William Golding And Harper Lee example essay topic

In her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee has an optimistic perspective of human nature, whereas William Golding's novel, The Lord of the Flies, demonstrates a pessimistic view on human nature. Lord of the Flies is about a plane full of British boys that crashes on an island. The children's attempt at forming a society fails, and eventually they become savages. William Golding believes that the boys turned evil in the absence of society because there was evil residing inside of them. To Kill a Mockingbird is about a young tomboy, named Scout, growing up in Maycomb County, Alabama, in the 1930's.

Her town is extremely racist and lives under a strict Southern code of conduct. All the citizens act poorly and are racist and partial because they have been surrounded by this horrendous society all their lives. Harper Lee believes people are born pure and good and are corrupted by society. Rough William Golding argues his position on human nature through characters and events in his novel, Lord of the Flies. He believes that society holds everyone together, and without these conditions, our ideals, values, and the basics of right and wrong are lost. Without society's rules, anarchy and savagery comes to light.

He also proves that rules don't work without a form of punishment for lawbreakers. First, when the boys arrive on the island they are still in the routine of living in civilization. They try to create a society like the one they came from. When the boys first come together and realize the island has no adults, they decide they should have a meeting (Golding 20).

This shows that the boy's initial instinct is to create order and society. The boys also obey rules from their lives in England from habit. On page 62, Roger follows Henry away from the swimming hole. He throws rocks about 6 yards away from Henry and then hides behind trees. He doesn't ever hit Henry because he is still possessed by society's rules and punishments, but he is already testing the limits. In the beginning of the story, Jack is still conditioned by the previous society he had been a part of.

He could not bear to kill a pig that was caught in the brush. As the plot progresses, he becomes less and less attached to society. Near the end, he feels no shame about the deaths of Simon and Piggy, nor his attempt to kill Ralph. On page 8, when Ralph realizes that there aren't any grown-ups, he is initially solemn but then he becomes a little excited because he has the freedom to do whatever he wants. These normal, refined behaviors are remnants from their life in England.

Second, William Golding believes that evil dwells in every individual. On page 143, Simon is alone in the woods overnight and stumbles upon a pig head stuck on the end of a stick. Jack and the rest of the hunters had put a pig head on a stick in the forest. The head or the "Lord of The Flies", speaks to Simon. He tells him that he and the rest of the boys are really evil inside. He says that there is a beast inside of each of them.

This beast represents the sin and evil that exists in them. The first time Jack comes across a pig, he does not kill it and makes excuses. He is still under the control of his former society, and civilized people do not stab squealing animals with a knife. Later in the book, after Jack has been almost completely removed from society, he has no problem killing multiple boars. He is truly an evil hunter inside and in the absence of society his true self is shown (Golding 15-180). Lastly, the longer the boys are in the absence of society the nastier they become.

On page 181, some of the boys have rebelled from all forms of government and social order and have turned completely savage. Roger rolls a boulder at Piggy causing him to fall off a forty-foot cliff and die from severe head injury. Throughout the book Piggy and his glasses symbolize civilization, rescue, and intelligence. This event symbolizes the end of stability on the island. Another example is at the end of the book when Ralph is the only boy who is not a member of Jack's evil group.

It is clear that Jack and some other boys were going to hunt Ralph, kill him, and put his head on a stick (Golding 190-200). In conclusion, William Golding believes that human nature is evil and it must be controlled by an effective society. Harper Lee has an utterly different perspective on the true nature of human beings. Harper Lee believes that humans are essentially good and are tarnished by poor societies. First, in her novel, the entire town of Maycomb County is racist because of the society they live in.

For example, Jem finds his father, Atticus, sitting reading a newspaper in front of the jail in the middle of the night. Inside one of the jail cells rests a black man, Tom Robinson. He is on trial for a rape charge but he is clearly not guilty. A group of townspeople have gathered together and are planning on killing Tom. The townspeople don't want Mr. Robinson to have a fair trial because of his race (Lee 151). On page 200, Scout's friend Dill has a stomachache.

Dolph us Raymond offers him his paper sack with straws sticking out. Mr. Raymond likes to spend time with the black community and the whole town suspects that there is alcohol in this paper sack. Dill takes a sip of it and is surprised that it is simply Coca-Cola. The townspeople think that the only reason he spends time with blacks is that he is drunk all the time. It turns out that Mr. Raymond decides to give people a reason in their minds for him to be with blacks. He understands the town's mentality, and creates some of the stir around himself as an excuse to spend time with blacks.

Another example is the trial of Tom Robinson. Tom Robinson is convicted of the rape of a young woman named May ella Ewell. During the trail, Atticus proves to the jury and the entire town that his client is innocent, but Tom Robinson is declared guilty because he is black. The jury has clear evidence that Tom Robinson is innocent but can't bring themselves to vote not guilty (Lee 211). Second, Harper Lee demonstrates that not only are white people prejudiced towards blacks, but also blacks are prejudiced towards whites.

Throughout the novel, blacks keep to themselves and have a separate black community. On page 118, Scout's nanny, Calpurnia, takes Scout and Jem to the black church on Sunday. When the white children enter they are shunned based on their race. The blacks act this way because they have been raised in a society in which whites treat blacks poorly, and their obvious reaction is to be a little rude to whites. Third, Scout is the minority in her community due to the fact that she is not racist. She is this way because she is still young and open-minded.

Also, she has grown up with a father who is not racist. For example, a boy at school calls Scout's father, Atticus, a "nigger-lover". Scout becomes furious and starts a fight with this boy (Lee 76). On page 42, Scout says that she has spent most of her summer nights sitting on Miss Maudie Atkinson's front porch. Miss Maudie is a black neighbor of hers, but Scout really doesn't care about the race of her friend. Another example is on page 164, Scout and Jem attend their father's trial.

They sit on the balcony of the courtroom. This seating is reserved for the black community but Jem and Scout sit with Reverend Sykes, the Reverend of the black church. In conclusion, through her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee shows that humans are born pure and free of sin but are corrupted by faulty societies. You can clearly see that William Golding and Harper Lee have dissimilar perceptions of human nature. William Golding feels strongly that humans are born evil and are restrained by a sound social order. His view is more pessimistic because he believes that all humans are evil and no modern person wants to consider themselves evil, so the novel makes a modern audience feel gloomy.

Harper Lee argues that humans are fundamentally decent and become evil in a corrupt society. This view is much more optimistic. The idea that all humans are born good and pure and it is just bad societies that create depravity gives people hope that a perfect society is possible. Both of these authors argue their perspectives through characters and events in their novels. Jean Rousseau would agree with Harper Lee as he believes that a perfect society is impossible so immorality is inevitable. He thinks people are born good and corrupted by society..