Kohlberg's Moral Development In Lord Of The Flies

The first time Simon mentions this concept is at an assembly. He began by saying, “maybe it’s only us,” but struggled to express his ideas on, “mankind’s essential illness,” (Doc F). The next time the boys’ inner evil is brought up is during Simon’s hallucinatory conversation with the pig’s head, when Simon discovers the “beast” is only a dead parachutist. He then, “sets off, weak and staggering, to tell the other boys that the beast is human,” (Doc E). There is a duel meaning behind Simon’s statement.

At one point in the book Simon brings up an interesting point regarding the beast. He begins to realize that there really isn’t a physical, “beast”. The thought comes to him, which leads him to believe that they are the beasts; the beast is inside of human beings. When Simon says, “What I mean is… maybe it’s only us. ”(Golding, 158)

Simon's tendencies to go off alone make the other boys think he's a tad odd, but, for the reader, Simon's credibility as a visionary is established when he prophesies to Ralph "You'll get back to where you came from." Simon reaches an understanding of mankind's innate evil nature and unthinking urge to dominate as "mankind's essential illness." When Simon tries to visualize what the beast might look like, "there arose before his inward sight the picture of a human at once heroic and sick" — Golding's vision of humanity as flawed by inherent depravity. Golding gives this knowledge to an outsider like Simon to reflect the place visionaries and mystics/yogis typically hold in society: on the fringes, little understood by the majority, and often feared or disregarded. Like other mystics, Simon asks questions the other boys cannot answer.

Simon’s beliefs of the inherent goodness of people and his desire to help others can be seen as parallel to Christ’s message of love and

Throughout life, people often lose track of what is really meaningful and important. In Lord of The Flies by William Golding, this element of human nature is portrayed through the children’s failure to complete necessary tasks due to their inclination on the island. It is simply human nature to fulfill desires before priorities. When the children first arrive on the island, the priority is to “be rescued” (37). The group decides that the best way to fulfill this is to build and maintain a signal fire (38).

This next quote that I picked from the book shows us how Simon knows they are changing from once little boys to savage. “Simon saw the picture of a human at once heroic and sick.” (6.140) A trait of Simon that has helped him out during survival is knowing when enough is enough, and keeping the little humanity he has left in himself to lead the others on the right path.

He then follows it up with “I don’t know” (Golding 89), which shows him being in his own world. His “decontextualization… splits off the activity from [his] social frame of reference and reduces [his] contact with reality” (“Apa”). This is the way Simon just is, he is a follower, but has a different mindset compared to others. His introverted nature stops him from getting any message out to others. He mumbles, confusedly, “I don’t believe in the beast” (Golding 105).

When faced with adversity, those who preserve their integrity while adapting to their environment emerge the most successful. To preserve one’s integrity is to be honest and have strong moral principles. In the book The Lord of the Flies, William Goulding suggests that adversity will reveal inherent morals, and the willingness to remain a man of integrity. Goulding reveals how abandoning one’s integrity leads to the deterioration of one’s mental health, but also how an abundance of integrity can lead to disastrous consequences. Goulding illustrates how Piggy’s refusal to adapt leading to his eventual death, Jack’s liberation from his morals leading to near insanity and Ralph’s ability to remain in the middle of the spectrum was all due to their

The quote “‘Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!’ said the head.” (Golding 164) expresses that the Lord of the Flies is divulging to Simon that the evil is not something that can be hunted or killed but is within the boys. Simon also learns that the beast of evilness was in the boys all along. The theme Inherent Evil of Man is displayed through Simon learning that evil is within the boys and that this was the beast. This shows how the evil action appears as a beast and the understanding of evilness by

You know perfectly well you’ll only meet me down there—so don’t try to escape!’” (Golding 143), he understands that there is no way he can avoid his vices. Simon’s direct discussion with his evil correlates to the identical evil found in all of the

The character in the novel Lord of the Flies that represents the Id, is Jack. In the Psychoanalytic lens, the Id is defined as the basic desire, or the fundamental root of what each person strives for. Expressing several characteristics of the Id, Jack continually leads the reader to infer Jack is the Id. Additionally, Jack has an enormous desire for control and leadership. As well as a difficult time keeping his desire, “in the background.” Thus, often interfering with Ralph’s leadership and views.

This shows that the boys are only afraid of themselves, because they are their own worst enemy. He is the first to figure out that the beast is not an actual beast, and how it is only the boys becoming savage, and starting to be afraid of one another. As Simon began to explain this to the doubtful boys, he was the only one who died knowing the

The theme of human nature in The Lord of the Flies permeates the book through the characters, their archetypes, and the plot itself. In the first few chapters of Lord of the Flies, discrimination between characters is an example of the natural narcissism of human nature.. The most important of the characters include Ralph,

Lord of The Flies  “Lord of The Flies” by William Golding is a novel with a key incident. Goldings shows the significance of the key incident through use of characterization, plot, language and exploration of themes of innate. Savagery, civility, fear, violence and murder. The novel features a group of boys who are marooned on a tropical island. The main characters are Ralph, Jack and Piggy.

During Simon’s encounter with the Lord of the Flies, Golding reveals the central issue concerning human nature. Simon reaches the realization that they fear the beast because it exists within each of them. The Lord of the Flies tells Simon that the beast is inside each boy and cannot be killed. The boys go from behaving like civilized young men to brutal savages. “What I mean is…maybe it’s only us.”