Why Boys Become Vicious Essay

Why Boys Become Vicious, by William Golding, is about the negative behavior in young boys. He describes occurrences when boys act vicious and cruel. Furthermore, Golding explains the simplicity of goodness versus the complexity of evil. The key event he mentions is about the two years of age boy named James Bulger, and how he was brutally murdered by two young boys. They had abducted him, beat him, and killed him for no apparent reason. Due to this malicious act, Golding believed parents were the main reason for their children’s behavior.

Golding’s main thesis is about peoples’ reasons for evil, despite their background related to cruelty or current situation; the greatest way they are affected is by the way they are treated by parents, fear, and chaos. Fear can be brought out by the absence of parents, or having parents treat them badly. Depending on how parents might treat their child, they might range their anger and frustrations by inflicting it upon others.

He thinks cruelty is a characteristic that is either developed over time or something that people are born with. Golding also believes it is part of human nature to be evil. It could be the reminiscence of the hunting and killing times. I personally think Golding is incorrect about his view of people. He mentions that children without parents become more vicious. Children with parents could very well turn out the same, resulting with horrible and mean qualities. Though parenting can essential to a child’s development, I do not believe it is the source of corruption. Children become corrupt by the negative influences in video games, TV programs, movies, and even in the music they might listen to. I agree with his thoughts on acting out in times of fear or violence. When a child is with their friends, pressure can also change how they behave. Over all, it all depends on the individual child and who they are morally.