Abuse Of Power In Lord Of The Flies

There is a famous quote by David Brin which states: “It is said that power corrupts. But actually it’s more true that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power.” This quote means that not everyone can be corrupted, but sometimes, people are too weak to handle the pressure. Additionally, power comes in many forms, but one way that really stands out is when it boils down to influence on other people. Furthermore, in real life and in novels, power often corrupts people and characters. In both the novels Lord of the Flies by William Golding and Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger, power has the ability to bring out the worst qualities in human nature in the antagonists, a concept that can be also be applied.

The Lord of the Flies by William Golding is an allegory that explores the instinctual evil humans possess and how this evil manifests into our societies. The book demonstrates this through young boys who are stranded on an island due to a plane crash. Despite their best efforts, the lack of adult guidance inhibits the boys from maintaining an orderly society. The boys turn to their survival instincts, many of which are evil. The lack of order exposes the internal savagery within the boys, resulting in an understanding of the flaws within all humanity. The Lord of the Flies uses the innocence of young boys to show the societal impact of human errors through their lack of adult supervision, the desire to inflict violence, and the need for authority over others.

Lord of the Flies, a book written by William Golding, is a story about young boys getting trapped on an island as a result of a plane crash. The boys go to extreme measures to survive on this island and start to insult and abuse one another for no valid reason. Similarly, an experiment called the “Stanford Prison Experiment” demonstrates the interaction among prisoners and their behavior when isolated from the outside world (McLeod). The book Lord of the Flies resembles the “Stanford Prison Experiment” by virtue of showing that, when forced to live together for even a short period of time, people may become inhumane.

Evil: A noun meaning profound immorality, wickedness, and depravity. Everyone has a little bit of evil in them, but it’s up to that person if they want to show it or not. In Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, a group of boys show the evil within themselves while being stranded on an island. Because of the situation that has been thrust upon them, they soon discover the true evil they are capable of. In the book, the boys show evil through their lust for power, the behavior that the boys express, and their murderous actions.

Fear can take control of humans and manipulate them for evil. In William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, fear is shown to change the boys into savages from their fears on the island. This fear starts with the younger children and their fears of the dark and unknown. The fear changes throughout the novel and manipulates the boys which Jack uses fear to gain power over the innocent boys.

William Golding’s Lord of the Flies presents a story of a group of boys who become stranded on an island together, and in their struggle to survive; some begin to fight for power. Having power makes them feel in control of their situation; however, this power struggle quickly begins to consume them. Golding uses the power struggle between Ralph and Jack, the two main characters, to illustrate the power struggle between good and evil.

The Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a novel about a group of boys stranded on an island with no adults and no rules. Golding believes that humans all have a capability to do wrong, and through The Lord of the flies portrays how certain situations make a human’s capacity for evil more prominent. Golding shows how the boys’ civilization deteriorates from being good British kids to murderous savage people. The novel can easily be connected to the Stanford Prison Experiment, and how what happened to the boys on the island can happen outside the realm of fiction. Golding shows the reader what the Lord of the Flies is in the book and how the namesake of the book is found in all of us.

In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, a plane escaping Britain in the midst of the next World War crash lands on a desert island. The surviving group of schoolboys begins to fend for themselves without adult supervision. Immediately, a boy named Ralph rises as the leader when he gathers the children with a conch shell. The other children draw toward his charisma and mature age. However, not everyone agrees with this institution of leadership, namely Jack Merridew. The island corrupts as Jack gains a foothold of power. Because of this corruption, two children--Simon and Piggy--die. Throughout this story, these crises are blamed on man’s inner evil prevailing with a lack of civilization and become evident through Jack’s interactions with Ralph,

Murder. Disrespect. Blatant disregard. These are all choices that are made throughout life that negatively impact the success of any task or challenge. Many poor decisions were made in Lord of the Flies that lead to the ultimate downfall of the boys and the showcase of their savagery. The decision to bully others was a leading cause of this behavior and a sign of disrespect that created major rifts. Some may believe that the decisions made were practical and voted on, but that is not the case; Jack was constantly defying Ralph’s orders. This rift caused paranoia that lead to savagery and the killing of Simon and Piggy.

In William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, power is a notable theme that can be found very frequently throughout the novel. In the book, the theme of power is found in the form of items that revolve around the protagonist of the story, Ralph, and the antagonist, Jack (Burns 1). Ralph and Jack use these items in order to establish power in the group of boys for their own reasons (Burns 2). With Ralph, he uses items, which represent order in the story, to establish a democracy on the island, while Jack uses specific items that represent evil to create a monarchy out of Ralph’s democracy (Burns 1). The items used by Ralph and Jack in Golding’s novel will be later explained in the essay on how they represent power, what their meaning is, and their purpose in the story.

In the Roman Empire, England, France, and the Middle East, ever since people have been around, there has always been conflict and fighting. A common theme in war is inhumanity. For example, in World War I mustard gas would produce terrible blisters on soldiers who were exposed to it. Empathy for those suffering young men was not present in those causing the pain. While war is still ongoing in the world, Europe is much more peaceful today then it was a hundred years ago and people in general are being taught to resolve conflict in a humane way. Since William Golding wrote Lord of the Flies there have been many improvements in society over the last 70 years. While William he was alive, teenagers were often mean and inhumane like those portrayed

Power can have a strong impact on the ego, and with it an entire personality can change for the worse. William Golding’s dystopian story, Lord of the Flies, describes the life changing journey of the young boys evacuated from an atomic world war. After being stranded on a utopian island in the middle of the Pacific, the plane full of boys must determine how to survive while keeping order. Without their more experienced parents leadership, they must understand power. Jack has been impacted by power as a result of the island situation.

The desire for power is a very large theme in both stories. Lots of scenarios happen where there are two friends, but when the need for power comes in that relationship is destroyed. In the Lord of The Flies the plot revolves around this issue. Jack and Ralph are good friends when they are first left on the island. They work together in the beginning and are actually very productive, but after a little while, someone suggests that they need a leader. Both of the boys step up and this causes problems because they decide to abandon their friendship for their role of power. This leads to the death of two of their friends and results in a group of little boys who are left in complete chaos. At the end of the story, the boys are rescued and leave

In “Lord of the Flies” there are several themes that could be analyzed. Three main ones are evil, power, the island. For evil, the boys come from a refined background. As they are stranded, the savagery inside them drives events forward. From a group of lively school boys, they become violent hunters, killing their own friends.

Once these boys join Jack’s tribe, they are forced to follow his orders, committing heinous atrocities against their former friends in a desperate attempt to avoid the physical punishment Jack inflicts on those who disobey him. Jack rules his subjects through fear and intimidation, and yet lures them in by playing on hidden desires unbeknownst to them. Jack is often shown acting cruel and menacing towards the other boys, however is he also shown as being self-conscious and a bit insecure: “Boys are desperate to distract from their own helplessness and do so by projecting their fear of subjection onto an even weaker