Inside each of us there is good and evil, and normally the evil lays dormant. However, in survival situations, this evil can take over. In William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies, the evil inside each boy is awakened. The novel begins with boys from England, ages six through twelve, dropped on a remote island without civilization, causing the group of boys to fend for themselves for months without adult supervision. As time goes on, the boys become more animalistic, causing their dormant evil to come alive. The boys start by doing small acts of evil, such as cursing or knocking over sand castles. As time on the island grows, evil takes over and they begin to kill one another. Sigmund Freud classified the inner urges into id as animalistic
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The prisoners were treated as a real inmate would be, they wore uniforms, ate prison food, and slept in cells. On the other hand the guards wore reflective sunglasses, uniforms, and conducted daily activity in the “prison”. This experiments effects set into place so quickly that what was meant to last for two weeks only lasted six days due to the extreme effects on both the prisoners and the guards. In an interview with The New York Times Magazine Zimbardo states, “They start off playing a game, and then there is a point at which they each, one by one, flip and become more and more extreme.” (Zimbardo). In this quote Zimbardo is referring to the guards behavior and the way they change from normal people to intense, harassing guards. A similar decay of character and judgment occurs in Lord of the Flies. The boys in the novel start as being proper British boys but, their judgment corrodes and what is left is their most primal id. The turning point for Jack Merridew is when he makes his first kill. Golding shows the turning point in Jack by stating, “‘ I cut the pig’s throat,’ said Jack, proudly, and yet twitched as he said it.”, (Golding 69). Jack, an eleven year old boy would have never done this in his old life, but since he is in a survival situation his id takes over and kills the pig. Jack was very proud of himself for finally killing the pig after failing the first time and it shows in the way he takes ownership of cutting the throat. After this point Jack becomes a fierce hunter and an authoritative leader. By killing the pig it brings out his inner leader and with it come his
The prisoners were treated as a real inmate would be, they wore uniforms, ate prison food, and slept in cells. On the other hand the guards wore reflective sunglasses, uniforms, and conducted daily activity in the “prison”. This experiments effects set into place so quickly that what was meant to last for two weeks only lasted six days due to the extreme effects on both the prisoners and the guards. In an interview with The New York Times Magazine Zimbardo states, “They start off playing a game, and then there is a point at which they each, one by one, flip and become more and more extreme.” (Zimbardo). In this quote Zimbardo is referring to the guards behavior and the way they change from normal people to intense, harassing guards. A similar decay of character and judgment occurs in Lord of the Flies. The boys in the novel start as being proper British boys but, their judgment corrodes and what is left is their most primal id. The turning point for Jack Merridew is when he makes his first kill. Golding shows the turning point in Jack by stating, “‘ I cut the pig’s throat,’ said Jack, proudly, and yet twitched as he said it.”, (Golding 69). Jack, an eleven year old boy would have never done this in his old life, but since he is in a survival situation his id takes over and kills the pig. Jack was very proud of himself for finally killing the pig after failing the first time and it shows in the way he takes ownership of cutting the throat. After this point Jack becomes a fierce hunter and an authoritative leader. By killing the pig it brings out his inner leader and with it come his