Rousseau Lord Of The Flies Analysis

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Is a person naturally good or bad? This question has been pondered by many philosophers, creating various unique theories. One such philosopher, Jean- Jacques Rousseau, believed that men are naturally good, but get corrupted by society and believed that a direct democracy would be the best form of government to fit the people’s need. Also looking for an answer to the question, William Golding investigates Rousseau’s theory with his book, Lord of the Flies, where a group of boys find themselves trapped in the island and creates a small government to try to manage order, with Ralph, a twelve year old boy, as its chief; however, as time elapses, Ralph starts to lose control while Jack, a corrupt boy, and his group of hunters turn into savages and creates chaos in the island, ending only when adults find the boys burning the island to kill Ralph, now a powerless victim. With this story, Golding agrees with Rousseau’s idea that humans are born innocent but get …show more content…
A philosopher who thinks to extreme levels, Rousseau truly had a bold view on human nature. His first theorizes that humans are born good-natured and happy, and in a state of nature, will be peaceful and free. However, the world unfortunately is not as quite as peaceful as it should be and Rousseau states this is because humans get corrupted by society and selfish needs, thus concluding “nature never deceives us; it is we who deceive ourselves” (Rousseau). People believe that nature implements evil in them, but in reality, it is themselves who are the source of such evilness. Rousseau also believes in a “social contract”