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Golding's View of Human Nature

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In Lord Of The Flies, Golding investigates three key aspects of human nature: (1) the desire for social and political order, (2) the natural inclination toward evil and violance, (3) the belief in supernatural or divine intervention in human destiny. These three aspects are echoed by the play The Crucible and the short stories of The Lottery and Roman Fever. First of all, in Lord Of The Flies, the boys show their desire for social and political order. They have come from a society in which orderliness is normal. They attempt to continue it when they first arrive on the island. Ralph suggests the boys to have ‘hands up’ like at school and to use the conch which it then symbolises law and order. The boys cannot talk at meetings unless they are holding the conch. They are forced to listen to and treat whoever is speaking with respect. With law and orders, civilisation is successfully built up but Jack destroys it and turns it into dictatorial rule. Same in The Crucible, the people of Salem develop a theocracy, a combine of state and religious power which keeps the community together, and to prevent any kind of disunity that might open it to destruction by material or ideological enemies. Under such society conditions, some of the people accuse others of witchcrafts in the court due to personal reasons such as land dispute, jealousy and vengeance. Also, the judges and other people with authority in Salem, such as Deputy Governor Danforth,who sticks to the order rigidly and remains assured of the justice of his position. He asks Giles and Francis Nurse to find a proper lawyer to appeal when actually they have already given evidence to prove the innocence of their wives. He believes in his own justice, or even presumptions, and he regards any opposing voices only as power to overthrow the court. Their rely on this social order and the court to revenge and gain power is strong enough to create hysteria in Salem. In The Lottery, it tells the story of a social order and an annual tradition practised in a vilage. The lottery has evolved over time. Yet, the villagers are extremely resitant to change the tradition and they oppose to replace the old black box with a new one for the lottery. They would never consider changing the fundamental element of it, which is stoning people to death. When Mr Adams mentions that other villages have already qit lotteries, Old Man Warrens, who is the most stubborn and sticking to tradition man in the village, comments them as fools. This shows the reluctance of the villagers to abandon such a violent and meaningless ritual. In other words, their desire for the traditional social order is very strong. Secondly, in Lord Of The Flies, the boys’ evil human nature is portrayed clearly when they are left in a remote island with no adults’ supervision. The island is neutral, while the evil is

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