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Example research essay topic: Side Of Human Nature Lord Of The Flies - 1,110 words

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The Savage Side of Human Nature: The True Beast In Lord of the Flies, the beast is a presence throughout the entire book. First seen by a little when he is frightened in the dark, the beast is seen everywhere by the boys, but only when they are afraid. Towards the end of the book, the boys begin to become more savage. They still believe the beast is a real being that is to be feared, but the reader begins to see that the true beast is not a physical being at all, but a side of the boys themselves. Many people would argue that the beast is an actual presence on the island, but we believe there is more to it and that the beast is the boys fear and the darker, savage side of human nature coming out.

The first time we see the beast is in the beginning of the story. They say it is the little uns fear that started it. Jack says at a meeting, You little uns started all this, with the fear talk. Beasts! (82) Eventually, Jack and Ralph convince the boys to some extent that the beast is only their imaginations running wild.

Jack also describes how he believes fear plays a major role. He says, Be frightened, because you re like that but there is no beast in the forest (83). By saying this, Jack shows how he sees that the beast is nothing more than fear; however, he swiftly loses this insight when his savage instincts take over. When the savages kill the pig and leave its head for the beast, their actions show how their darker, more primitive sides have caused them to become something other than what they originally were. Although they did not know there was not really a beast that could come up and eat them, they believed in it enough that they killed so it would not kill them.

They all started believing in the idea of the beast, and Jack leaves a gift for the beast because he is starting to believe: This head is for the beast. It s a gift. (147). It is ironic, however, that the gift for the beast was the thing that told Simon what the true beast was, but also a product of the beast in the boys. The pig s head told Simon that there was not exactly a real beast, but that the beast was an idea that was causing the boys to act the way they had been. After this time, Simon hallucinates that the pig s head is talking to him, as the Lord of the Flies, and this hallucination brings many revelations about why the hunters were acting the way they had been. During this time, the Lord of the Flies tells him the true nature of the beast: Fancy thinking the beast was something you could hunt and kill (143).

This shows that Simon knows the truth about what the beast is, and also what the other boys had become. Jack and his hunters had turned completely savage by this point, so in effect they had become the beasts themselves. Simon is also tempted to turn to savagery in order to survive, which is shown when the Lord of the Flies tells him, There isn t anyone to help you. Only me.

And I m the beast (143). Since the Lord of the Flies is only in Simon s head, this shows how he, too, is tempted to believe in salvation through savagery; however, he does not live long enough for it to be shown whether or not he would have become a beast, too. When the boys kill Simon, they think that he is the beast, when they are in fact acting as the beast themselves. The being that they are so afraid is hunting them does not exist, but in their fear they become exactly what they are most afraid of. Golding shows this in the boys actions when he writes: Roger ceased to be a pig and became a hunter the complementary circles went round and round as though repetition would achieve safety of itself. There was the throb and stamp of a single organism (152).

This illustrates clearly how the boys had allowed their primitive sides to take over and had become savages. Their chant further shows what they, in their fear, had become. Their cries of Kill the beast! Cut his throat!

Spill his blood! (152) is not something that would be expected of young boys, and instead shows that they have just the kind of animal instinct that a beast would possess. The appearance of the parachutist on the island is another clear example of how the true beast was simply the savagery that human beings are capable of. In this case, though, it was not the boys but the outside world s savage instincts that caused the problem. The dead parachutist was on the island because of the savagery of the people still living in the so-called civilized world. This is supported when Golding writes, a sign came down from the world of grownups, though at the time there was no child awake to read it.

There was a sudden bright explosion and corkscrew trail across the sky; then darkness again and stars (95). If this truly was a sign, it was most likely a warning. The grownup world would have been cautioning the boys against giving in to their evil sides, although the irony is clear since the grownups themselves had not followed that advice. In any case, the boys did not listen, which slowly caused their demise.

The beast in Lord of the Flies was nothing more than the darker side of human nature coming out in the boys. The evil presence they imagined was hunting them on the island did not exist; however, in their fear the boys became almost like beasts themselves. That the true beast was the natural instincts of the boys was clearly shown throughout the book, and is most clearly summed up when the Lord of the Flies tells Simon, You knew, didn t you? I m part of you? (143) Simon was the only one who knew the true nature of the beast.

He knew that the beast was only a dead parachutist and not a danger to anyone. He also knew that the boys had been taken over by their primal instinct and had become, in effect, beasts themselves. One wonders if this same instinct is in all of us. And if so, if we were left to our own devices would we too become beasts?


Free research essays on topics related to: lord of the flies, savage instincts, dead parachutist, side of human nature, pig head

Research essay sample on Side Of Human Nature Lord Of The Flies

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