Humanity is a species, a timeline, and even an idea. Many over the years have tried to give a direct definition to the human race, and they haven't gotten very far. It is impossible to enclose the essence of the human being in one sentence. There are so many different elements that are part of being human that are different for every person on earth. One thing is certain: there is a series of actions that each person will take, or a series of events that will encompass each person's life and that are similar across humanity. This is known as the human condition. Literature is often based on the human condition and authors, poets or professors write about it in hidden ways, so the reader does not immediately understand that the central theme of the text is the human condition. These texts can teach a lot about society and humanity in general. Two of these texts, novels, are Golding's Lord of the Flies and Conrad's Heart of Darkness. Every story has a pivotal moment that doesn't even affect the outcome of the plot, but is perhaps the most important moment of every book. The Lord of the Flies Boar's Head scene and the Heart of Darkness Grove scene each attest to some element of the human condition, and each scene has many of the same elements that give insight into humanity's understanding as a whole. Flies has a scene that implements the human condition and the first element it conveys is the need for control over every situation. Control is the oldest of the arts and should be considered as such. It was performed by some of the greatest people who ever lived, even if some of those people were some of the most terrifying. “The half-closed eyes were clouded by the infinite cynicism of adult life. They assured Simon that everything… middle of paper… among the native slaves who were sent there to die. The difference between the Grove scene and the Boar's Head scene regarding death is that Marlow is faced with death, but from people who are still alive. “And this was where some of the helpers had retreated to die.” (Page 24) The people he meets are not dead yet, although they will be soon. This shakes Marlow to the bone. Death hangs in the air of the grove, almost waiting to pounce like some sort of jungle creature. Humanity cannot be reduced to a simple definition. The closest we can come to defining humanity is the human condition. The human condition has many different elements, and some of these are illustrated in the grove scene from Heart of Darkness and the Boar's Head scene from Lord of the Flies. The human condition is something inevitable, which we all have to deal with. It's a fact.