Response to Essential Question - What is man's true nature?
Rather a lot has happened since we were cavemen.
We’ve built a society. Organized a government, written laws and regulations and created a justice system. We’ve set down certain societal manners and etiquette. Essentially, we’ve developed a list of dos and don’ts, both officially and unofficially. But at the end of the day, despite everything we’ve created, despite the societal façade we spent aeons building, we remain, at our core, the same savage, fearful cavemen from the beginning. Quotes from a Nobel winning novel and a real-life experience both prove that man’s true nature, in the end, is savage.
William Golding’s award winning book, “Lord of the Flies” explicitly demonstrates how man’s true nature is savage. Golding manipulates the situations and events of the novel to transform his civil, innocent young characters into something much darker. One example of this is Jack Merridew, a main character who has his layers of civility, logic and rationality peeled off of him to reveal his true barbaric self. Originally, he was a disciplined product of a British public school, enthusiastic about laws and obedience. “’We’ll have rules!’ he cried excitedly” (Golding 32). Golding starts to attack this façade of civility until it crumbles to reveal Jack’s real savage self. “Jack shrank with a hiss of indrawn breath; and became a furtive thing, ape-like, among the tangle of trees” (Golding 49). The same process of revealing is applied to a timid boy called Roger, who by the end of the novel attacks other children for no other reason besides his barbaric thirst for power. “Roger took up a small stone and flung it… some source of power began to pulse in his body” (Golding 194). Golding uses his character’s behaviour and core personalities to clearly show man’s true nature.
Golding alters the circumstances in order to tear away the children’s illusion of civility. Fear, however, is an effective alternative to revealing our core selves. A few years ago, my classmates and I went on a school trip to the mountains. While we were there, we executed several nature-based activities, such as hiking and rock climbing, in order to gain points for our team. On the third day, the instructors taught us how to abseil. It seemed, to put it mildly, terrifying, and everyone in my group clearly agreed with me. We made our way up to the cliff reluctantly, and I noticed that our usual banter had faded, replaced with tension and fear. The truly terrified people jostled others, forcing them to go first, so that they could avoid abseiling for as long as possible. This sort of behaviour isn’t in the same league as Golding’s characters, but it was interesting to see how fear seemed to render my usually talkative teammates silent, making them forget about their social attitudes They also didn’t care about rude jostling, or looking “tough” in front of others – the fear tore away their social concerns and their pretence of politeness and manners.
Highly regarded literature and real life experience both support the idea that man’s true nature is savage. Jack Merridew’s barbaric self, for example, was simply hidden under a few layers of logic and rationality. The timidity of Roger wasn't genuine – he was a violent, power-seeking creature at his core. In the face of fear, well-mannered, relaxed people had their social concerns ripped away from them, replaced by tension and apprehension. Mankind has tried to cover their true nature, using layers of manners, of logic, of rationality. Despite aeons of attempting to hide it, however, our savagery lurks just beneath the surface.
We’ve built a society. Organized a government, written laws and regulations and created a justice system. We’ve set down certain societal manners and etiquette. Essentially, we’ve developed a list of dos and don’ts, both officially and unofficially. But at the end of the day, despite everything we’ve created, despite the societal façade we spent aeons building, we remain, at our core, the same savage, fearful cavemen from the beginning. Quotes from a Nobel winning novel and a real-life experience both prove that man’s true nature, in the end, is savage.
William Golding’s award winning book, “Lord of the Flies” explicitly demonstrates how man’s true nature is savage. Golding manipulates the situations and events of the novel to transform his civil, innocent young characters into something much darker. One example of this is Jack Merridew, a main character who has his layers of civility, logic and rationality peeled off of him to reveal his true barbaric self. Originally, he was a disciplined product of a British public school, enthusiastic about laws and obedience. “’We’ll have rules!’ he cried excitedly” (Golding 32). Golding starts to attack this façade of civility until it crumbles to reveal Jack’s real savage self. “Jack shrank with a hiss of indrawn breath; and became a furtive thing, ape-like, among the tangle of trees” (Golding 49). The same process of revealing is applied to a timid boy called Roger, who by the end of the novel attacks other children for no other reason besides his barbaric thirst for power. “Roger took up a small stone and flung it… some source of power began to pulse in his body” (Golding 194). Golding uses his character’s behaviour and core personalities to clearly show man’s true nature.
Golding alters the circumstances in order to tear away the children’s illusion of civility. Fear, however, is an effective alternative to revealing our core selves. A few years ago, my classmates and I went on a school trip to the mountains. While we were there, we executed several nature-based activities, such as hiking and rock climbing, in order to gain points for our team. On the third day, the instructors taught us how to abseil. It seemed, to put it mildly, terrifying, and everyone in my group clearly agreed with me. We made our way up to the cliff reluctantly, and I noticed that our usual banter had faded, replaced with tension and fear. The truly terrified people jostled others, forcing them to go first, so that they could avoid abseiling for as long as possible. This sort of behaviour isn’t in the same league as Golding’s characters, but it was interesting to see how fear seemed to render my usually talkative teammates silent, making them forget about their social attitudes They also didn’t care about rude jostling, or looking “tough” in front of others – the fear tore away their social concerns and their pretence of politeness and manners.
Highly regarded literature and real life experience both support the idea that man’s true nature is savage. Jack Merridew’s barbaric self, for example, was simply hidden under a few layers of logic and rationality. The timidity of Roger wasn't genuine – he was a violent, power-seeking creature at his core. In the face of fear, well-mannered, relaxed people had their social concerns ripped away from them, replaced by tension and apprehension. Mankind has tried to cover their true nature, using layers of manners, of logic, of rationality. Despite aeons of attempting to hide it, however, our savagery lurks just beneath the surface.