Lord of the Flies Morality

Morality is personal or cultural values, codes of conduct, and social principles that determine right and wrong in the human society. Philosopher Thomas Hobbes Believes that Everyone is a savage without law or morality, and that there are good men only because of society, without society everyone would be savage. while Jean-Jacques Rousseau believes that humans are innately noble savages. The two different ideas these philosophers have about morality and what makes a person moral leads us to ask; what causes humans to abandon moral behavior? In the book, Lord of the Flies, author William Golding uses many characters and motifs such as jack, Roger, and fear to show how morality can be abandoned. From the beginning of the book the character Jack wants power more than anything else, he becomes furious when he loses the election for leader to Ralph. Jacks thirst for power ultimately lead him to abandon morality. The first time jack encounters a pig in the forest he freezes and is unable to kill it, Jack soon becomes obsessed with hunting and dedicates himself to hunting, painting his face like a barbarian. Because jack was not able to kill a pig the first time he encounters one his ego and image is looked upon less by the children. With the loss of his image Jacks searches for power in the group is that much harder to gain power. This struggle motivates Jack to dedicate himself to hunting bringing out the true savage Hobbes believes everyone has within themselves. Once Jack has lost his morality he does nothing but kill. "Kill the beast, Cut her throat, spill her blood" (75). Jacks transformation from civilized bully to savage killer is complete and he is obsessed with hunting at the expense of anything, even rescue. Rhythmic chant after the pig hunt Jacks tribe sings is unpleasant and shows just how bad things are getting because of Jack. Hobbes' idea of human nature is being showed by this quote, In Jacks tribe there is no laws, no rules, no boundaries