Good And Evil In The Novel Lord Of The Flies

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Evil is born not made In Sweden, scientists have discovered that there are genes in the human DNA that make them violent and become murders in the worst case. The result of this experiment supports the violent behavior of young survivors in the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding. A group of children release the evil trait within them through their lack of cooperation, harming each other at the end. They must find a way to survive without adult supervision. However, tension occurs between Ralph and Jack as they have different morals.

Through the children’s discussion on the beast and through Jack’s ferocious acts, the novel exhibits a theme that men inherit evil because it argues that people can never escape the darkness inside their hearts no matter how hard they try to change their personalities since evil trait already exists in their hearts from the moment they are born. Children in Golding's novel propose a possibility that they themselves can be the beast that they are afraid of and conclude that a beast is the real evil which they can see with their own eyes throughout this novel. However, evil begins at psychological level and develops into a visible physical action.

One of the survivors, Simon, speaks out for the group when he gets the conch: the object that is required to speak for the group and symbolizes order and civilization. Simon states,” Maybe there is a beast.. What I mean is,... maybe it's only us”(Golding 89). As the boys on the island are afraid of the beast, Simon rejects the possibility of a beast and predicts that the true beast is the darkness inside their hearts and foreshadows the next tragic events that will occur through the novel. In the Theme of Evil, by William Golding, concludes that evil is an internal force that is within us all when he states ”Lord of the Flies was an exciting adventure into the nether region of the mind. Simon’s demise, the beast within the boys, and the way Ralph was feverly hunted were all examples of Golding’s philosophy, that society was inherently evil”(Golding 2).

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So, Golding believes that the human society is living in a cycle of evil and that cycle can never be resolved no matter what. After a conflict is resolved there will always be an another evil that one has to deal with which makes it a cycle. This internal evil later realtes to Jack as he starts to release his darkness. Jack illustrates that evil exists inside every human by expressing great joy in hunting animals for leisure, whether the person realizes it or not. Throughout this novel, Jack becomes obsessed with hunting ever since he had killed a pig on the island with his group of hunters. Golding describes Jack’s hunting as the character’s proudest achievement ever done and states Jack’s thoughts on his first experience of killing a life as the following: “His mind was crowded with memories; memories of the knowledge that had come to them when they closed in on the struggling pig, knowledge that they had outwitted a living being, imposed their will upon it, taken away its life a long satisfying drink.”(Golding 70).

Jack has shown the darkness inside his heart by expressing his satisfaction after his barbarous bloodshed because he was satisfied choosing to hunt and killing it.Jack's violent action fits into the result of a research on a gene that makes a person be homicidal. In Warrios’s gene, an organization known as the GWAS discovers genes that lead to violence and murder. These Genes are identified as murder Genes and the author Barbara Oakley states, “Those people who are wired to be unethical march to their own tune, no matter what they are taught” (Oakley 2). The quote could lead to a possibility that Jack could have these “warrior genes” and explains his psychopath, and his enjoyment of hunting animals. In other words, Jack was evil from the beginning and the research team believes everyone has these warrior genes. Lord of Flies illustrates a theme that evil is always inside a human’s heart and is shown throughout Jack’s obsession with hunting and Simon’s philosophy of evil.All mankind possesses evil characteristics and practices wicked deeds without any support from peers or parents When men face difficult situations, they are put into a condition where they have to choose between good and evil.

The children in Golding's novel experience hardships as soon as they fall upon the island and have to choose one or the other as well. Ralph and Jack can be representations of both good and evil sides in human hearts, allowing the author to display two sides conflicting each other in a person's mind.These children have access to education had peers, friends, and parents and most importantly are civilized. However, that does not make them live in peace because evil is always inside a human’s heart. Even without education, they will only focus on natural human instincts and possibly killing each other.Even though humans originally possess immorality in their minds, governments make laws to restrict people from releasing the evil side through their actions. Nonetheless, the children on the island get a chance to exercise their evil trait that they already have as soon as no government exists to prevent them from doing so. Good and evil are always two different principles that fight within human psychology, so there is no doubt that evil is a principle that can always take over an individual's nature.

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Good And Evil In The Novel Lord Of The Flies. (2022, Jun 16). Edubirdie. Retrieved April 19, 2024, from https://edubirdie.com/examples/good-and-evil-in-the-novel-lord-of-the-flies/
“Good And Evil In The Novel Lord Of The Flies.” Edubirdie, 16 Jun. 2022, edubirdie.com/examples/good-and-evil-in-the-novel-lord-of-the-flies/
Good And Evil In The Novel Lord Of The Flies. [online]. Available at: <https://edubirdie.com/examples/good-and-evil-in-the-novel-lord-of-the-flies/> [Accessed 19 Apr. 2024].
Good And Evil In The Novel Lord Of The Flies [Internet]. Edubirdie. 2022 Jun 16 [cited 2024 Apr 19]. Available from: https://edubirdie.com/examples/good-and-evil-in-the-novel-lord-of-the-flies/
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