The Revolt of Human Nature
Human nature can find its way through people as young as school age. In The Lord Of the Flies by William Golding, a group of school age boys are stranded on an island and have to fend for themselves. After time each child shows his feelings in very severe ways. Ralph, Jack and Piggy all have very different characteristics and ideas and try to express them constantly. Some, although, take much more extreme actions to prove their point.
Ralph shows early that he is a leader and takes on this priority through much of the book. After awhile human nature comes into play. He shows his leadership in the opening scene when he blows the conch to summon other boys on the island. AHe (Ralph) laid the conch against his lips, took a deep breath and blew once more.@ (Pg 17). With this he intended to make contact with other boys on the island and this he accomplished.
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Ralph was outlawed by Jack as the story moved on. Jack was the leader of the choir before Ralph summoned them and then was overruled by votes on who was to be leader. When Jack lost, he says, A>We=ll have rules!= he cried excitedly, >Lots of rules!=@(33). He started on the island as a civilized British boy and was so used to being in a society based on rules that he himself wants to act like an adult. Although this would be a happy, and very boring, book if everyone stuck to the rules, this is not the case. Jack is the first person who shows how far human nature can take a person. The thought that every one has a savage in them and the thought that the maker is often the breaker. Jack wanted rules in the beginning, but in the end he destroyed rules. He is the first person to break a rule and he despises Ralph because he has more power. Jack is intended to keep the fire going as a warning symbol of help and he keeps letting the fire go out while he goes hunting. He liked to hunt for fun more then as work. While others were working hard on shelters, he was scavenging around for a pig to kill. He was disobeying the rules and human nature took over as he started to branch away from Ralph and form his own community across the island of blood thirsty hunters. The bad thing about this was they not only killed pigs, but humans such as Piggy and Simon. Jack has the most outlandish and severe incentive that no one thought possible to be capable of a school age boy. Jack=s human nature was an extreme problem.
Piggy was one of Jack=s unsuspecting victims. When the book opened piggy was shown as the mature, properly raised, nerdy British boy. Hardly anyone enjoyed having him around. Who would want an adult around when they had a whole island to themselves? The boys are very cruel to him and seem to keep him around for his Aspecs@ to light the fire. Piggy was always a good-natured boy. His instincts told him to act as though he was in a normal society. He often tried to settle the group and in the end this had done him no good. When the evil human nature of the other boys sets in, he is sentenced to death. He is missed to a great deal at the end of the book. AThere was no Piggy to talk sense. There was no solemn assembly for debate no dignity of the conch.@(196). Piggy was very well respected by Ralph. Carelessness and human nature caused Piggy=s death.
Lord of the Flies shows that even properly raised British boys have a bad side. At the beginning of the story the boys held meetings and said they did not want to become savage like. As the book progresses all of the children start to show signs of acting savage. The human nature begins to kick in. By the end all of the characters have revealed their crudeness except the boys that have died, such as Piggy. They would have turned savage too because everyone has a savage in them and it is human nature to unleash that whenever possible.