The Human Nature of Lord of the Flies
"Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Bash her in." (Lord of the Flies, Ch.4, p.75)
Human nature is one of the themes in Lord of the Flies. The boys in this book knew nothing about survival, but after their plane crashed on the way home from their private boarding school, the boys knew that was about to change. The boys turned savage and started killing wild animals, making huge fires for fun and running half naked on the island. The boys also turned savage on each other, and ended up killing two of their own. A boy named Simon was murdered because he didn't want to take any part in the "war" that was going on the island between the boys. The other boy, named "Piggy", was murdered because he was annoying to everyone else. Both Simon and Piggy's deaths illustrate the true human nature that these boys developed while on the island.
Another example of human nature is the biblical tale of Cain and Abel. Cain murdered his brother because he was angry at God for not accepting his offering to him. "Then Cain said to his brother, 'Let's go out into the fields.' When they were out in the fields, Cain turned on his brother and killed him." (Gen. 4:8 TEV) The Lord confronts him and punishes him for murdering his brother.
"Then the Lord said, 'Why have you done this terrible thing? Your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground, like a voice calling for revenge. You are placed under a curse and can no longer farm the soil. It has soaked up your brother's blood as if it had opened its mouth to receive it when you killed him. If you try to grow crops, the soil will not produce anything; you will be a homeless wanderer on the earth.' " (Gen. 4:10-12 TEV) Cain is not allowed to farm and is sent to be a wanderer and live as a homeless person.
Fight or flight, there is no such thing as first and second place. In other words, the only place that almost counts is in horseshoes. Take the recent events in Iraq for example. Iraq released POW's and once it seemed that the regime was toppled, the men holding them decided to save themselves by turning themselves in. The Iraqi's could not fight, because took a chance living with nothing, and they could only fly from what would soon be their capture. In closing, this shows that Human nature does not venture from one time to another. We are all the same no matter when, or where we are.
Works Cited
Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. New York, NY: The Berkley Group, 1954. 75.
Good News Bible: Today's English Version. American Bible Society: New York, 1992. 2nd Edition.
