Given William Golding’s exceedingly pessimistic view on humanity, is Lord of the Flies really a positive influence on the youth of our society? When compared to an optimistic view such as the one in Kahlil Gibran’s poem, "Good and Evil", Lord of the Flies paints human nature as irrationally negative. Through the story’s plot and development of characters, Golding portrays humans as being innately evil without the restraints of society, whereas Gibran’s poem argues that humans are innately good and that evil is a complex and misunderstood grey area. Humans’ tendency towards good and evil is better explained by Gibran’s multifaceted stance than by Golding’s extreme portrayal of human nature.
Expressed within the pages of the classic novel Lord …show more content…
This doesn’t change how they are innately but it does affect how they act during their lifetime and how they make decisions. For example, one person can save someone from dying then turn around and kill someone else, thus proving that the idea of good and evil is a fine line which is often misinterpreted. The idea of good and evil is extremely black and white, and most people assume that once placed in one category, it is nearly impossible to switch to the other. It can be perceived as the ultimate stereotype; in fact, for many races, religions, and sexual orientations, it is. With a lot of stereotypes, many start putting people into categories as either safe or unsafe. Safe is equivalent to good - people like family or a trusted adult go into this list - whereas not safe is people that are perceived as threatening. These lists are often automatic and many create them without even realizing because it seems almost normal to do; even the beloved Santa Claus does this in his naughty and nice lists. It has become a societal normality. But in reality, good and evil is less like black and white and more like hundreds of shades of gray, not one “good” decision that has been made hasn’t impacted someone in a negative way. For many evil acts, although the act itself isn’t good, sometimes the reason behind the act makes what could have fallen into the black and white categories, instead fall under one of the many gray areas. For example, if someone were to rob a bank because the robber needs the money to save the life of his dying son, takes a usual black and white crime and causes it to fall into a gray area due to the specific situation making the scenario morally conflicting. The conundrum of the reason behind the evil deed is exactly why good and evil isn’t as clean cut as humanity would like to believe. The idea of good and
Expressed within the pages of the classic novel Lord …show more content…
This doesn’t change how they are innately but it does affect how they act during their lifetime and how they make decisions. For example, one person can save someone from dying then turn around and kill someone else, thus proving that the idea of good and evil is a fine line which is often misinterpreted. The idea of good and evil is extremely black and white, and most people assume that once placed in one category, it is nearly impossible to switch to the other. It can be perceived as the ultimate stereotype; in fact, for many races, religions, and sexual orientations, it is. With a lot of stereotypes, many start putting people into categories as either safe or unsafe. Safe is equivalent to good - people like family or a trusted adult go into this list - whereas not safe is people that are perceived as threatening. These lists are often automatic and many create them without even realizing because it seems almost normal to do; even the beloved Santa Claus does this in his naughty and nice lists. It has become a societal normality. But in reality, good and evil is less like black and white and more like hundreds of shades of gray, not one “good” decision that has been made hasn’t impacted someone in a negative way. For many evil acts, although the act itself isn’t good, sometimes the reason behind the act makes what could have fallen into the black and white categories, instead fall under one of the many gray areas. For example, if someone were to rob a bank because the robber needs the money to save the life of his dying son, takes a usual black and white crime and causes it to fall into a gray area due to the specific situation making the scenario morally conflicting. The conundrum of the reason behind the evil deed is exactly why good and evil isn’t as clean cut as humanity would like to believe. The idea of good and