Chapter One: The Sound of the Shell
Brett Halperin
"'I don't care what you call me so long as...it's not what they used to call me in school...They used to call me Piggy!'" (11)
As chapter one kicks off the book I notice Golding demonstrating the natural cruelty in humans right away. When Piggy clearly says not to call him Piggy Ralph gets a good laugh out of it and from then on is his permanent name while on the island. None of the children including Ralph even have the decency to ask him his real name. Golding certainly had this event take place to show the immediate bullying. Without evening giving Piggy a chance to show off what he has to offer Ralph just makes fun of him and treats him like he's nothing. Golding's belief is that humans are naturally evil so this surely proves his point by portraying verbal abuse so early on in the book. Since Piggy is different from the other characters due to the fact that he wears glasses, is overweight and nerdy, he is an easy target for the other children. Since they know he will not hurt them back they all continue to harass him. Golding shows the other characters laughing at Piggy and treating him like he's worthless. The reader really has the impression that almost all the children on the island except for Piggy are brutal. Golding wants us to think about how strangers at times are so rude to someone they do not even know just because they can be.
Situations with bullying and evilness for no valid reasons are very frequent in literature and real life experiences. The boys are on the island make fun of piggy purely for amusement and humor because he is different. The Zimbardo Experiment significantly relates. The jail guards mistreated the prisoners and tortured them just because they could. They abused the prisoners and harmed them because they were different and lacked the authority that they had. Golding's theory that people are naturally evil is proved accurate based on Lord of the Flies and the Zimbardo Experiment which both show how humans act cruel for no credible reasons.
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