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William Golding's Lord of the Flies is a book about a group of British schoolboys who are stranded on a deserted island. In describing how the boys attempt to survive, Golding is depicting his views on government, human nature and society. In addition, Golding is also challenging and supporting the ideas of earlier political thinkers. In particular, Golding focused on the ideas of Jean Jacques Rousseau. Jean Jacques Rousseau was a French writer and philosopher. His ideas were very influential in Europe in the late 18 th and 19 th centuries.
Rousseau believed that man is born free and everywhere he goes he is in chains. Golding and Rousseau have comparable and contrasting ideas on government, human nature, and technology. Golding believed in the need for government. He believed in a democratic government, one in which the governed would chose their leaders. In the book, Ralph, one of the older boys, says, seems to me we ought to have a chief to decide things (Pg. 22). Ralph says this because he realizes that they would need some sort of leadership if the boys were going to survive and eventually be rescued.
Roger, another boy, suggests lets have a vote (Pg. 22). The boys realize that they must have a leader, but they want to decide who their leader will become. In addition, the boys realize they must have rules. Ralph says, we cant have everybody talking at once. Well have to have Hand up like at school (Pg. 33).
Golding is saying that people need government, but that the governed must consent to their leaders. He is also saying that government needs to establish rules (or laws) and that in order for government to be effective the governed must follow the rules. Rousseau's views on government involved the idea of a social contract. This contract implies that the people agree to be governed only if their rulers protect their rights, property, and happiness. Once their rulers fail to do this, the people have a right to choose a new government. Golding and Rousseau's ideas are similar in that they both recognize a need and a purpose for government.
However, they differ slightly in terms of the role that the governed play. Golding believed that those who are governed should cooperate in order to make the government work; Rousseau believed that the governed gave up their liberty and that in return the government should work to make them happy. Golding believed that some humans are naturally evil. He believed that humans restrain themselves because they have a mutual interest in survival. People have an innate potential for evil but the rules and norms that protect us and ensure our survival do not control it. An absence of these rules and norms or an absence of a need to cooperate can create a situation were we will act according to our true nature.
Since it is in the nature of some humans to be evil, they will act according to their natural instincts and commit evil acts they would not normally commit. In the novel, some of the boys eventually lose all hope of being rescued and their natural instincts inevitably take over. Since the nature of some of these boys is to be evil, they begin to commit atrocities against the other boys. They constantly torment Piggy, the intellect who wears glasses. They went as far as stealing and breaking his glasses so that he is practically blind.
They even end up killing each other. It happens when they perform one of their ceremonies and they lose all self-control. They confuse Simon for a beast and have the urge to kill him. They shout, Kill the beast! , Cut his throat! , Spill his blood! (Pg. 152).
The boys try to satisfy their lust for blood. Golding believes that because some people are evil by nature they can eventually behave savagely. On the other hand, Rousseau believed in the idea of the Noble Savage. He believed that the natural moral state of human beings is to be compassionate.
He believed that we become evil by civilization. His view was that man is naturally good, and only by institutions is he made bad. Civilization offers technology and science, but at the same time civilization makes us cruel, corrupt, selfish, and bloodthirsty. When we surrender to civilization, we surrender our freedom and our individuality; we our surrendering our sense of who we are. The price we pay for civilization is our humanity. Golding and Rousseau differ in their views regarding human nature and civilization.
Golding believes that civilization restrains and controls us from behaving in cruel ways. Civilization makes us conform to certain standards of behavior, which do not always permit us to exhibit our true nature. Rousseau believes that we are naturally good but that we are sometimes negatively influenced by the elements of a technologically advanced society. Lastly, Golding believed that technology is beneficial, but it can be used for evil purposes. In the novel, there is a war taking place. As a result of this war, people are dying and people are suffering.
This war is a nuclear war and it is made possible because of technology. The boys on the island develop their own technology, fire. The fire helps them survive and they used it in their rescue efforts. The fire was so valuable that Jack, the rebel leader, decides to steal it from the other boys.
He said, well raid them and take fire (Pg. 136). Eventually, Jack and the other boys use the fire for an evil purpose. They use the fire to burn the island as they pursue Ralph in order to kill him. Golding is saying that technology is neither good nor bad. It can be used for either depending on the people who use it.
Humans make technology either good or evil depending on their actions. Rousseau believes that science and technology degraded man. He believed that they morally corrupt humanity. Golding believed that mans behavior determine the ways in which technology would be used; Rousseau believed that technology and science influence mans behavior and this behavior is usually bad.
In conclusion, the Lord of the Flies offers Golding's perspective on human beings. It examines some of the problems human beings must confront; the most daunting of which is the question of how to govern. Ideas on government and how to rule have changed through the centuries. The people who have governed have had many titles; they have been known as kings, emperors, pharaohs, chiefs, sultans, and presidents. They have governed because they felt God chose them or because they considered themselves gods. They have ruled by force and by the will of the people.
Regardless of the changes in government, one thing remains certain; we will always need some sort of government. We will always be governed in some way whether we acknowledge it or not. All civilizations need and have a government; civilization cannot exist without government. An absence of government results in an absence in of order, an absence of order will result in chaos. Total and complete chaos can bring about the destruction of not only civilization but of humankind as well. The questions we have to face regarding government deal with the issues of whether we run government or government runs us.
As human beings, we have to be careful not to succumb to a government that robs us of our humanity and our right to be human. There isnt any type of government, or promise a government can make that can compensate these things because the loss of these things makes everything else irrelevant.
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Research essay sample on Jean Jacques Rousseau Technology And Science
