Lord of the Flies

Novel by William Golding, Adapted by Nigel Williams

Directed by Caden Manson
Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama Production, November 2015
The Terrible Disease of Being Human in the Social Media Age
In his 1954 novel, Lord of the Flies, William Golding explored the natural human
instinct for evil. His experiences of violence in World War II forced him to confront a shift in
his view of human nature. Although our world today seems very distant from the events of
WWII, the human instincts for violence and destruction that Golding examined have not
changed.
Goldings involvement in WWII and the D-Day invasion changed his outlook on the
nature of human beings. In his 1962 essay Fable he wrote:
Before the second world war I believed in the perfectibility of social man; that a
correct structure of society would produce goodwill; and that therefore you could
remove all social ills by a reorganization of society. It is possible that today I believe
something of the same again; but after the war I did not because I was unable to. I
had discovered what one man could do to another. I am not talking of one man killing
another with a gun, or dropping a bomb on him or blowing him up or torpedoing him.
I am thinking of the vileness beyond all words that went on, year after year, in the
totalitarian statesI must say that anyone who moved through those years without
understanding that man produces evil as a bee produces honey, must have been blind
or wrong in the head
Producing honey comes naturally to bees they instinctually produce it in order to survive
during the winter season when flowers are not in bloom. In Goldings view, humans produce
evil in a similar way; producing evil comes naturally, an instinct that comes with being
human.
The events in Lord of the Flies demonstrate natural human instincts towards violence
and destruction. In Fable, Golding discusses his exploration of this instinct in Lord of the

Flies. He writes: the boys try to construct a civilization on the island; but it breaks down in
blood and terror because the boys are suffering from the terrible disease of being human.
Today, we see reports of these inclinations for destruction and violence in the news,
specifically in these headlines from the past year:

The events chronicled in those headlines reveal that humans still have the same
tendencies toward power and destruction that they did during Goldings time. Today, many of
these incidents are immediately documented and spread through the use of social media and
technology. Technology has not only captured the prevalence of this aspect of human nature
through a variety of mediums (photo, video, tweets, etc.), but it has also affected how we
experience, document, and share these instances of violence and destruction whether its
bullying someone via text messages, tweeting images of a house you destroyed, or capturing a
murder on video.
Charlene Li, author of Open Leadership: How Social Technology Can Transform the
Way You Lead, has commented on this new sharing culture: What has happened over the last

three years is that we now have a culture of sharing that didnt exist three years agoNow we
think and act very differently because of these technologies. The societal change that has
happened is that we share more. Jonah Berger, author of Contagious: Why Things Catch On,
conducted a study that connects this act of sharing to our emotions. His report, Arousal
Increases Social Transmission of Information, suggests that emotions characterized by high
arousal, such as anxiety or amusement, will boost sharing more than emotions characterized
by low arousal, such as sadness or contentment. In todays society, where the ability to share
information is just a click away, there is a strong tendency to share information in moments of
high emotion, and that emotion can now be shared with a larger audience through social
media. Rather than passing a story on to one friend over the phone, it can be shared with an
audience of thousands, and possibly millions if the content goes viral. Berger suggests that the
forwarding or sharing of this kind of information allows for a sense of release or closure for
the person sharing it. Once someone passes the story on, he or she feels a release of some of
his or her strong emotions, which may explain why people feel the need to document and
share photos and videos of violence and destruction online. If the events of Lord of the Flies
were to happen today, would the boys document their destruction of the island and share their
documentation to feel this sense of closure?
Violent images and videos come from both criminals and bystanders. According to a
report by CNN, criminals were using social networks to blab about the crimes they were
plotting, set up drug deals, brag about wrongdoings and even upload incriminating videos.
But its not just criminals sharing these kinds of images online. Anyone who witnesses a
violent event may share information about it. A piece in the Los Angeles Times reported that at
the scene of a homicide, with the paramedics still on their way, people crowded around the

men and pulled out their phones. Before detectives arrived, an image had been posted to
Instagram, then circulated on Facebook and Twitter. The family of the victim found out
about the death through the Internet before a death report was even filed.
The accessibility of technology and social media has not just changed how people
share information about these violent or destructive events; these technologies themselves
have become mediums through which people are violent to one another, specifically though
cyberbullying. A recent piece in The New Yorker entitled How the Internet Has Changed
Bullying states: Before the Internet, bullying ended when you withdrew from whatever
environment you were in. But now, the bullying dynamic is harder to contain and harder to
ignoreas long as you have access to the network, a ceaseless stream of notifications leaves
you vulnerable to victimhood. In Lord of the Flies, Golding acknowledged the human
tendency to prey on the weak through bullying. That tendency to bully still exists today,
except now it can be done through a new medium and continue even when the bully and
victim are not in the same physical space.
When the majority of people can share information, good and bad, with the click of a
button, the visibility of these events has an effect on us; it could be a desensitization to images
of violence and death, or an instinctual need to participate in the sharing of these images. It
may also make people think that it is acceptable to participate in these acts of violence, in real
life or online. Although Lord of the Flies was written over sixty years ago, the possibility of
the story Golding created still exists today. To conclude in Goldings own words:
To many of you, this will seem trite, obvious and familiarMan is a fallen
beingHis nature is sinful and his state perilous
One of our faults is to believe that evil is somewhere else and inherent in
another nation. My book was to say: you think that now the war is over and an evil
thing destroyed, you are safe because you are naturally kind and decent. ButI know
it could happen in any country. It could happen here