Golding's Perception In Lord Of The Flies

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On Human Nature: William Golding's Perception William Golding wanted to write a novel better than the ones he read to his children. Golding was finally inspired to write, what is now known as Lord of the Flies, after witnessing the horrors of and after World War II. "The novel's sense of tragedy came from the most desperate time of his life, which was after the war" (Lord of the Flies Discovery Channel documentary). Golding "took the war and scaled it into a limited experiment" (Lord of the Flies Discovery Channel documentary). The Holocaust, which shocked the entire world, displayed genocide and evil beyond imagination. Golding finally understood human's nature and their capacity only until after World War II. In Lord of the Flies, Golding…show more content…
However, he loses the battle against savagery fairly quickly, starting with his obsession over killing pigs. At first, Jack only killed pigs as a source of food but afterward, he actually enjoyed the violence and rush of excitement it brought him. Golding vividly described the slaughtering of a pig led by Jack later on in the novel; "[t]he spear moved forward inch by inch and the terrified squealing became a high-pitched scream. Then Jack found the throat and the hot blood spouted over his hands" (123). When Jack kills, "madness [comes] into his eyes" (47). He starts acting like a barbarian and becomes wild and out of control. Jack overthrows Ralph and forces the boys to listen to himself using violence. Jack is an excellent example of Golding's depiction of human nature because of the extremity of wild behavior he reveals. Jack's nature is an over exaggerated illustration of how easily people are taken over by their own evil nature. Golding's perception of human nature, however is not always accepted. Some people have completely different views of human nature, stating it is something developed over time. Although this idea is reasonable, the Cambodia genocide completely contradicts it. During the Cambodia genocide, children were given armory and really used them against their opposing race. They wore almost nothing, portraying an uncultivated characteristic. Some children looked to be as young as five years old, maybe even younger. How can such young children perform such shocking dismay? These children did not learn to be evil; a savage, human nature was born within
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