Exploring Human Nature: An Essay on Golding's Lord of the Flies Themes

This essay explores William Golding's 'Lord of the Flies' as a thought experiment on human nature, examining how individuals behave in the absence of societal and parental influence. Golding uses the setting of a deserted island and a group of young boys to illustrate the inherent animalistic and humanistic qualities within people. The protagonist, Ralph, represents order and civilization, while the antagonist, Jack, embodies savagery and the desire for power. The essay references a scholarly article that supports Golding's thought experiment, suggesting that human nature is a mixture of both good and evil. The analysis emphasizes the novel's exploration of themes such as violence, fear, and the conflict between individualism and community, ultimately concluding that Golding's work serves as a commentary on the complex and often contradictory aspects of human behavior.

“William Golding’s ‘Lord of the Flies’ is an expression of human nature and qualities in a
completely different setting of forest island with children as the subject. William Golding
through his novel attempts to present the complex human nature and attempts thought provoking
idea of finding how human nature and behavior would unfold in a setting free of parental and
societal influence.”
‘Lord of the flies’ by William Golding is a story of young boys trapped in an Island with
no adult as their authority. Ralph, the protagonist in the story is the leader of the group and Jack,
the antagonist disobeys Ralph and plans to dethrone and replace him as the leader of the pack.
Ralph has the backing of Piggy who is a very intelligent and Simon is another guy who is
philosophical and likes to venture in search of facts. Ralph as a leader plans to get out of the
jungle and orders the group to make a fireplace at the top of the mountain in order to signal ships
of their presence while Jack and his group disobeys Ralph and only cares about hunting pigs.
Children are afraid of the beast in the forest which they heard about; Simon assures them there
was no any beast as he knew that it was the dead pilot and severed face that made him look like a
beast. Simon and Piggy is killed as Ralph is left alone to fend off the effort to kill him by the
mob led by Jack. Ralph at last finds a British Navy ship that had come to rescue the boys while
he tries to escape the frenzy mob led by Jack (Golding, Lord).
The article, ‘Testing Human Nature’ reflects on the work of William Golding and asserts
that he attempted thought experiment to find out how human nature would transform from
childhood if they were to left in jungle. The article concludes that William Golding in his
thought experiment finds human nature to be a mixture of two contrasting nature i.e. animalistic
and humanistic. Animalistic instinct wants to inflict pains and sorrows in search of materialistic
power and authority and humanistic instincts treats people compassionately with love and care.

In the last sentence, the article mentions, “We reach a similar conclusion & colon; we are
animals and we are capable of savagery. But our humanity also runs deep.”
William Golding thought experiment on how we as humans would transform into if we
were to left in an isolated place without the interference of society and our parents is a
mesmerizing one. Science of social psychology attributes our nature and behavior to the societal
atmosphere we live in. Hutchinson says, “Social work has long recognized the relationship
between the behavior of an individual and the environment in which the individual interacts”
(qtd in Bartebly 1). William Golding through ‘Lord of the Flies’ creates an atmosphere that
would be free of any societal influence and attempts to explain that human nature has some intact
animalistic as well as humanistic qualities. Golding may have implicated that the role of the
society in shaping human qualities and behavior has very little or no role to play and that in
anyway human beings would show both animalistic nature as well as humanistic nature. Ralph,
the protagonist in ‘Lord of the Flies’ is a well mannered boy who thinks and remains concerned
for his group and works for their good but he also happened to take part in a mob frenzy act that
killed Simon who the boys killed in a delusional act of self defense.
The article, ‘Testing Human Nature’, explicitly mentions the thought experiment that
William Golding attempted to explain both sides of the human nature. The article points out that
Golding in the beginning provokes readers with an intriguing question about human nature. The
article says, “William Golding asks, What are we? Humans? Or animals? Or savages?”(qtd in
New Scientist para 1). The article does not legitimize the thought experiment of William Golding
but says that the idea of the author is a fascinating one. It also suggests that modern science with
so much of technological innovation and advancement could conduct such experiments in an
environment free of risk to children health. The article also admits the unscientific angle of

William Golding’s thought experiment and says, “Thought experiment always leave room for
doubt”. It however also says that thought experiments sometimes are the only way to go in order
to probe answered scientific questions. The conclusion part of the article sums up William
Golding’s summary of thought experiments as, “We reach a similar conclusion & colon; we are
animals and we are capable of savagery. But our humanity also runs deep ”( qtd in New Scientist
para 4).
Thus, it can be put as, William Golding’s ‘Lord of the Flies’ is a thought experiment with
children away from their parental and societal influence to explain human nature. The location is
chosen so that there is no adult interaction with children and they are free of any influence that
could possibly shape their nature and behavior. William Golding took children as his subject
because human beings as children are known to be free of evils and misdeeds or at least they can
be expected to free of those bad qualities. The work of William Golding attempts to address a
scientific question albeit in an unscientific manner and puts the ball in the court of scientists to
address the legitimate question.

Works cited
Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Lord of the Flies - Cloudfront.net. GLOBAL
Village Contemporary Classics. Web. 16 May. 2019.
Bartleby. “Human Behavior and the Social Environment: A Look at Three Theories.” Bartleby Writing.
Web. 15 May. 2019. https://www.bartleby.com/essay/Human-Behavior-and-the-Social-Environment-A-
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Leader. “An Impossible, Unethical Experiment, but Fascinating All the Same.” New Scientist. Web. 3 Jun.
2019. https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22630242-400-an-impossible-unethical-experiment-
but-fascinating-all-the-same/