At the first look at Lord of the Flies, civilization is put in a good light. Within the very first 10 minutes of the film, the relationship between civilization and human nature is already examined. The film suggests that the establishment of civilization itself is a work of human nature – the essential goodness in human nature. When human beings form a society or civilized existence, the social contract typically exists to protect the interests of all over the interests of the few, thereby limiting self-interested acts.[2] The formation of civilization symbolizes the suspension of self-interest for the collective good of the others. In Lord of the Flies, once the boys have the chance, they attempt to re-create the structures of society. They elect Ralph as the chief through the very democratic way of voting. They hold meetings to decide what to do. They establish a division of labor, with Jack and the choir being hunters and others building shelters. Most importantly they establish rules to maintain order. Anyone who wishes to speak must hold a conch. They agree to make a signal fire which should be lit at all times. All these rules, regulations and arrangements symbolizes the formation of a civilization, a civilization to keep everyone safe and everything in order while increasing the boys’ chance to get rescued. Throughout the film, the conch and the signal fire remain as symbols of law and order and act as a barometer indicating the boys’ humanity and connection to civilization. The recreation of a miniature civilization on the island is evidently a product of human goodness, which puts the collective good for others in the foremost.
It is common knowledge that other than human goodness, which is often represented by heroes in films, human evilness, which is commonly endorsed by our typical movie villains, is also a reality. But unlike a coin, humans are much more complicated than just processing two sides which can be switched with a flick of hand. Eastern philosophers and scholars believe humans simultaneously possess the primitive animalistic nature (動物性/原慾) and the human nature (人性/精神價值); Western philosophers and scholars believe human nature is consisted of good and evil at the same time. The common ground here is that the primitive, animalistic and instinctive evilness and human goodness is both innate and coexist. No human being is purely good or purely evil and that there is always a capacity for evil, no matter how small the spark is, in all of us, even in the best of us.
Civilization, therefore, is here to act as a mechanism to control and suppress our tendency for evilness, as exampled in Lord of the Flies. In the beginning of the film, the boys, including the good-natured Ralph, have already displayed a small instinctive spark for cruelty and violence. They tease Piggy because he is fat and Jack particularly is mean to the littleluns (meaning the younger children in the film). However, the constraints of rules and regulations established in the civilization still bind them from acting out their animalistic instincts. Civilization is able to suppress the boys’ barbaric instincts. But as the story progresses, some of the boys, especially Jack and the hunters, gradually give in to their desires to hunt and kill and their hunger for power and excitement. A particular argument between Ralph and Jack highlight the transformation:
RALPH. Jack, let him (Piggy) speak. He’s got the conch.
JACK. And you shut up. Who are you anyway? Just sitting there, telling people what to do. You can’t hunt. You can’t sing.
RALPH. I am chief. I was chosen.
JACK. Why should chosen make any difference?
RALPH. Jack! The rules! You are breaking the rules!
JACK. Who cares?
RALPH. Because the rules are the only thing we got!
JACK. Bullocks to the rules! We are strong. We hunt![3]
From this point onward, the power has shifted from Ralph to Jack. The film continues to depict the the struggle between the ordering elements of civilization, which include morality, law, and culture, and the chaotic elements of humanity’s savage animal instincts, which include anarchy, bloodlust, the desire for power, amorality, selfishness, and violence.[4] With the gradual downfall and breaking down of civilization comes the uprising of human evilness in the boys. Civilization breaks down as power transfers from Ralph, a symbol for order and civilization, to Jack, who represents unbridled savagery and hunger for power. The symbols of civilization – the conch and the signal fire are also eventually destroyed. The crushing of the conch during Piggy’s death, signifying the demise of the civilized instinct among the boys on the island, and the going out of the signal fire, symbolizing that the boys have lost sight of their desire to be rescued and have accepted their savage lives on the island[5], shows the triumph of human evilness over civilized human goodness. In the end, due to the lack of a civilization, the educated young schoolboys have turned into savages who have murdered pigs and people alike, and barbarians who abandon their clothes and paint their faces. The miniature civilized society has turned into chaos and anarchy. The tragedy in Lord of the Flies shows us what would happen if civilization is not there to control our innate evilness and highlights the importance of civilization. As the tagline of the film states, evil is inherent in the human mind, whatever innocence may cloak it[6]. Without civilization, even the purest of us all, in this case, children, can transformed into beasts. Civilization is needed to tame the darker side of man; to lift us up above our depraved and base natures, and to tame the animals which we naturally are[7].
The relationship between civilization and human nature as examined above showed us how interdependent the two concepts are. Civilization existed because of human nature, and this product of human nature in turn exists to tame the beast in us, to control the weaknesses of human nature and to redirect us back to a rational and human path beneficial to ourselves and the people around us.
