essay😼
The talk about human nature, the good and the evil, has always been a sensitive and biased argument. Some people believe others are good, some bad. However, the situation is more complex than that. The author of “Lord of the flies,” Willaim Golding wrote about boys who got stuck on an island who try and survive together, while also trying to fight the deepest part of their minds. Golding believed that all people were inherently cruel and nothing could change that. While Golding believed that people are inherently evil, I argue that people are inherently good then turn cruel because of their environment, their traumas, and when they have no guide to lead them in the right direction
People start off good then turn cruel because of their environment, or situations they’ve experienced. In the article “1972 Andes flight disaster,” a group of 27 men are left in the snowy mountains, with no food or warmth. The group essentially “Survived by making a decision to eat flesh from the bodies of their dead comrades - This decision was not taken lightly as most were classmates or close friends.” (CommonLit) We can tell from the quote that the group was essentially forced to eat human meat to survive, not because they wanted to. They were apprehensive to eat human flesh meaning the group was still thinking humanely, and not out of the evil within themselves. In the article “What makes people do bad things?” Zimbardo stated how, “Stress, fear, boredom, and heat exhaustion, coupled with no supervision, no training, and no accountability - may have further contributed to their “evil” actions - I argue situational forces dominate most of us at various times in our lives.” (Dittmann) This statement further explains how the environment, and situations people are faced with can push them into a side of evil, and that we are not all inherently cruel.
People start off good then start to change because of their traumatic experiences. In the article “Evil is not born,” it explains about Ted Bundy trauma, and what he went through in his childhood. They talked about how “Bunty was later told that his mother was his sister, and his grandfather was his father. Bundy’s biological grandfather was reportedly violent, and abusive. Also there have been reports that Bundy’s mother attempted to abort him and was unsuccessful, which could have caused physical damage.” (Aglietti) From this we can tell that Bundy did not have a normal childhood, and this trauma likely shaped him into the person he was. He didn’t choose to be hurt, but he was. The article also explains how “Based on biological, situational, and developmental factors, it seemed he could have developed his evil behavior over time rather than being born evil.” (Aglietti) This further supports how people can start off innocent, but then change as their trauma and problems shape their life. Bundy could have been a normal person if he never experienced what he went through, which could have saved his victims.
People start off good then turn cruel because they have no guidance to lead them to the right direction. In the article “Why boys become vicious.” he explains how “If there is no one around to guide children, then they go wrong. The people who guide children are their fathers and mothers. Children need both and in the later part of this century, they often have neither.” (Golding) Meaning that Golding does agree that children need guidance and someone to watch over them, or else they would go “wrong.” However Golding further explains how “If parents are absent, if they do not provide strength and do not provide love, then children will plumb the depths of their nature.” (Golding) Except this isn’t their nature, being violent isn’t what kids are supposed to be. These kids are hurt, either from abandonment issues, or from growing up from a violent area. These kids had to grow up themselves and without the help from anyone around them, they had to learn how to fend for themselves. If they had been living a perfectly normal life, where their parents cared for them and guided them through their life, we would have gotten completely normal children in return. This however comes from children being hurt, and growing up too fast. It isn’t in human nature to grow up this way, it was a survival skill they had to adapt to keep themselves alive.
In conclusion, people start off as innocent people, then change their ways to becoming cruel either because of their environment and situations they’ve experienced, their traumas, and growing up without guidance. Although it's always important to remember that people are never fully good or evil, we’re more complex than that. People see this as a black or white matter, but sometimes the situation is just gray. There’s always an exception to every rule.
