Human Defects In Lord Of The Flies By William Golding

The book follows a group of boys who are stranded on an uninhabited island and left to fend for themselves. As time passes, the boys become more savage and violent, eventually turning on each other in a battle for power. This theme is further explored through the character of Jack, who becomes increasingly authoritarian and manipulative, ultimately leading to the death of several of his peers. The novel suggests that without the constraints of society, humans are prone to violence and destruction.

Because of this urge for authority, Jack perverts the minds of the kids around them and gets them to attempt to kill and murder. This is proved by Jack getting all the boys to chant “kill the beast! cut his throat! spill his blood!” (Golding, 186).

This shows how, even at their best, the group still falls prey to peer pressure quickly and ruthlessly. The second half of the novel explores this theme more explicitly. With Jack Merridew taking charge, the boys succumb to fear and allow themselves to act wildly, egging each other on in their savagery. Under his guidance, the boys become less of individuals and more of a pack.

This highlights how violence and cruelty leads to harm, not only to others but to oneself as well. When boys who have lost their parents, like Jack, engage in violent acts it leads to further aggression and lack of empathy towards others, like what Jack experienced. In conclusion, Jack's actions played a significant role in the demise of the island. His obsession with power and violence led him and the hunters to chaos and destruction of the

The island brings out a side of the boys that they never knew they had, and their natural instincts are exposed when hunting for the beast. The environment contributes to their barbaric actions because they are overcome by fear from the

He stood back and the head hung there, a little blood dribbling down the stick” (Golding 136). Jacks vicious and bloody killing of the sow not only suggests that Golding views human nature to be evil, but it also conveys the Golding believes that the “beast” is inside of everyone. In a world where the “beast,” is unleashed, rules and morals become weak and useless. The “beast” symbolizing the boys indicates that Golding suggests humans are born innately

Soon, they become psychologically stranded to the island, losing their hope to getting rescued from the island, thus contributing to their bloodlust and fun of killing lives of either animals or human. “. . . hair much too long, tangled here and there, knotted round a dead leaf or twig; clothes, worn away, stiff like his own with sweat, put on, not for decorum or comfort but out of custom; the skin of the body scurfy with brine—” (Golding , 110). This asyndeton illustrates the children’s appearance progressively turning uncivilized and heinous, just trying to look for a better game every time they hunt. As the boys defile from their past, the setting of the novel gets closer to a total dystopia.

Sacrifice. Betrayal. Murder. Each took place on the dangerous island of young plane crash survivors who quickly turned into ruthless barbarians. The boys, however, were not this way in the beginning; but as they drifted from their faith, their morals were gradually forgotten.

Furthermore, as represented later in the story, Jack exposes his innate evilness as he is "on top of the sow, stabbing downward with his knife..... Jack found the throat and the hot blood spouted over his hands." (Golding

But after staying too long on the island, the savagery that exists in human nature started to grow among the boys. The dark and evil sides of the boys were swollen in the absence of constraints. As the desire and barbarism of human nature gradually increased, the boys' behaviors started to change. Three main characters who changed their behaviors because of the lack of

William Golding, the author of Lord of the Flies, addresses “an attempt to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human

Fear of a dangerous creature on an island leads the boys to do unexpected things, from turning against each other to killing one another. Jack, a prideful boy, even took advantage of this to control others and guide them into making decisions to his benefit. The group of boys live in relative harmony, taking orders from Ralph, an elected leader, but when this new sighted beast shows up, Ralph witnesses the group falling apart with mass panic, “In a moment the platform was full of arguing, gesticulating shadows. To Ralph, seated, this seemed the breaking up of sanity. Fear, beasts, no general agreement that the fire was all-important: and when one tried to get the thing straight the argument sheered off, bringing up fresh, unpleasant matter” (Golding 88).

The mental degradation of Jack, his hunters, and several other boys helps to demonstrate how civilization is only a veneer masking man 's inborn savagery. Originating as an angelic choir boy, one might struggle to believe that Jack Merridew is the first boy to begin the slippery slope into savagery. It all starts when Jack, in an attempt to have a successful hunt, applies red and white clay to his face. This fateful application becomes a mask with which Jack hides all of his fears and insecurities behind, and in doing so, Jack takes the first step in becoming a savage. As time progresses, increasing acts of terror (such as torturing a mother pig and slaughtering one of their fellow boys) push Jack further from humanity until he is a complete

It shows that despite Jack might have wanted to relax and be free, his conscience told him that it was wrong to break their discipline. A quote that demonstrates Jack’s state of mind is “They knew very well why he hadn’t: because of the enormity of the knife descending and cutting into living flesh” (Golding, 29). It clearly portrays Jack’s state of mind, because though his ambitions told him to kill the pig, his conscience didn’t let him. Even though his conscience prevails in the early stages of the plot, Jack soon lets his savagery and ambition take over. The once, neat and organized choir boy has now turned into a dirty savage with tattered clothes, long hair, a painted face and a craze for hunting.

However, Jack and his tribe are eager to hunt Ralph down. In this final scene, it is clear that savagery completely took over civilization on the island. “Fun and games,” said the officer. (Golding, 181). The naval officer correctly identified the hunt, because the boys allowed the inner evil dominate themselves.