República Bolivariana de Venezuela

Ministerio del Poder Popular para la Educación Universitaria, Ciencia y

Tecnología

Universidad Pedagógica Experimental Libertador

Instituto Pedagógico de Maturín “Antonio Lira Alcalá”

Maturín – Estado Monagas

Analysis of the human behavior in “Lord of the Flies”

Author:
Br. Adolfo Ortuño
C.I: 25.909.010

Msc. Juana Sagaray

Maturin, February 2018

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 Index

Introduction ................................................................................................................. 3
Summary of the Novel ................................................................................................ 4
Analysis of the Novel .................................................................................................. 6
Theories ....................................................................................................................... 8
Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 12
Electronic References .............................................................................................. 13

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 Introduction

The human behavior is a very difficult and complex topic. To talk about it is
to treat several topics at the same time that complement to each other. By
nature, the human being is eminently social, but there are many other factors
that play an important role, such as biological and cultural influences.

The behavior that a person adopts is determined by the experience of its

environment, also related with the knowledge. Vygotsky’s theory expresses
that: “Individual development cannot be understood without reference to the
social and cultural context within which it is embedded. Higher mental
processes in the individual have their origin in social processes” (Vygotsky,
1978). In other words, every simple thing that has been learned, first it is
social, then it is psychological; first it is interpsychic, then intrapsychic, and
everything is evident then, through the behavior; it is defined as the set of
conducts, and can be analyzed in function to the personality without leaving a
side the social context.

Therefore, the purpose of this research paper is to analyze the human

behavior of the characters in the novel “Lord of the Flies” to give a
psychological perspective in relation with the fact of being isolated of society,
and realize how human are influenced by the social context.

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 Summary of the Novel

“Lord of the Flies” is a famous novel written by William Golding, and

published en 1954. This story is about a group of children that is returning
home and suddenly, they have a plane crash in which no adult survived. The
children are trapped and dispersed in an isolated island where they do not
have any supply.

They all come together thanks to the sound of the conch produced by
Ralph one of the oldest kids in the island (and Piggy). Now that they are
together, they need to look for the way to survive, getting some food, water
and a comfortable place to rest. To do that, the group decides to vote for a
leader, all of them vote for Ralph, even though Jack is there the majority
voted for Ralph.

The first decision is to light a bonfire for them to try to be rescued. As there
is no control at all, this mission is not successfully accomplished, and they
almost finish burning the entire island. Finally, they can light the bonfire, but
someone has to watch it to maintain the fire alive. Jack in his obsession with
hunting, he recruits against their will the twins that are in charge of watching
the bonfire that ends extinguished.

Just at the moment the bonfire turns off a ship is passing by near the
island so, they could not be rescued because the ship could not see the fire.
When Ralph realizes, the situation makes him upset and, it is the first time
Ralph and Jack confront each other. Ralph’s group is smaller now, the twins,
Simón and Piggy, the one that will try to maintain the bonfire alive.

Jack’s group having decided they were going to hunt, they realize that
they do not have fire to cock so, they decide to steal fire from the other group,
also they decide to show their superiority through an invitation to a party they
were going to organize.

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 Before the party, they go to hunt and successfully they kill a wild pig.
Simon observes when they kill the animal and stick its head in a stick as an
act of sacrifice. This situation makes Simon hallucinate, realizing that they are
the real beasts. Simon throws up and suddenly, he faints. When he wakes up
he goes with the group to tell them what he saw. As he is covered of blood
and dirty, Jack’s group get scared and start hitting Simon with their lances
until they kill him.

Everyone lose control and, during the confrontation one of the kids of
Jack’s group throws a rock that hits Piggy in his head. That hit kills him. As all
of the children are out of control, the ones that are against Ralph decide to go
for him, when he approaches to the beach fortunately, he sees a British naval
officer who has arrived to the island thanks to the fire. Everyone calms down
and start crying as they came back into reality, regretting for their acts.

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 Analysis of the Novel

One of the main points to analyze of this postwar novel is what Golding
transmits through his ideas in “Lord of the Flies”. This novel is an allegory
about the basic principles that govern an organized society, and that each
character and object emulates something relevant.

He focuses on the conflict between two competitive factors that involve

and exist in all human beings. The fact of following rules, being a good citizen
according to moral orders against the instinct of satisfying own desires, acts
of violence. In short, it is the conflict of good and evil; also can be seen as the
civilization against savagery.

From a psychological study, the characters can be analyzed with a few of

words that describe them and, make connection with our reality:

 From a social point of view Ralph is the personification of democracy,

while Jack represents dictatorship because he wants to have the
power of leadership by force. In turn, Piggy represents the brain of a
society, it means, those who has the necessary knowledge for the
good function of society, but lacks of leadership. Roger represents the
negativism in power.
 From a psychological or behavioral point of view, Ralph and Piggy
represent the civilized instinct of survival having common sense trying
to promote rules in a setting that reflects our society. On the other
hand, Jack and his group symbolize the violence and savagery in our
society, having a primitive behavior that takes part in our society when
there is lack of moral and legal rules.

The author gives us a very important and explicit message that is the
necessity of the human being, once we are accustomed to the society, we
want to occupy a place in time, be part of a social status and, above all,

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believe it or not, the fact of obey. It sounds rare but, we need to follow others,
if it is not like that, if we do not know what we must do and if we do not have
occupations that distract our minds, just as the children in the novel were
accustomed to do, could it probably occurs what happened to them, a brain
disorder.

