The Savagery Within Human Nature in Lord of the Flies Essay Example

There have been tests of authentic character throughout the history of mankind. In William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies, he tackles the traditional nature versus nurture question. Along with the novel, psychology professor Phillip Zimbardo - the director of the Stanford Prison Experiment - and Melissa Dittman, the author of the article “What Makes Good People Do Bad Things” - investigate the nature of the boys in Lord of the Flies. Situational variables tempt the boys to become savages while they reside on the island. Golding's carefully crafted exchanges between the children and their surroundings reflect the true essence of mankind, demonstrating how a specific set of circumstances may lead to a profound change in who humans are characteristically.

In a unique take by Maria Konnivoka, she exemplifies - using the Stanford Prison Experiment - any given individual that if put in special conditions the morals and characters can be twisted. The basics were simple enough, the subjects were middle-class college students who had been deemed normal by a series of questionnaires filled out, and a coin was flipped to decide who was a prisoner and who was a guard. In reality, however, the experiment was manipulated from the start, as Konnivoka states, “the guards and prisoners acted in ways that were largely predetermined by how their roles were presented”(Konnikova) While not everyone reacted the same way, this does demonstrate that Zimbardo’s experiment was void of explaining human nature. The participants themselves were also tainted, leaving this question of human nature unsolved. Watchers don’t see an initial blank slate in Zimbardo’s testing, rather they see what became of his preconceived notions,“[Carnahan and McFarland] recreated the original ad, and then ran a separate ad omitting the phrase “prison life.” They found that the people who responded to the two ads scored differently on a set of psychological tests. Those who thought that they would be participating in a prison study had significantly higher levels of aggressiveness, authoritarianism, machiavellianism, narcissism, and social dominance, and they scored lower on measures of empathy” (Konnikova).

Thomas Carnahan and Sam McFarland furthermore proved in 2007 that the wording of the ads had also shifted the demographic. This is a major takeaway because with the higher levels of aggressiveness, and with the slight bit of guidance Zimbardo provided, ‘the guards’ turned the original point of the experiment invalid. This article explores the situational variables that tempt humans into becoming more or less savage, and here in Zimbardo’s experiment, some variables that affected it was the advertisement and the presentation of their roles.

Intersubjectivity is a topic Melissa Dittmann offers a fascinating question to, in the headline of her article: "What Makes Good People Do Bad Things?" Dittmann cites a 1974 experiment by Harvard anthropologist John Watson in which warriors wearing war paint/masks approached their victims differently to demonstrate how deindividuation might lead to increased aggression; “80 percent of warriors in these cultures were found to be more destructive—for example, killing, torturing or mutilating their victims—than unpainted or unmasked warriors”. Similar to Jack, the warrior's animosity emerged as their self-consciousness waned. In contrast to the boys who used war paint (Ralph, Jack, Samneric, and the others), the boys who did not use war paint were less aggressive and felt responsible for the fatalities. 

The concept that ordinary people become bad as a consequence of situational pressures such as peer pressure and deindividuation into the boys' awful human nature is conveyed by Golding, “… the mask was a thing on its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness” (Golding 63), says the main antagonist, Jack Merridew, in Lord of the Flies. The battle paint serves as a mask, allowing Jack to dehumanize himself and execute the others without guilt. After all, he is not individually answerable because there were no adults on the island to police a civilization. 

Golding’s concept that ordinary people become corrupt as a result of their thirst for power and authority is displayed by the evil human nature of the boys. This is seen in Lord of the Flies, when Jack demonstrated his desire for power and violence, "See? See? That's what you'll get! I meant that! There isn't a tribe for you anymore! The conch is gone-" (Golding 181). This exhibited Jack's superiority by allowing him to reign by destroying all civilization, symbolized by the conch. Jack was ruthless in his pursuit of power and control over the island's people. 

Melissa Dittmann also utilized Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment to show how circumstantial forces can foster evil from peer pressure. According to Zimbardo, "'They semantically change their perception of victims, of the evil act, and change the relationship of the aggressor to their aggression—so 'killing' or 'hurting' becomes the same as 'helping,'" he stated”(Dittmann). Humans, according to Dittmann, unconsciously lead people into immoral deeds by making it appear as though they are helping rather than injuring their victims. As Jack illustrated, he roused the boys and himself to beat Simon to death because he was perceived as "the beast," a dread that the boys possessed that he exploited for a gain of power. Despite being the party responsible for countless killings, the boys saw Jack as someone who would provide for them, by protecting and feeding them. 

It is apparent that the particular circumstances, such as the deindividualization of the boys or the loss of society the narrative creates, are ideal for driving the boys’ deep transformation from good to evil. The setting, as revealed via different psychological trials and studies, is what alters one's perception of the boys’ horrific acts, persuading the boys’ to believe they are good when their actions are evil when viewed in context. Lord of the Flies is a metaphoric investigation of true human nature, and it does it through its characters.

Works Cited

Dittmann, Melissa. “What Makes Good People Do Bad Things?” Monitor on Psychology, American Psychological Association, Oct. 2004, https://www.apa.org/monitor/oct04/goodbad. 

Golding, William,  “Lord of the Flies.” Penguin Group, 17 September 1954.

Konnikova, Maria, and Nicholas Lemann. “The Real Lesson of the Stanford Prison Experiment.” The New Yorker, 12 June 2015, https://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/the-real-lesson-of-the-stanford-prison-experiment.