Lord of the Flies Essay

Essay by msb132High School, 10th gradeA-, October 2014

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Baliga 2

Mira Baliga

Ms. Kolbeck

World Core

7 October 2013

Lord of the Flies and Philosophy Essay

German psychologist Erich Fromm once said "The most beautiful as well as the most ugly inclinations of man are not part of a fixed biologically given human nature, but result from the social process which creates man", meaning that good or bad, society makes us who we are in life. William Golding's allegory Lord of the Flies presents a story about a group of British boys who are stranded on an island without any adults and their struggle with survival and order. The Baron de Montesquieu was a Swiss philosopher during the European Enlightenment who believed that democracies and absolute monarchies are prone to corruption and will easily lose the consent of the governed, and an ideal government is one which neither gives too much or too little power to the people.

Golding presents Ralph and Jack's involvement in Simon's murder to support Montesquieu's view that humans are easily corrupted by the encouragement of society and that the best government is one that is neither too oppressive nor too liberal.

Charles de Secondat, also known as the Baron de Montesquieu, was a Swiss nobleman and judge who lived during the Enlightenment and published a book on politics titled The Spirit of the Laws in 1748. Montesquieu believed that humans are born equal but lose this equality because of society, and so they need the law to regain it (Montesquieu qtd. in "Modern History Sourcebook"). Montesquieu believed that governments such as democracies or absolute monarchies will eventually become corrupted and will easily lose the consent of the governed, which he felt was most important for a government to have. Montesquieu also believed that an ideal government is one that has separation of...