Lord of Flies (Evil Nature)
In life, there are a lot of things that hold people back from doing what they want to do. One of the major things is the laws of society. William Golding's novel, Lord of the Flies, illustrates what would happen without society. The boys' behaviors change significantly throughout the novel. The boys carry their civilized behaviors with them to the island but, as time goes by without society, those behaviors are lost.
When the boys are first dropped off on the island, they still have their civilized behaviors with them. Shortly after Jack is given the responsibility of leading the hunters, he is given the opportunity to kill a pig. However, Jack hesitates as he begins to “understand what an enormity the downward stroke would be” (etext) and misses his chance. Jack is still too civilized to kill the pig. The boys are also unable to come to terms with death in general at the beginning of the novel. When the boy with the mulberry birthmark dies, the boys never really talk about it and Ralph doesn’t do a count of the boys because he doesn’t want his death to become real. This illustrates how the boys still feel how normal, young boys feel and that their societal ways are still very much present on the island.
As the novel progresses, the boys’ evil nature begins to become more and more present. It starts off with their hunting. Jack goes from not being able to kill a pig because he is hesitant to killing them very violently. The hunters chant, “Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood” (etext). Although killing an animal doesn’t seem bad, especially because they need to in order to survive, it allows the boys to think that killing is acceptable in general. Which leads to the hunters murdering Piggy and the near death of Ralph.
The author of the novel, William Golding, states that the theme of the novel involves the evil nature humans naturally have that is held inside of them because of society. This is true to a certain extent because some of the boys' evil
When the boys are first dropped off on the island, they still have their civilized behaviors with them. Shortly after Jack is given the responsibility of leading the hunters, he is given the opportunity to kill a pig. However, Jack hesitates as he begins to “understand what an enormity the downward stroke would be” (etext) and misses his chance. Jack is still too civilized to kill the pig. The boys are also unable to come to terms with death in general at the beginning of the novel. When the boy with the mulberry birthmark dies, the boys never really talk about it and Ralph doesn’t do a count of the boys because he doesn’t want his death to become real. This illustrates how the boys still feel how normal, young boys feel and that their societal ways are still very much present on the island.
As the novel progresses, the boys’ evil nature begins to become more and more present. It starts off with their hunting. Jack goes from not being able to kill a pig because he is hesitant to killing them very violently. The hunters chant, “Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood” (etext). Although killing an animal doesn’t seem bad, especially because they need to in order to survive, it allows the boys to think that killing is acceptable in general. Which leads to the hunters murdering Piggy and the near death of Ralph.
The author of the novel, William Golding, states that the theme of the novel involves the evil nature humans naturally have that is held inside of them because of society. This is true to a certain extent because some of the boys' evil