Animal Instinct :: essays research papers

Animal Instinct 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, â€Å" 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, â€Å"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