However, civilization is not always viewed as an improvement upon our society. Civilization can be completely mismatched and mutually repulsive with our human nature. It is impossible to overlook the extent to which civilization is built up upon a renunciation of instinct.[8] In Lord of the Flies, this point is vividly illustrated. The fact that all the characters in the film are young schoolboys is important – the boys are only half-formed, situated between civilization and their most basic instincts. Their moral beliefs and the social constraints acting upon them are not solid yet. When choosing between playing and working, excitement/fun and order/regulations, hunting and building shelters, it is only natural and inevitable that one would prefer the option that requires less effort and guarantee more fun, let alone these young boys. Recreating and following the rules of civilization actually restricts the boys’ instinctive drive to gratify their immediate desires like enjoying themselves and swimming in the sea. This means good to the whole miniature society, but what about the individual himself? It is clear to all viewers that the boys do enjoy themselves better when they are playing around and dancing at the feast celebrating the hunting of a pig. Civilization, being more rational and socially driven, is not fully in accordance with human nature[9] and can even be viewed as an oppression of human instincts. A civilized human is therefore not only imbalanced but also unhappy because of the mismatch between civilized life and human nature.[10]
Another interesting view about civilization and human nature is made by the 18th century Genevan philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau in his theory of natural human. Rousseau states that "uncorrupted morals" prevail in the "state of nature"[11], and that the artificial human civilization leads to "vices of social life" and human weaknesses such as guile, hypocrisy, envy,[12] avarice and other unnatural desires. In Rousseau's philosophy, civilization’s negative influence on men centers on its transformation of amour de soi, a positive self-love, into amour-propre, or pride, which encourages man to compare himself to others, thus creating unwarranted fear and allowing men to take pleasure in the pain or weakness of others.[13] Rousseau’s thoughts give us a new perspective in looking at the link between civilization and human nature, suggesting that civilization not only doesn’t benefit the society and human, but also generates evilness, corrupting and darkening our natural goodness, and turns us into the monstrous beasts. The formation of every civilization, including the one in Lord of the Flies, comes with an establishment of a social hierarchy, where certain individuals are going to possess more power, more resources than others. In Lord of the Flies, it comes in form of the position of the chief. It is apparent that the selection of Ralph as the chief has triggered Jack’s envy, who wants to lead as well. The establishment of this civilization has evoked Jack’s ferocious desire for power and has path way for his later mutiny, which eventually leads to the downfall of civilization and chaos. It is reasonable for one to argue that it is the inequality and power imbalance present in the structure of civilization that rouses Jack’s innate evilness and prompts his transformation from a educated British schoolboy (despite being a bit egomaniacal) to a power-thirsty, brutal and manipulative savage in the end.
The story of Lord of the Flies tells us that civilization and human nature can be interrelated and interdependent. Human nature gives rise to the formation of a civilized structure, and in turn the rules, regulations and laws established in civilization help to cope with human’s natural tendency to evilness and animalistic instincts. On the other hand, civilization can be a suppression of human impulses and human nature and its structural hierarchy can even generate further evilness, corrupting natural human goodness. So should we continue to strive to be civilized, when we are completely not in accordance with our nature? Or should we, for the lack of a more accurate phrase, follow our instincts? From a quote in the film A Dangerous Method (2011, David Cronenberg): why should we put so much frantic effort into suppressing our most basic natural instincts[14]?
When it comes to the consideration of whether civilization is beneficial to human beings and the society we are living in, we should ask ourselves once again what it means to be human and what it takes to differentiate ourselves from the beasts and animals in the wild. The question is whether we let our animalistic, barbaric instincts, or our human, civilizing instincts take over us. After all, to be civilized does not mean fame, success or power. These are just synonyms of desire – another primal instinct we humans have. To be civilized means to be able to hold on to our humanity and the ability to control and suppress the savage, the beast and the devil inside us, even in the most difficult times and even without the constraints of civilization. Civilization may not be the universal solution to all our human evilness and weaknesses. The ongoing war, which is the backdrop of Lord of the Flies and the sole reason why the boys came to be on the island in the first place, tells us that no civilization or societal rules can stop humans’ nature to espouse destruction[15]. No civilization or regulations can hold back Jack’s envy. But at the end of the day, civilization acts as a reminder for all of us. A reminder for us to strive to be better people in dark ages. A reminder to tell us – we are human.
(2525 Words)
[1] SparkNotes Editors. SparkNote on Lord of the Flies. SparkNotes.com. (SparkNotes LLC. 2007.):
Web. 30 Nov. 2012.
[2] Unknown Research Writer. Civilization and Human Nature (2008) : Web. 2 Dec. 2012
<http://www.academon.com/analytical-essay/civilization-and-human-nature-124843>
[3] Lord of the Flies. Dir. Brook, Peter. Two Arts Ltd.,1963. Film.
[4] SparkNotes Editors. SparkNote on Lord of the Flies. SparkNotes.com. (SparkNotes LLC. 2007.):
Web. 30 Nov. 2012.
[5] SparkNotes Editors. SparkNote on Lord of the Flies. SparkNotes.com. (SparkNotes LLC. 2007.):
Web. 30 Nov. 2012.
[6] Lord of the Flies. Dir. Peter Brook. Two Arts Ltd.,1963. Film.
[7] Russell, Andrew. Caged Animals: Civilization and Human Nature. (2012): Web. 28 Nov, 2012
<http://www.objectivistliving.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=11716>
[8] Freud, Sigmund. Civilization and Its Discontents, Riviere, Joan, Wilder Publications Ltd, 2011, n. pag. Print
[9] Civilization, Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 15 Nov, 2012): Web, 28 Nov, 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilization#Etymology>
[10] Human Nature, Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 22 Nov, 2012): Web, 28 Nov, 2012. < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_nature#Modernism>
[11] Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 27 Nov, 2012): Web, 2 Dec, 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Jacques_Rousseau#Theory_of_Natural_Human>
[12] Civilization, Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 15 Nov, 2012):. Web, 28 Nov, 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilization#Etymology>
[13] Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 27 Nov, 2012): Web, 2 Dec, 2012.
[14] A Dangerous Methods. Dir. Cronenberg, David. Lago Film. Film.
[15] Unknown Writer. War in Lord of the Flies (EssayFox.com, 2010) : Web. 1 Dec. 2012
< http://www.essayfox.com/lord-of-the-flies/war.php>
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frances_sit01 (student)
