Is man really born with a evil persona or a persona that is worthy as an angel
or is man born naked for a reason because he has nothing to bring to this world
but himself? A person is not innately any characteristic, he was brought to the
world from love and must choose to love or not. Mother Theresa explains this
best by saying, “Everyone was created to be loved and to love.” The novel,
Lord of the Flies, has characters that were not brought to the island good or
evil, but has characters that changed because the atmosphere that they are in
changed them. Because of the environment that you are in makes you become a
certain person, you change with the circumstances of your environment, and
interact with the condition of your environment. Major events affect your life
in drastic ways. A marriage, for instance is a major occurrence and different
kinds of marriages can drastically change your life. A marriage that is abusive
emotionally and physically can make your life full of hatred, you could be
depressed, you could see your self as less a person than you are, and you could
also be a frightened person because of it. A marriage completely different is
one full of love. A marriage like that can cause a person to act blissful, to go
out and do more things on account of your support system, and you can show other
people to have loving lives like yours. All the characters, as one, are in a
kind of marriage together, they lived concurrently and supported each other. The
marriage was abusive, they taunted each other, especially Piggy. They taunted
him at first meeting by saying this, “He’s not Fatty... his real name’s
Piggy”(21). On account of that Piggy felt not worthy to other characters in
the novel and didn’t get to show his more intelligent side to everyone. Events
are a primary device that causes people to act a certain way. If the characters
didn’t live so close together and taunt Piggy, would he have acted the way he
did through the course of the novel? Being brought into particular situations
can alter your life. To cite an instance, a child being taken from his home, the
only place he knew, and put into a foster home would be a particular situation
that could alter one’s life. The other place he lived in may have been harmful
to his well-being and it was a positive occurrence that he was brought out of
his home. On the other hand, the foster home could affect his well-being in a
more negative way than his old home. The Lord of the Flies is based upon the
fact that these children were suddenly thrusted into a new environment that in
the end affected them in a very negative way. The conversation Ralph has with
the naval officer in the end expresses how a person from the outside can’t
believe that children could be killing each other just because they are alone on
an island; the officer says,” We saw your smoke. What have you been doing?
Having a war or something?” (201). The truth was that their new environment,
the island, was a big reason that did really have a war with each other.
Changing an environment may have an effect on a person in many different ways,
good and bad. People are who they are because of people that surround them. For
example, Piggy grew up with his aunt, who spoiled him, and taught him about his
asthma. Piggy proves he runs his life according to his aunt by saying, ”My
auntie told me not to run...on account of my asthma”(9). Piggy’s new
surroundings changed him into what he was in the story. An example of this would
be when the other boys teased him. Because of their harsh treatment he was quiet
and less self-confident. The boys were now his aunt and they now controlled how
he acted and felt. Lord of the Flies is a good example of how people in your
surroundings help make the person you are. In conclusion, your future is not
decided at birth. The good and evil in mankind depends on the situations that
happen, not on that one person. The evil that happened in Lord of the Flies
occurred because of the situations on their environment, the island, and the
situations that happened to them individually. A person is not just plain evil
or just good, we are all full of different characteristics because of the
experiences that we have had, good experiences and bad. Finally, as human beings
we are all born equal, and what happens during the course of our lives
determines who you are.