Negative changes of human character in William Golding's Lord of the Flies

This thesis is intended to find out the negative character changes undergone by the refugees and some aspects that \nmotivate them to undergo the changes. As a parable, the novel conveys a view about the darkness of human heart. All \ncharacters in the novel symbolize other figures and objects. To understand the view, the characters and setting should not be understood as particular figures and situation. \nThe theoretical background presented in this study is the elements of novel such as plot, character, setting; and theme. The theory of plot character, and setting are used \nto support the analysis. While the theory of theme is \nused to bridge the finding and the novel's theme as stated \nby the author by which the important point of the novel is inferred. \nThe problems formulated in this study are "What are the \nnegative character changes undergone by the refuges on a certain island in Golding's Lord of the Flies?" and "What are the aspects that motivate the boys to undergo the negative character changes?" To get the answer of the problems, the writer uses causal relationship throughout the analysis. In this case, she considers as if \nthe characters and setting were real. \nTo find out the answers the analysis is divided into three \nparts of analysis - plot, character, and setting. In \nthe analysis of plot, the writer analyzes how the boys behave in facing the conflicts during living on the island. In this part, the analysis involves the conflicts which are the causes of the changes. In the analysis of character, she analyzes the character development of the boys in the \nisland's community. In this part, she analyzes the prior characters, some reasons that come from the heredity, \nand the subsequent characters. \nIn the setting analysis, she analyses how the island is condition affects them. In this part, the reasons of changes \ncome from the environment. From those three analyses, the writer infers the negative character changes and the causes to undergo the changes. \nThe data of this study are valid because they are obtained from the original version of the Lord of the Flies' novel instead of the rewritten version by the second author. The \nvalid data are needed in order to get the complete understanding of the novel as a whole and to get the characters' behavior accurately. \nThe data are in forms verbal descriptions including those of the dialogues and the author's explanation. \nThe analysis shows the following negative character changes. \nAt the beginning, the boys are able to act reasonably, \nstick to the rules, and have a good companion with the chief. After several days living on the island, they become irresponsible, disorganized, disobedient, irrational, safe \nfrom self consciousness, bloodthirsty, and selfish. \nMoreover, they also degrade to a primitive life and show suspicion to others. Physically, they are different from their appearance in the first arrival; they are unhealthy \nand dress like savages. \nMoreover, the aspects that motivate the boys to undergo \nthe changes are the boy's immaturity, the tendency to hurt \nothers, to be destructive, to be fearful of something unknown and the island's condition itself. \nAs a parable, the story lets the readers reflect that everyone has the capacity to do evil. However, \nfrom the analysis and finding, the writer finds out that \nthe capacity to do evil is not the only aspect that motivates the boys to undergo the changes because some evidences show that the boys are also the victims of the environment.