“I said to myself, ‘Don’t be such a fool … Now you’re grown up, you are adults; it’s taken you a long time to become adults, but now you’ve got there you can see that people are not like that, they would not behave like that if they were God-fearing English gentlemen,’ devil would rise out of the intellectual complications of the three white men on the island itself”. [1]
He has been impelled to say that many human beings, left unrestrainedly to their own devices, will find the most natural expression of their desire in human head-hunting.
Golding once said that to an American distributor:
“Before the Second World War, I believed the person in society is perfect and purified. The correct society structure can bring the good desire, and through the reconstruction of the society, it will eradicate all social malpractices. But after World War II I start to believe the degeneration of human and the evil of human nature. But now what I can do the best is to excavate the relation between this kind of degeneration and the reason for them to involve into the universal chaos”. [3]
Golding displayed the serious subject by the fabular techniques, and melted the narrative method of the realism into the fable writing technique. It did not separate from the real reality, and expressed the admonishment beyond the words.
On the other way, Golding’s view of human nature was greatly influenced by some philosophers. During the 17th century, the well-known Enlightenment Philosopher, Thomas Hobbes, was able to theorize and conceive an idea of what the essence of human nature is and how it exists in humans. Hobbes believed that humans had an inherent tendency towards possessive individualism that pitched on against the other in competition and conflict and that it was only some arrangement external to them that could prevent them from destroying or harming each other. Locke believed that humans are by nature, vicious, selfish beings. Without some form of senior authority to guide them, they would not be able to survive other humans or their own personalities. Although viewed by many critics as pessimistic Hobbes’ ideas remained valid, honest theories, and therefore became roots to understanding the “stripped down”, darker view of human nature. Three centuries later during the Cold War, Lord of Flies by William Golding, conveyed both Hobbes’ views on human nature. Golding’s understanding of the ruthless, animalistic human nature was shown throughout his book, and echoed many theories of the enlightenment philosopher Thomas Hobbes, who first proposed that human nature was not the benevolent giving personality originally proposed, but in fact a dark and ruthless inner personality. Golding’s illustration, through the boys, of Hobbes theories proved that he thoroughly recognized what human nature was and how it existed in all men. Golding’s used Hobbes’ theory that that without a proper form of organized government, humans are not able to contain their animalistic instincts and their dark human nature.
1.2 The Source of All Evil in Lord of Flies
The Lord of Flies is all about fear. Golding seems to be suggesting that fear, and its complications are the source of all evil [4]. Throughout the novel, the boys show fear in many things. They see and hear assorted things on the island and assume them to be beasts to be dreaded. After much disorder and turmoil on the island, a group of hunters offer a gift to the much sought after and feared beast. A young boy, who is not a part of the group of hunters, encounters their gift to the feared beast and he even “talked” to it, learning the causes of all the evil on the island. The boy attempts to share his discovery in an attempt to end the fear of the beast and to halt the evil on the island. Sadly, he is mistaken for the dreaded beast that apparently inhabits the island. The hunters, in fear, savagely, murder Simon, ending all one’s hopes for the end of evil. By the end of the novel, all the boys, except for Ralph have regressed into a primitive state and have lost all morals, until their rescue, when they finally see how bad they have been. The plot of this novel is based on fear, fear that leads to evil. In “Beast from the Water,” fear spreads through the group. The Lord of Flies is explaining that there is no sense in trying to hunt and kill the beast. “You knew didn’t you? I’m a part of you ‘Close, close, close’ I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are they way they are?” [5] The Lord of Flies answers the question of why the civilization of the boys is a failure. The destructive element is in the boys themselves in each boy. The title of the head, “Lord of Flies,” is a literal translation of the word Beelzebub, the name of a devil in the Bible. Golding seems to be suggesting that fear, and its complications, is the source of all evil. It caused the majority of the boys to commit unspeakable acts of violence and immorality. Ralph’s phrase, “the darkness of man’s heart.” vividly describes his feelings of shame and confusion of how the others could be so bad. At the end of the novel, he cries “for the end of the innocent island the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy.”[5] Their fears were rooted in beasts throughout the novel. This led the boys offering a gift to this beast, and innocent boys being murdered. 转贴于 酷文网-论文下载中心 http://www.coolwen.net
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