Animal Instinct in "Lord of the Flies"
What would life be like without a mother or a father? What would life be like without
any adult supervision? How would a person act if they did not have society to tell them
what is right and wrong? Author William Golding believes that a person that wasn't
brought up by society would only act using their basic human nature. It is also a part
of his believes that this nature is evil. In his novel, Lord of the Flies, Golding
proves his ideas on the evil at the base of the human nature through the lives of Piggy,
Ralph, Roger, and Jack, whom are all young boys trapped on a deserted island in the
Pacific.
Piggy was a nonathletic, fat child with glasses and asthma. He was the child who was
least effected by the evil inside of himself. Piggy was also the most intelligent child
on the island, and this intelligence is what kept him from giving in to his evil. This
intelligence was also thought by Jack to be a threat. Piggy lived in fear of Jack
because he knew what type of person he was and that he could not be trusted. On page 93
Piggy expresses his fears by telling Ralph, "I'm scared of him and that is why I know
him. If your scared of someone you hate him but you can't stop thinking about him." In
this it is obvious that Piggy is scared of Jack, so much so that he thinks about him
constantly and now he has him figured out. This is why Piggy is unaffected by his evil.
He sees what is happening to everyone else through Jack.
The other person who wasn't overcome by their evil is Ralph. Ralph was an older child,
and he was an athletic born leader. He was the leader of the tribe until the children
began doing what Jack said. Although he never completely surcame to it, Ralph was
tempted by evil. One instance happened when Jack and his hunters came back from a hunt
and began to dance. The story on page 75 says, "Ralph watched them enviously and
resentful." He was envious of the other children because they got to dance and chant,
but he knew that it was wrong, so he did not join in, and during this time while he was
being tempted he treated Piggy terribly. He began to do what Jack said. Once when Jack
brought the meat back from one of the hunts he gave everyone a piece except for Piggy,
and when he complained Jack screamed at him, and instead of standing up for him as he did
before Ralph sat quietly and gnawed on his meat. At the beginning of chapter 5 Ralph
takes a walk, and he begins not only to realize that the way he has been acting was
wrong, but also to realize how life should be lived. At the beginning of the walk he
was starring at his feet and was troubled by life. Then he realizes that his problem was
that he was starring at his feet. When he began to look at the path in front of himself
he began to think more clearly. Just as he did on the path, he finds that in life you
should always face forward. After that, Ralph saw life more clearly and overcame that
temptation from evil. Ralph lived to be the sole survivor of the island that was not
overcome by evil.
Roger was one of the hunters that followed Jack from the beginning. He becomes almost
totally driven by evil. At first Roger was a quiet boy. He barley even sputtered out
his name when he was introducing himself. Jack took him in though. Every time that Jack
went to do something Roger was right there with him. Jack probably picked him because he
was so shy and quiet. He wanted someone who would follow orders and not ask questions,
but Roger became more than that though. He not only followed Jack's orders, but he
followed the orders of his primitive instincts. Roger in following his instincts killed
Piggy. When he did killed him it was for no reason at all.
Jack was the leader of the hunters. The hunters were the evil children. He was also the
first child to become uncivilized or evil. He wasn't always the evil child though. Near
the beginning Jack and Ralph were friends or at least friendly. It was at the point when
the tribe decided to choose a leader that he became the uncivilized and evil Jack. On
page 23, the book says that, "Jake and Ralph smiled at each other with a shy liking."
This came just after Ralph decided that Jack would be in charge of the choir, whom would
all be the hunters. Through the boys hunting they became less human and began to turn
into their animal selves. Jack was the worst of all at this. He would get down on all
fours and sniff the ground and wallow in the dirt. Another thing he did was he painted
his face. This was a symbol of him losing his identity, and become an animal without
passion, thoughts, or even a soul.
When Roger killed Piggy he was not a child. He was not a man. He was an animal. He
didn't have the capability to think or reason. When he killed Piggy, Roger was operating
on pure survival instincts. He was like a wolf or a bear. In the end Golding proves
that at our base we are just wild animals driven to evil by our instincts.
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