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Essay / Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a...
William Golding's novel 'Lord of the Flies' is an exploration of the idea of the wild natural instinct of human evil. It is suggested that Golding's novel is partly based on his real-life experiences of the violence and brutality of World War II. The novel defines the struggle within all humans to differentiate between the civilized instinct and the savage instinct of man. The civilized instinct is the impulse to obey the rules, behave morally, and act within the law. The wild instinct is the impulse to seek brutal power over others, to act selfishly, to forget morality, and to engage in violence. At the beginning of the novel, the boys elect Ralph as a leader with a strong civilized instinct. He quickly attempts to restore order and sense to the boys stranded on the island. Ralph appoints Jack as leader of the hunters responsible for hunting and keeping the signal fire lit. At the beginning, all boys still have the civilized instinct they learned as their moral foundation. This is evident by the fact that Jack cannot kill a pig tangled in a t-vine.....