Example research essay topic: Lord Of The Flies Human Nature - 1,382 words

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One of the most controversial topics that philosophers have ever disputed is the question of human nature. The enigma of whether or not we are born insane or sane, or whether or not we change society or society changes us. Authors today can be seen as modern philosophers trying to convey their message through stories. The message in Lord of the Flies can be subject for a good debate.

The author is trying to express to the reader how human nature is in its purist form, showing how the lack of society affects human nature. The people themselves are changed, decisions are effected and personal characteristics thrive. Without society, humans are on their own. You have to survive yourself. There isn t anyone to help you through it. And you have to fight your own battles.

Piggy is a prime example of this. When the boys first land on the island and Ralph meets Piggy, Piggy is a very dependant and shy person. Still influenced by his sheltered life in mid-century English society, he expects what has been provided for him all his life. And society provided it for him.

As far back as you look, society is the source of everything. His parents were raised sheltered and provided for and so were everyone else they knew. That is how their world was, and that was how their parent s world was and so on and so forth. There was no other way to go about things.

So they raised Piggy just as society had taught them to raise him. And now, without anything to influence him, Piggy had to rely on himself, his nature, and his instincts. It didn t turn him into a different person. It just let who he was thrive without the bars of society.

Instead of being an average person with a small bit of who he was being showed to the world, he was all Piggy and nothing else. His personality thrived and it eventually got him killed. Because when he was different, when he was independent from the minute, mock society created by the choir boys, he was perceived as a threat and killed. But it is the choir boys nature to have acted as though he were not important, because Piggy represented something huge. Something that underneath all their thoughts, they knew he could make a difference.

Because there was a little bit of Piggy in every one of them. He was the superego. The one person that might be able to talk some sense into them. And they feared that the most. They would be devastated if their new little world of hunting and shouting and fun would be at an end. They would have to be serious and act like the adults in their former home had acted.

And they were willing to do anything to stop that, the inevitable, from happening. Making decisions is an important factor in our society. We base our decisions on our future and how they will effect us. Without society, you never know whether or not you would have made different decisions. On the island, I think the boys decisions were greatly affected by society. For example when jack was confronted with killing the pig he chose his first impulse to spare its life.

But it was society that forced him to cover it up and make up some story to tell the other hunters. He was afraid of not being accepted. He was afraid that the boys would make him an outcast like Piggy even though they might have done the same as he did. But the reason for his hesitation was shown later in the story. When the mistook Simon for the monster and killed him. Jack was stunned.

Didn t know how to handle death. It didn t realize that killing someone was something that haunts you for life. It was something that never goes away. Ending someone s life was a huge piece of meat to swallow. It was just like the times grown men got shell shock from the things they did in Vietnam. Seeing the people die and suffer is so unbelievable hard on your mind that someone like me, with the virtually unlimited imagination that people are born with, could never imagine what it is like, let alone killing someone.

It s human nature. It s how we re made. There s no escaping it. Another critical decision was the one Jack made to ignore any possibility of rescue. Anything he could do to put the thought of their fun being spoiled was acceptable to him. If he based his time on the island thinking that rescue was the only thing they had to live for, than their fun would have been ruined.

And it was that decision, to have fun at all costs, that ended up ruining their fun. Killing two people, quickly made them realize that it could never be as fun as they hoped. Humans have lived on this earth, some scientists say, for as mush as 8 thousand years. And Human nature must have been with us from the beginning.

And yet, society is here as-well. If human nature thrives by itself without the effects of society, how could society have existed for all this time? There is only one conclusion I can come to; society must be human nature. Humans must naturally create a society. there is no other solution. It is even shown in Lord of the Flies.

When they land on the island, they are meant to represent the sole of human nature. So how come one of the first things that happens is the choir boys break away and create a society? It is inevitable. If there is more than one person, there is going to be a society.

Because it is in our nature to worry about other people, what they think, how we act, if there judging us or not, do they respect us, do they hate us. These are just a few of the questions we ask ourselves when we co-exist with other people. And there is no doubt that they think this too. We are a generally paranoid species. And we are also very curious. That is why we live.

We are driven by our thirst, our desire for knowledge and power. And there can t be any of that without society. And there can t be any society without human nature. It is an endless circle that we call our lives. And no matter what you think or what other people say WE LOVE IT! There isn t anything we would rather have.

And THAT is what the author is trying to say. He is trying to get everyone to quit their pretence and live. Be who we are and stop denying our own existence! It s not human beings that are flawed. It s just that we think that we re so flawed, that we make ourselves flawed. And what better way to tell us this than by presenting it to our faces with a story that comes so close to our lives and who we are that it would be dangerous to a soviet society like the USSR.

Lord of the Flies tells us who we are and if we were all to realize it and embrace it, we would be in paradise! It would be our own heaven on earth. And when we are given a chance to make it happen, like being stranded on an island with a few other people, we mess it up because of our insecurities. Human nature destroys itself by being itself. Who ever said that just being yourself is the best way to go was completely ignorant! Look where it got us.

BUT, there is nothing better. And that is why we are only human. All in all, the mysteries of human nature can be interpreted in many ways. This book, however, represents human nature in its purist form, and it shows how the lack of society affects the boys.

This book is an amazing example of how we are, but you would have to wonder, how would the story have effected us if the author chose to have a group of adults stranded on the island?

Research essay sample on Lord Of The Flies Human Nature