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Essay / The nature of motivations in the novel “Lord of the Flies”
The novel “Lord of the Flies” asks the difficult question: “Is there a natural way to behave?” The behavioral aspects of the boys throughout the novel demonstrate Golding's underlying desire to show that Loft is an attempt to explain why people behave the way they do. The motivations for behaviors in human nature are demonstrated through the idea that humans are good unless tempted to evil and that the primitive nature of humans is the underlying motivation for their actions. This idea is demonstrated by Jack with his motivations to hunt, Ralph with his motivations to be safe and act responsibly, and Roger with his motivations to kill and do harm. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay. Jack is a representation of man's inner savagery and represents the larger idea of the temptation of evil that drives humans to do unspeakable things. From the beginning, Jack's motivation is to become a hunter and a leader. He begins the novel as the leader of the children in the choir and seeks to gain the trust of all the other boys, thus pursuing his inner goal of reaching the top. Jack eventually succumbs to his primitive nature by first abandoning the rules and chasing "Rule bullshit!" We are strong – we hunt! If there is a beast, we will hunt it down! We’re going to come together and beat, beat, and beat.” Jack's motivation is to hunt, and through the cracks of civilization he succumbs to his ultimate fate. The symbolic meaning of Ralph is civilization and the idea of being responsible. He stays true to his motives, even going as far as not eating and not joining Jack's group. Although throughout the novel, Ralph experiences downfalls of civilization, he continues to succumb to his primitive nature of goodness, selflessness, and democracy. “We have to have special people to deal with the fire. On any given day there could be a ship out there…and if we have a signal they will come and take us away. And something else. We should have more rules. Where the conch is found, it is an encounter. It's the same here as there. » Ralph continues to try to create a civilized group among the boys by lighting a fire and making rules. Ralph is opposed to trying to establish an organized system of government, using the conch shell. Roger is a representation of the nastiest boy on the island, ranging from throwing stones at little ones to cruel behavior towards those around him, Rogers' motive is to kill and harm. . Rogers' primitive nature is sociopathic and sadistic which makes him do a lot of harm to those around him. “You couldn’t stop me from coming if I wanted to” Roger threatens Robert. At this point, Roger has already shown himself to be a sadistic and cruel boy. Roger continues with his evil nature going so far as to push a rock and kill Piggy, the first deliberate murder to take place on the island. Although Jack is the undisputed leader of the group, Roger is its second man, representing pure evil. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized article from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay To summarize, throughout the novel "The Lord Of The Flies" William Golding illustrates that the reason behind actions, even under great stress, lies in our inner nature. The boys' actions begin to demonstrate why the people behave the way they do. Starting with Jack, Ralph and Roger The novel clearly demonstrates that not all humans are evil and that nature...