Essay: Lord of the flies – “It is human nature to be violent”

The book Lord of the Flies is written by William Golding after World War ॥. The novel follows a group of boys who are stranded on an island after a plane crash during a period of war. They attempt to survive and create their own society on the island. But as time passes on the island, things slowly become more violent and chaotic. Golding uses the evolution of the character Jack to convey that all humans are innately violent.
In the beginning of the novel, Golding portrays Jack as a proud and confident boy who still has ties to England and its societal rules. However, there are hints of brutality that bely Jack’s true nature. While discussing how to best govern themselves, Jack agrees with Ralph that “‘[they have] got to have rules and obey them’” because “‘after all, [they are] not savages, [they are] English, and the English are the best at everything’” (42). Moreover, Jack proposes that his hunters will “be responsible for keeping [a] fire going” while “the assembly assented gravely” (43). Jack’s sense of responsibility and rational thought shows how levelheaded he acts in the beginning of the book. Golding calling the group “an assembly” reinforces the fact that the boys are trying to create a society or some sort of government.  The author characterizes Jack as someone still affected by authority, as shown through his and Ralph’s attempt to establish a society like the one back in England. While first on the island, Jack still retains his sanity and clarity. But even from the beginning when the boys land on the island, hints of Jack’s true personality can be seen. He acts arrogantly and at times, crazily. For example, while talking about a hunt, a “madness came into his eyes again” and he “thought [he] might kill” (51). This demonstrates how crazy he starts to act while thinking about murder or bloodshed. Yet, Jack attempts to suppress this side of himself for fear of consequences from an authority.
As Ralph continues to reinforce the importance of building huts and signal fires, Jack soon loses interest in those boundaries and starts displaying a more dominant personality. He strives to establish his leadership amongst the group, even attempting to shift the power from Ralph to himself. During an argument with Ralph, Jack reaches a breaking point and utters, “‘Hands up?”, “[who] wants Ralph not to be chief?’” (127). This exclamation demonstrates how Jack is becoming increasingly fed up with Ralph’s leadership and desires his own power in the group. Because of the lack of a government or authoritative figure, Jack realizes there are no consequences and starts to implement increasingly violent actions to further his own power. Finally getting sick of Ralph’s rule, Jack creates his own tribe run by violence. To maintain order in his tribe, he threatens the other boys with vicious consequences to make them obey him. His tribe is filled “not with calm beauty but with the threat of violence” (150). At this point, Jack is unafraid to act as he truly is–violent and cruel.
Towards the end of the story, Jack exhibits an extremely violent and wild personality that lacks the rationality he originally had. He completely loses touch with reality and uses a savage, fear-based approach to run his society. In the middle of one of the boys’ ritual, “[Jack] beg[ins] to dance and his laughter [becomes] a bloodthirsty snarling” (64). In contrast to his milder persona in the beginning of the story, Jack displays a cruel personality that exemplifies Golding’s ideas on human nature–that humans are naturally violent. Without societal rules and laws, humans will succumb to the potential of violence, resulting in chaos. As Jack realizes that there is no authority and, therefore, no consequences, he branches out into more extreme and brutal actions to establish his own rule; he does not care that he is hurting others. According to Golding, Jack feels no guilt because it is human nature to be violent. Feeling guilty is a learned behavior that society has taught us, not something we are born with. Therefore we feel no guilt for being violent because violence is apart of us.