Human Nature

Mark Twain once said "Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody." This quote is similar to human nature in general, in history there are always great deeds, such as when Abraham Lincoln abolished slavery and then there are those bad ones, such as World War one. Humans have a dark side, just like all events studied in history. Human nature is essentially evil, this is because humans are brutal, violent, and most of the time illogical.

To begin with, an example from Lord of the Flies, when Jack's tribe kills the sow, "Jack was on top of the sow, stabbing downward with his knife. Then Jack found the throat and the hot blood spouted over his hands. The sow collapsed under them and they were heavy and fulfilled upon her" (William Golding 135). The brutality and violence found in the killing of the sow is appalling, the scene seems to almost be that of a rape, with the sow being female surrounded by a large group of boys, though they are just bent on killing her for the meat. These boys do not just kill the sow as quickly and swiftly as possible to save the innocent creature from too much pain in contrast they seem to almost enjoy the brutality of what they are doing, taking pleasure from the pain they inflict. Also to take into consideration, "they were heavy and fulfilled upon her," seems to imply or suggest that perhaps Jack's tribe releases tension and frustration through the act of killing; this shows more of how humans are sadistic and violent. Similarly to how the boys vent their frustrations out through the act of killing, was the Columbine Massacre that occurred on April 20, 1999, in the small, suburban town of Littleton, Colorado where two high school seniors acted on their frustrations and hatred, to kill their peers, teachers, and themselves. "The boys' plan was to kill hundreds of their peers. With guns, knives, and a multitude of bombs, the two boys walked the hallways and killed," (Rosenberg, Columbine Massacre). This is just one more piece of evidence that humans are essentially bad, acting on their pent up frustrations, anger, hatred for others and themselves and causing misery, pain, and sorrow for the people that accidently get involved.

Now an example of the illogical nature of humans can again be seen through the boys' actions from Lord of the Flies when they do not recognize Simon as he comes out of the forest to tell the others about the parachutist and how the beast is not real. "The beast was on its knees in the center, its arms folded over its face. It was crying out against the abominable noise something about a body on the hill," (Golding 152). Though it might have been storming during the night of Simon's death, it still feels as though the other boys should have been able to recognize Simon from the dark, scary beast that haunts the littluns' nightmares. It was surprising that no one stood up for Simon after everything that he had done and contributed to the stranded group. It was illogical for the boys to assume that Simon was the beast considering how it has already