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 Theories

One of the most well-known theories to represent this novel is the triune
brain. Paul MacLean was a North American doctor and neuroscientist who
made some significant contributions in the fields of psychology and
psychiatry. He is the creator of the evolutionary theory of the triune brain, the
one that expresses that the human brain is actually, three brains in one.

As it says before, it is divided into three brains. The first one is known as
the reptilian complex or reptilian system, then the Limbic system and finally,
the neocortex.

 The reptilian complex or reptilian system: It executes the basic

programs of life, is the most primitive part of our brain, it is a section
where we can find the instincts and the necessary psychological
changes to guarantee the survival. This brain is where programed,
unconscious and automatic behavior takes place. It organizes and
processes the functions that deal with “doing” (Routines, territoriality,
addictions, rituals, safety, among others).

Through this detailed explanation it is possible to take off some conducts

from the characters of the novel. Clearly, all the children have this part of the
brain active because of an instinct of survival, but the one with more primitive

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attitudes is Jack. Being an authoritarian leader makes the rest of the group
that follows him copy this kind of behavior.

 Limbic system: This one surrounds the reptilian system and it is in

charge of executing programs with emotions, defense, fear, affection,
motivation, social interaction. It needs to work properly with the
reptilian one.

This second brain is also put into action in the characters of the novel. As
they are not alone, they need to interact among themselves. It is noticeable
the presence of some of the aspects mentioned before in the characters. One
example could be the constant fear of Piggy.

He licked his lips.

"There ain't nothing we can do. We ought to be more careful. I'm scared-
-"

 Neocortex: It is the newest system that is divided into two

hemispheres, the right one and, the left one. It is located over and
around the limbic system, it processes information and generate
knowledge. It is the center of the intellectual activity. The left
hemisphere controls the right side of the human body. It is the
settlement of the language, the rational thinking and mathematics. The
right hemisphere controls the left side of the human body, faculties like
intuition, spatial relations, image counts, patterns and codifications.

This is the most complex part of the brain because it is where reasoning,
logic and the language take place. These aspects are extremely important
because are the ones that differentiate us from other living things (animals). It
also needs to work with the other two brains to function properly. In the novel,
the children can use these aspects, even though some of them take some

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uncivilized behaviors. That is why it is necessary to ask: Why the children of
Lord of the Flies behave like savage people?

To answer the question mentioned before, it is necessary to present

another theory to contribute to the development of this literature research
paper. The Maslow pyramid, or hierarchy of human needs, is a psychological
theory proposed by Abraham Maslow in his book “A Theory of Human
Motivation” in 1943. In this theory Abraham Maslow shows us a diagram of
human needs that are necessary to satisfy them from bottom to top with the
aim of achieving the self-actualization. This theory also complements the
argument of the human behavior what is the essence of this paper. According
to Maslow (1943): “From the bottom of the hierarchy upwards, the needs are:
physiological, safety, love and belonging, esteem and self-actualization.
Needs lower down in the hierarchy must be satisfied before individuals can
attend to needs higher up”.

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 The human being is able to resist for a long time some adverse situations,
situations in which he/she is permanently denied the satisfaction of some of
his/her basic needs. But, normally, the personality cannot maintain its
balance, its normal status; it suffers then, a deformation in its constant effort
of adapting to the situation. Only the individual that has achieved an authentic
psychological maturity can maintain the balance and psychic cohesion to
confront many of the situations that without a doubt would demolish the
morality and most of the time, physically the common man.

In short, if we do no satisfy our basic needs or we lack, partially or totally

of the things that let us satisfy our needs, the consequence will affect us
physically, worse still psychologically. The effects of any dissatisfaction of the
human needs established in Maslow's hierarchy of needs could be:

 Unease.
 Discomfort.
 Tension.
 Irritability.
 Decrease in performance.
 Incensement of other artificial needs.

These are a few of the effects that can cause the dissatisfaction of the
human needs. This is the most noticeable fact that can be extracted from the
novel. Clearly, all the children are put in a difficult setting in which they have
to survive by their own; as it says before, we are different according to our
personality. It is all about psychological resistance or maturity, aspect that not
all people can develop at the same time or at the same age. Lord of the Flies
is a very good representation of this theory in the way how human beings
needs several factor to maintain physical and mental balance and, how the
lack of these supplies can affect our behavior and our reason.

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 Conclusion

Through the development of this study, it is clear that the human being is
social by nature; it means that we need of the social interaction with others,
this is one of the reasons the language takes sense in groups. It is necessary
to understand how important these contributions are to the evolution of the
society. We are meant to follow rules and some people as leaders because it
is what society ask for.

The novel Lord of the Flies is a classic in English literature, through its
reading it has helped us to understand some phenomenon such as, the
human behavior, the role of each person in society, human needs among
others. These topics are necessary in our lives not to lose the focus of what
we are and where we come from.

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 Electronic References

Golding, W. (1953). Lord of the Flies. 1954 Faber & Faber, Ltd.

McLeod, S. A. (2018, Aug 05). Lev Vygotsky. Retrieved from

https://www.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher

psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

MacLean, P. (1990). The triune brain in evolution: role in paleocerebral

functions. New York: Plenum Press.

MacLean, P (1985). "Brain evolution relating to family, play, and the

separation call". Archives of General Psychiatry.

Maslow, A. H. (1943). A Theory of Human Motivation. Psychological Review,

50(4), 370-96.

Universidad Pedagógica Experimental Libertador (2006). Manual de Trabajos

de Grado y Especialización y Maestría y Tesis Doctorales. (4ª ed).
Caracas: FEDUPEL.

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