually, this society falls apart and the boys revert to savagery as a means of living. The novel leads us to then question then whether there is any humanity in us or if we could so easily resort to the darkness inside of us.…

    • 892 Words
    • 4 Pages
    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

    William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, tells a story about a group of English schoolboys that are taken from their society to be put somewhere out of harms way. Unfortunately, the plane is shot down and crash lands on a deserted island. On this island there are no adults to show them how things work like they are used to from their former lives. Although, they try to keep order, chaos takes over, and the society comes crumbling down. The only thing that kept them fighting was the thought of a beast. Simon was the only character that could look past a physical beast and see that the beast was the darkness of man’s heart.…

    • 625 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    What defines something or someone of being evil; how is one truly considered evil? Evil has been defined by so many things. According to Dictionary.com, evil is something that is morally wrong or bad. Evil is also as wicked and or immoral part of someone or something. Common elements of evil are selfishness, ignorance, or neglect. Someone can be evil by doing an immoral act, like murder. Mao Zedong can be considered as an evil person. He has done many immoral actions throughout his life time. In “Lord of the Flies,” Jack can be connected to Mao Zedong. Jack has made some decisions when he has gotten on the island that is morally wrong and bad.…

    • 615 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Roger is a savage, disobedient, out of control tribal. Roger’s initial build up is subtle because of his past boundaries from the old world. “Roger stooped, picked up a stone, aimed, and threw it at Henry-threw it to miss” (62). Still abiding by the rules of his former life, Roger’s civility can still be seen early in the story. Unfortunately, Roger loses control of his…

    • 617 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The destruction that occurs on the island is due to the natural instinct of humans to destroy and tear down one another. In Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies Golding uses three major symbols, the conch shell, fire, and the beast support his theme that mankind is evil. The conch represents the order in humanity until it brakes and all hope is lost. The fire represents the hope to be saved yet in the end it only destroys. Lastly, the beast represented the fear of the unknown and is the origin of violence throughout the novel. The three symbols show the humans natural instinct to overrule and destroy one another no matter how young. The boys on the island suffer through the loss of innocence that they come to the island with and by the end of…

    • 1392 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    We have all wondered are people essentially good or evil. In lord of the flies we see many examples of good hearted people and other people who are just simply evil. Roger and Jack seemed to be the most pure evil ones out of the book. Seeing them and how they acted towards everyone, we wonder are they just evil or do they have good intentions even though it surely doesn't look like it.…

    • 218 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Near the beginning of the book, Roger is introduced to us as a minor bully. He is shown stranding small marine animals on land and throwing small rocks near children. However, this behavior escalates, as he soon grabs a spear and goes hunting with Jack’s crew, becoming one of the main hunters. In one hunt, the boys kill a large sow to attract other boys to their side. “Roger found a lodgment for his [spear] point and began…

    • 906 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays