Lord Of The Flies Good Vs Evil

Evil; morally wrong or bad. Evil isn’t a new thing, people have been committing evil deeds since Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. However, what is unknown is how good people turn to evil. What impulses did people receive to do such awful things as the Lucifer Effect, ISIS, or the Holocaust? Even in William Golding’s, Lord of the Flies how does such an innocent child like Jack, turn into a murderer in a matter of months? It is believed that how one is raised makes a huge impact on their behavior. Another factor can be if their identity is known to the victims, or what personality one has. The Nature versus Nurture effect can be a key factor in why a person commits evil actions. Nature is how one’s genetics, and where they get their instincts from. Nurture is how one is brought up and is affected by the society one lives in, and their nationality and religion. In Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the boys show signs of nurture when they first arrive on the island. They still showed standards and views of their previous society. Throughout the novel, Piggy and Ralph seem to be the only ones who stick to their old mentality, as the rest of the boys had advantage of the rule free society they now lived in. Ralph states, “There’s another thing. We can help them to find us. If a ship comes near the island they may not notice us. So we must make smoke on the top of the mountain. We must make a fire,” (Lord of the Flies, 38). That was Ralph’s sense of nurture that had come out, he wished to save everyone from the island. However, everyone else in the book was turning inherently evil. The new environment of no civilization was catching up to them, all the sense of “nurturing” their parents had done, was now gone. The evil inside of them was starting to show and it eventually took over the island. The Nature versus Nurture effect is one portrayal of why good people do evil deeds. Another example of why good people do evil things is represented through Phillip Zimbardo’s Lucifer Effect. …show more content…
Zimbardo decided to conduct an experiment to unveil the dark side of human nature. He took middle class men, and separated them into two groups; prison guards and prisoners. They were given no specific instructions, so the guards could treat the prisoners in whichever way they wanted. However, everyone seemed to forget it was an experiment, the guards treated the prisoners like dogs. The guards wore military style outfits and silver reflecting sunglasses, so no one was recognizable. It is believed that it was easier for the guards to torture the prisoners when they were unidentifiable, because if someone is anonymous, they will care less what others think and will be more likely to perform evil actions. This was similar to when Ralph painted his face in Lord of the Flies, he was not able to be identified, so he did not really care what his behavior was. “He looked in astonishment, no longer at himself, but an awesome stranger,” (Lord of the Flies, 63). Ralph was completely unrecognizable, and he loves it. In conclusion, if a person is completely anonymous, it can be easier for them to commit evil deeds. According to Sigmund Freud, there are three different types of personalities. There is the id, which