Preview

Lord of the Flies "Is man inherently evil?"

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1382 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Lord of the Flies "Is man inherently evil?"
Is man inherently evil? Many people have different answers to this question some do not believe that there is such a thing as good or evil. What is good and evil? Is evil a part of every human being from the moment he is on this planet? I think that man himself chooses in which direction to go to and the environment influences his or her decisions. Many think that you are not inherently evil or good it is you and the environment that makes you evil or good. William Golding in his book is trying to prove and say through his book that people are evil by nature. If a person does not see, what he has done is wrong or evil than you cannot consider this evil or wrongdoing. Evil is when a person knows that what he is doing is wrong but he wants and does it anyway.

In Golding's book, this supports the idea that man is inherently evil "she was black and pink: and the great bladder of her belly was fringed with a row of piglets. They kill a mother saw for a feast to recruit new members into the tribe" (William Golding page 134). The boys killed the mother sow to recruit boys when they could have just eaten berries or at least a pig without babies. In the book lord of the flies William Golding showed how children no older than 12 years old and no younger than 6 years old acted when left alone for to long on an island. At first, the boys tried to have rules and regulations for all the boys to follow, but after a while, it became chaos on the Island. The boys started to kill each other and did whatever they wanted whenever they wanted.

You cannot say that man is inherently evil because when a human being is just born all it could do is cry, and excrete the wastes in its body. The human cannot do anything when it is just born a human learns everything except for instinctive actions which it cannot learn. The human is not born evil if you look at it that way. But when the baby gets older than three the baby might start wanting to do evil actions; the baby may have an attraction

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    This follows from the above arguments with little explanation, even with qualification; if good and evil comes down to your choices, then someone cannot be born good or evil. It is for the same reason as why most people are mostly simply people. You must be challenged to be good or evil. Goodness is something that must be strived for, it does not simply come, so those who have not lived cannot yet be judged. It does not come naturally, so humans are not naturally good or evil.…

    • 871 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Human nature is not exactly perfect to say the least, so it cannot be exclusively good or evil. A reason for this is because certain situations may bring out the good or bad in people. For example, you may be having a great day, spreading positivity and goodness out to the world and then all of a sudden someone does something such as cutting you off while you are driving. This specific situation may bring out the evil in you and you could possibly chase the driver down,…

    • 421 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    James Oliver Curwood once said, “In every man’s heart there is a devil, but we do not know the man is bad until the devil is roused.” In Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, a group of schoolboys are stranded on an island after their plane crashes. Ralph becomes the leader of the boys and tries to maintain civilization on the island. In order to maintain a civilization there must be authority, hope, and intelligence. On the island, these aspects begin to break down and disintegrate quickly when human nature takes over causing civilization to fail. Consequently, many of the boys become savages and fight amongst themselves. The Lord of the Flies implies that all humans are born evil, but clearly not everyone acts in an evil manner. Golding suggests that the laws and norms of society restrain humans’ innate evil, and, if these laws are not reinforced, then man’s evil nature emerges.…

    • 1034 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Evil” – defined by Dictionary.com as “morally wrong or bad; immoral; harmful; characterized by misfortune or suffering” (“Evil”) – is a very complicated topic few people can fully agree on. The view on whether people are born evil or are raised to be evil is highly subjective. What some people consider to be evil, others might believe to be valiant. Although researchers have been exploring many different viewpoints to find the correct answer to this controversy, their results insinuate that evil is found in the eye of the beholder. However, with some of the world’s greatest reprobates nominated for Nobel Peace Prizes and others been given the key to a city, it can be derived that a person develops evil impulses…

    • 1529 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    William Golding’s Lord of the Flies is a gritty allegory of adolescence, innocence, and the unspoken side of human nature. Countless social issues are portrayed, however one of the most reoccurring is the nature of man. Throughout the novel there is an ever-present focus on the loss of innocence amongst the boys, shown by the deterioration of social skills and their retrogression into a barbaric form of society. Also portrayed is the juxtaposition of a cruel, evil main character and a more classically good counterpart, and their eternal rivalry for power and authority over their younger subjects. Does society or the lack thereof create evil in human nature, or simply magnify a pre-existing condition?…

