Ignorance In Lord Of The Flies

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Our society views the inherent nature of children as innocent, goodhearted, and playful. However, the novel “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding demonstrates how quickly this goodnatured state of being can be lost, namely throughout the descent into savagery of one of the main characters: Jack Merridew. Through the course of the novel, it is evident that Jack descends into a state of savage evil that exemplifies the dark side of human nature. This is illustrated by the imbuing of ignorance within his character, the lack of mercy that he develops, and the intensification of his desires for totalitarian power.

The imbuing of ignorance within the character of Jack is one of the crucial aspects of the state of savage evil he descends into. …show more content…
Firstly, Jack’s descent into ignorance parallels to how many people within society, much like Jack are able to forget and not reflect upon the evil things that they do, thereby allowing savagery to ensue. Furthermore, environmental pressure causing Jack’s loss of mercy demonstrates the power of this pressures in that it can so easily drive a human being into a dark state of savagery. Lastly, the intensification of Jack’s desires for totalitarian power demonstrates human nature’s inherent rejection of democracy; and the values of consensus, order, and respect that coincide with it. Thereby allowing both Jack Merridew and humans within our society to commit savage actions, that are good for themselves but not for others through this hunger for power. Through an examination of Jack’s gaining of these traits, it can therefore be concluded that Jack descends into a dark state of savagery throughout the course of this novel. Furthermore, the presentation of these dark traits throughout his descent into savagery demonstrate how both society’s view of the nature of children, as well as human beings in general is flawed. This is because it fails to recognize the dark, inherent savagery and evil present in us all, despite our generally civilized personas and
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