In my English class, we've been looking at ways to create our own feature article on a choice of a theme that was introduced in the novel 'Lord Of The Flies'. Here's one of my drafts.
Born to be 'GOOD' or Bound to be 'EVIL'?
The novel ‘Lord of the Flies’ was about young boys who struggled to keep their civilised sides as savagery kicked in as an instinct while stranded on an island. This raises an inevitable question: Which one of these aspects are hidden behind human nature?
ANGELS & DEMONS
‘I mean, it’s not like a bunny could go savage.” “Right, but a fox could, huh?” This short conversation was held by two animals in the movie ‘Zootopia’ (2016). The movie is based on the fact that predators can indeed turn back into a nasty beast when they are provoked. Like this, the ‘Lord of the Flies’ touches on the rather perplexing concept of ‘human nature’. We have evolved from animals. Nowadays, there isn’t a clear line that separates us from ‘good’ and ‘evil’. Both live among us.
PURE KINDNESS?
Big companies fight their ways to be known as a charitable company. You might think that they are full of benevolence and is providing the underprivileged with unconditional love, but reality doesn’t work like that. Although this isn’t a representation of the whole of humanity, the reason for being kind is to receive some sort of reward. For a majority of us, being kind is a way to appeal to others or to show how good you can be. This means that whatever kind gesture you take, it’s not really generous if your mind is set on benefitting from it.
THE FIGHT WITHIN
We don’t know this ourselves, but every choice we make, right ones or not, the voices inside our head goes on fighting.
GOING ‘SAVAGE’?
Omar Hammami was born to a family in Daphne, a suburban town located in Alabama. His mother was American and his father was from Syria. He was a great student, until he visited his cousin on the other side of the world. After experiencing new things, he knew that he was never the same. Psychologists classified him as an ‘extremist’, also known as ‘terrorists’. They would stop at nothing to do what they thought was right; even if it involved genocide and harming the innocent.
Psychopaths are truly different from others. Their minds don’t work in the same way as normal people - to feel emotions, they teach themselves how others look . Since they are so aloof, committing horrific crimes isn’t a big deal. They can become the devil himself on one occasion, and turn back into an angelic child after that. This is a very extreme case, but it shows that we humans can be both.
GREY AND BLURRY
Superhero movies are great. It tells us who the ‘good guy’ and who the ‘baddie’ is. They fight until the villain surrenders, leaving the hero to
Reality (hard to define)
It’s highly unlikely that people living in society will instantly turn savage, but it’s not just fiction. The quote “Maybe there is a beast… maybe it's only us.” from the ‘Lord of the Flies’ tell us that in the hearts of a human, there is always a beast lurking around, and if we set on the wrong path, the monsters may become us.
An experiment was done to two people. One was the teacher and one was the student. The examiner told the teacher to give an electric shock whenever the student got something wrong and increase the voltage as it went on. Over 65% of the role of the teacher didn’t stop, even after hearing the painful shrieks of the student. After the experiment, they were asked why they continued electrocuting the student, and they simply answered, “because I was told to do so”. Just like some of the boys that quickly succumbed to the Beast and offered it food and gifts, they were following a rule even though it meant giving up their humane aspect. Evil is not always a distant thing. In real life, the same people that follow the rules may be the people who torture others, under the circumstances of the action being justified as a ‘rule’.