    • 1735 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    You cannot say that man is inherently evil because when a human being is just born all it could do is cry, and excrete the wastes in its body. The human cannot do anything when it is just born a human learns everything except for instinctive actions which it cannot learn. The human is not born evil if you look at it that way but when the baby gets older than three the baby may have an attraction to a parent of the opposite sex and might…

    • 416 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Human beings are born to be evil. They come naturally to the face of violence and brutality, and this belief was held by numerous throughout many a time. One namely is William Golding; the author of the well renowned novel The Lord of the Flies; and he expressed it well in his work. That everyone, if the situation calls for it, has the ability to commit horrific atrocities. And then there are those that made their own beliefs known; that everyone is naturally good until pushed otherwise, which itself was demonstrated by a Jean Jacques Rousseau during the Enlightenment. This argument is otherwise known as nature versus nurture. But that will be investigated later on. For now, the reasons for the instinctual persona of everybody to do bad.…

    • 969 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    From your own personal experiences, babies are certainly not evil. Babies do not have any idea about what is right and what is wrong. They have no friends, no communication, and no experiences in society; their innocence is a great example of men is born inherently good. Have you ever seen an evil baby? The answer is no, you haven't because as humans we aren’t born to be evil. We weren’t born with knowledge of right and…

    • 733 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Humans Are Naturally Evil

    • 1507 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The question regarding to the nature of human beings being related to the word evil has been a topic for controversial discussion and debate among scholars and philosophers alike. According to the ardictionary.com, the word evil is defined as Having or exhibiting bad moral qualities; morally corrupt; wicked; wrong; vicious; as, evil conduct, thoughts, heart, words, and the like ,anything which impairs the happiness of a being or deprives a being of any good; anything which causes suffering of any kind to sentient beings; injury; mischief; harm; opposed to good. It is natural that criminals and villains are presumed evil by the society as the bad deeds are indicated by their crimes. However, how far is the understanding of the society that actually everyone including priests, monks and even mothers are also evil? The word naturally suggest that evil is present in the human beings by nature and that the evil within someone is not influenced by any other factors besides the natural existence. In other word, humans are all evil and are inclined to organise evil actions. (Incomplete intro)…

    • 1507 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Nature vs. Nurture: Is mankind inherently good or bad? In my personal opinion, I think that people are naturally born pure and innocent. In Frankenstein, the creature just wanted to be a part of the community, and when Victor created him, he was eager to learn and he had no fault.…

    • 196 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    William Golding asserts man is inherently evil in his book Lord of the Flies. The brief history of the lost boys seems to say otherwise. Do people stay in line just because of the rules and consequences? Or are people all honorable at heart?…

    • 215 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Evil In Lord Of The Flies

    • 748 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Some humans are often seen as innately evil for example William Goldberg shows how the…

    • 748 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    This statement "Are Men Inherently Evil" is not true in general, but true in a specific situation. This is saying that, since you are a Man, then you must be evil all around like kill random people at random time, for the heck of it. In actuality, one can agree that no, men are not inherently evil, everyone is born pure and they have nothing bad in them. Some are kind and gentle and forgiving, People don't kill for no reason and are not evil for no reason. But in actuality, everyone has evil in them it only matters if someone uses that evil against others. At some point in their lives, something happened to them to turn them that way. In people's minds, they have a good reason for what they did, they don't just do it, all welly Nelly. Everyone…

    • 162 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Man is naturally evil. There are many different ways to prove this theory; some include philosopher’s perspectives and literature. People have been debating back and forth weather or not man is evil or good. This report is about to prove that man is in fact evil.…

    • 634 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Each boy picks a side, but most can’t withstand the impulse of evil. Lord of the Flies is an allegorical novel that contains characters and objects such as Ralph and the conch that symbolize Golding’s theme that all of mankind is essentially evil. Ralph’s efforts were meaningless after the boys became savage and civilization on the island went down in flames. Even Ralph and Piggy took part in Simon’s murder. It becomes evident that savagery was even hard for even Ralph to abstain. The conch was destroyed and order on the island was completely obliterated. Mankind lives this battle of good and evil everyday in their everyday lives. Society conceals it’s evil. When civilization is eliminated, so is the good due to the facts that evil is too appealing. The world is mankind’s island, and good and evil are all around. Civilization and order are needed to resist the evil in the…

    • 1432 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays