The Development of the Brain Between the Genders in The Lord Of The Flies Essay Example

The development of the brain is very different between the genders in many ways. In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, several young boys get stuck on an island after their plane has suddenly crashed. Some main characters include Piggy, the “voice” of the group, Ralph, the leader, and Jack, the villain. An important detail to notice is that there is no parents, adults, or rules. As they spend more time in this environment conflict starts to arise. The boys savage attitude should specifically be blamed on the biological factors such as emotional and brain development.

One biological factor that led to this performance is gender. According to Gregory L. Jantz, founder of the Center for Counseling and Health Resources, “Males on average tend to be less inclined to sit still for as long as females and tend to be more physically impulsive and aggressive”. This supports the claim that the boys behaviour is partly blamed on gender because if it were females there would not have been as much chaos and trouble. The way their brains are set up are different causing unlike outcomes. During the teenage years, “The brain releases dopamine when something makes us feel good, the strength of this “feel good” response helps explain why teens often give in to impulsive desires” (Mascarelli). This chemical is accountable for many bad decisions the boys have made.

Although some may say that it was environmental factors that caused a savage behaviour here is why this claim is flawed. In between the novel it reads, “Only Percival began to whimper with an eyeful of sand and Maurice hurried away. In his other life Maurice had received chastisement for filling a younger eye with sand.” This reveals that even before they were on the island the boys had bad behaviour only now there was no one to correct them. This also weakens the opposite claim by pointing out that boys are more aggressive and are more apathetic. 

Clearly it is genetic factors that causes such a catastrophic behaviour in the boys. All of these ideas fit together demonstrating that the real reason the boys had such a savage behaviour was all biological.