Albert 1

Albert Kim

Mrs. McCracken

HN ENG 10

14 December 2017

Ideas of the Island

“Piggy and Ralph, under the threat of the sky, found themselves eager to take a place in

this demented but partly secure society. They were glad to touch the brown backs of the fence

that hemmed in the terror and made it governable” (Golding 152). This demonstrate that Ralph

and Piggy were at the point, when they realized that they’re afraid of themselves in that

environment and that they can’t keep their society civilized. Because of the boys, they had

experience their excitement of their surrounding they went rogue. This may be true, but at the

end, the result was savagery and chaos. Some people think that kids on that island must of lose

their own instinct and their identity. In William Golding’s famous novel, Lord of the Flies, he

places a group of young boys on a deserted island and creates a story about what he believes

would happen to the boys on that island without any adults or grownups. The savagery of the

boys in Lord of the Flies was due to the environment and circumstances in which they found

themselves, and it became more worse as they spend more time on the stranded island.

CHAPTER 1-4: A DAY WITHOUT GROWNUPS

First, the book begins when the boys somehow gotten themselves to the beautiful island

and there were no sign of any adults. Until Ralph found the conch in the beach and blow on it to

call out the other boys. They can able to conduct a meeting (assembly), with the help of the

conch shell and make simple rules on the island. But without adult influence and the rules of
 Albert 2

civilization, the boys slowly being to fade away from the original plan. Nature vs. Nurture

Article explained how good people can change when they’re put into an evil place. “Even today,

different branches of psychology often take a one versus the other approach. For example,

biological psychology tends to stress the importance of genetics and biological influences.

Behaviorism, on the other hand, focuses on the impact that the environment has on behavior”

(Cherry). Nature vs. Nurture can be compared to Lord of the Flies, because the boys, as far as the

reader can tell, were behaved as the schoolboys. Therefore, the environment in any certain place

can truly impact on his or her behavior.

CHAPTERS 5-8: THE BEAST THEMSELVES

As the chapters continue, one of the boys had mention about the beast on that island.

They are no longer enjoy their independence and freedom. Ralph says, “Grownups know

things…They ain’t afraid of the dark. They wouldn’t set fire to the island. Or lose—The three

boys stood in the darkness, trying to convey the majesty of adult life.” (Golding 94). In the next

chapter Ralph wishes there were any answers to what this beast is, in the form of a dead man on

a parachute. Golding stated, “But a sign came down from the world of grownups, though at a

time when no child was awake to read it. There was a speck above the island, a figure dropping

swiftly beneath a parachute, a figure that hung with dangling limbs” (95). Since in Chapter 5-8,

the boy were talking about the beast, Simon was determined to find the truth himself. Cherry

noted, a “child might learn to behave aggressively by observing older children engage in violent

behavior on the playground.” In comparison, it seems that the boys on the island were frighten

about this beast. The environment of fear and unconscious is spreading in their presents,

especially when the boys observed Ralph and Jack, because they’re the oldest of all.
 Albert 3

CHAPTERS 9-12: JACK’S TRIBE

As the book reaches its climax, the boys have changed and decides to join Jack’s tribe.

Yet the majority of the boys on the island have fallen into a cruel and brutal way of life. In

chapter 9, at the bloody dance, Golding stated, “Between the flashes of lightning the air was dark

and terrible; and the boys followed him, clamorously” (151). Sadly, by the time Simon came

down on the mountain and reaches the beach, the boys spotted him started beating him up, then

he was gone and the answers along with him. Ralph and Piggy aren’t as aggressive or violent

children. Although, in their part in Simon’s death did symbolize that one environment can

influence one to do things that nobody could’ve ordinarily do. “During the 1960s, Yale

University psychologist Stanley Milgram conducted a series of obedience experiments that led to

some surprising results. These results offer a compelling and disturbing look at the power of

authority and obedience” (Cherry). Milgram said this is because he found out that some adults, in

a certain environment, would do things they usually would’ve never done. Unfortunately, Ralph

and Piggy had been dragged into that environment and have gone rogue with the aggressive

behaviors that they were observing.

COUNTERARGUMENT

Still, some people may argue that the boys’ violence was caused by internal or biological

factors, in fact their nature or gene. Some researchers have found and believe that “Adolescents

are particularly sensitive and responsive to influence by friends, desires and emotions”

(Mascarelli). In their perspective, the adolescent brain was underdeveloped, and this would

imply that acts of violence, that something that is out of one’s control. But, this argument ignores
 Albert 4

the fact that the new environmental structure made it a huge impact on the boys as the adult show

up. For this reason, are the brutal deaths of Simon and Piggy to be explained away by the fact

that the boys had undeveloped brains? If one uses this argument, then it is a excuse to set aside

violent things that some children could do. The boys in that culture were to blame for violence in

Lord of the Flies.

CONCLUSION

As a result, the violence among these young boys led toward one another in Lord of the

Flies was confusion and disorder. As it has been explained, the violence and savagery of the

boys may be attributed primarily to the environment in which they found themselves into. When

one looks at the story from this perspective, it can provide insight into why children and

adolescents may act the way that they do. Those who read the novel should learn the importance

of providing a safe and nurturing environment for children, so that they don’t do it in a brutal

way.

Works Cited
 Albert 5

Cherry, Kendra. “The Milgram Obedience Experiment.” Verywell, 24 June 2017,

Cherry, Kendra. “What Is Nature vs. Nurture?” Verywell, 15 Aug. 2017,

Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. Perigee, 1954.

Mascarelli, Amanda Leigh. “The Teenage Brain.” Science News for Students, 20 July
2017, www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/teenage-brain.