Human Nature In Lord Of The Flies

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Lord of the Flies: Golding’s True Message on Human Nature “Human nature is evil, and goodness is created by intentional activities”, said Chinese Confucian philosopher, Xunzi during the Warring States period. Although his words were said thousands of years ago, they are still true about human nature today. It’s shown especially in William Golding’s book, Lord of the Flies, where a group of boys ranging from ages five to twelve crash-land on a deserted island after their plane is shot down while the world was at war. They were alone on a remote island, without any adults or civilization. After just a few days, most of the boys left the good resort life of swimming, fruit eating and relaxing to one filled with danger, excitement, spilled blood,…show more content…
If Piggy weren’t there to meet Ralph, then he wouldn’t have been able to show him the conch which would bring all the boys on the island together. His real name is never mentioned, although he does get the nickname Piggy after he asks Ralph specifically not to call him it and was crossed. Made fun of by his appearance and health issues, he is immediately singled out from the group as being physically different. He stands by order, civility, science and rules. Piggy had used the conch as a source of power and a way to be heard on the island, “‘I got the conch’ said Piggy indignantly. ‘You let me speak!’ [...] Jack turned fiercely. ‘You shut up!’ [...] Piggy lifted the conch as though to add power…” (Golding 42 and 129). When the boys first came to the island they had made the rule that whoever had the conch could speak, but it seems that Piggy was one of the only ones obeying that rule. He demonstrated his Superego side by his following of the rules, even if no one else was obeying them, even though his “doing what is right” made him more disliked. Piggy displayed Superego when he helped steer Ralph in the right direction; rescue, “[Ralph] tried to remember. ‘Smoke,’ he said, ‘we want smoke.’ He turned on the twins fiercely. ‘I said ‘smoke’! We’ve got to have smoke.’ There was silence, except for the multitudinous…show more content…
Ralph had been the first person introduced in the book, and had first met Piggy, who had shown him the conch, which he used to bring everyone on the island together. He was voted Chief of the island and decided rescue was the main thing needed to survive. He assigned a fire that would let ships and planes know they were on the island, for a chance of rescue. While tracking their first Pig, Ralph feels giddy when he strikes it, “‘I hit him all right. The spear stuck in. I wounded him!’ [... He] felt that hunting was good after all” (Golding 113). Ralph had let his inner evil come out, showing his Id. He had felt that it was okay to injure a peaceful animal, that it was perfectly fine to hunt. After the boys’ festive killing of Simon, Ralph and Piggy had started trying to make sense of it, “‘We was scared! [...] It was an accident’ [...] ‘I’m frightened. Of us’” (Golding 157). Even though Ralph’s Id had taken over before, he felt terrible, he felt remorse, he felt such guilt over what had happened to Simon. His Superego was realizing how south things had gone, his Superego was trying to balance out with his Id, a great example of what an Ego would do when falling into evil. When being hunted by Jack’s tribe he had to fight back, “The point of a stick
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