Allegories In William Golding's Lord Of The Flies

A recurring theme among leaders in many societies today is that “absolute power corrupts absolutely” (John Acton, a 1700’s English Catholic historian, politician, and writer). In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, this idea of leadership, power, and corruption is put in the spotlight. Jack, one of the boys on the island, forces his way into the leadership position without actually earning it. It is clear that Jack has become corrupt as he turns into a person who is intimidating, egotistical, and selfish. Ralph, on the other hand, is a quality leader under most conditions as he appeals to the boys’ sophisticated side and has a

wrote this after publishing Lord of the Flies. It is our world, in the form of a story. The two leaders in the story are Ralph and Jack. Ralph starts off a comfortable leader of the boys, but by the end of the book, Ralph and his companion Piggy are alone facing Jack and the rest of the boys. As the novel progresses and the society on the island starts to change, so does Ralph. He begins thinking he has all the answers, but comes to realize that without Piggy he would have never gotten this far. By the end of the book, Ralph and Jack are complete opposites. Jack is about savagery and fun while Ralph is holding on to society, rules, and civilization. Appearing to be a weak leader due to defection of his followers, Ralph is actually dedicated and insightful, only loosing his followers because he could not compete with one category that attracts nearly everyone in the world: fun.

Throughout the book, it can be noticed that Jack has the id personality. He wants to kill the pigs not for the benefit of the group, but for himself. He can also be seen as the devil because of how he acts. When Ralph and Jack were talking to each

It may have taken millions of years for humans to evolve enough to create the sprawling civilizations known today, but it only takes a few months for a group of civil, educated boys to regress back into savagery. In his novel Lord of the Flies, author William Golding depicts a group of young British boys getting stranded on a deserted island sans adults. The boys must look out for themselves, forming a basic governing system and trying to survive. But the challenge soon proves too much to handle, and order deteriorates. William Golding conveys the universal theme of civilization vs. savagery in his novel Lord of the Flies using the literary elements of plot, setting, and characterization.

… The madness came into his eyes again. ‘I thought I might kill.’”(Golding, page 51). If Jack were hunting exclusively for the purpose of food, his inner “compulsion to kill” as stated by the author would not exist to begin with. In fact, this statement appears to suggest the opposite—that his inner compulsion to kill is some kind of inner need rather than just an innocent venture to acquire food for the rest of the boys. Therefore, due to the wording of the author from the quote on page 51 as an addition to the quote on page 31 (which can be surmised as foreshadowing of evil) it provides the basis of Jack’s hunting proving him a symbol of evil. From page 134 onwards, this relationship is further solidified by the following few quotes: “A little apart from the rest, sunk in deep maternal bliss, lay the largest sow of the lot. She was black and pink, and the great bladder of her belly was fringed with a row of piglets…” (page 134), “She blundered into a tree… could follow her easily by the vivid drops of blood. …and the hunters followed… excited by the long chase and the dropped blood.”(page 135), and “Jack held up the head and jammed the soft throat with the pointed end which pierced through into the mouth (Golding, page 136 and 137). The first detail on page 134 indicates the pig they have their sights on is a mother of a few piglets. Quite

In William Golding's Lord of the Flies a group of English school boys crash land onto an uninhabited island somewhere in the Mid Atlantic ocean. Ralph, the protagonist and also the elected leader, tries to maintain peace and avoid any calamity on the island. However, Jack is neither willing to contribute nor listen because he is jealous of Ralph and has a sickening obsession with killing boars. Ralph has some good traits that help him maintain peace and balance for a period of time. He is charismatic and has natural leader attributes. Gradually though some of the other characters are killed due to the irresponsibility and savagery of Jack's actions. In this novel, the author conveys a messege through Freud's theroy of Id, Ego, and

In Lord of the Flies Jack represents the id. The id is the primitive and instinctive part of the personality. Jack can most often time be seen making decisions based in on these two. One such example is when "[h]e [tries] to convey the compulsion to track down and kill that [is]

People with ego personalities are rational and understand the need for compromise ("Structure of Mind: Freud's Id, Ego, & Superego"). Ralph is the character in Lord of the Flies with this temperament. He exercises this characteristic, for example, by telling the group that they will be rescued (Golding, Ch. 3). All of the boys are scared of or worried about the unfamiliarity of the island, and Ralph is trying to comfort them and reassure them that everything will be okay. He also tries to create and maintain order throughout the group because he understands that, if they’re going to live on the island, then they’ll need some sort of organization amongst them. Later in the book, when Jack’s tribe ransacks Ralph and Piggy’s makeshift hut and steals Piggy’s glasses, Ralph confronts him. He says that Jack should have just asked to borrow his glasses to start a fire and that stealing them was unnecessary because he would have been allowed to borrow them. Ralph is continuously trying to make Jack see the rational part of things throughout the story; he’s trying to convince him that there are other, better ways to do things. But Jack can’t see through his animalistic personality and pushes Ralph’s reasoning and insight aside, despite himself.

Jack’s id cannot control his emotions which implode into an emotional outburst when they went to Castle Rock to look for the beast. The other boys wanted to go straight to the platform and climb tomorrow but Jack’s id could not control himself and he had an angry outburst. “I’m going up the mountain.” “The words came from Jack viciously as thought they were a curse” (119). Jack cannot keep his id in check causing him to have this emotional outburst at the mountain. Additionally, Jack’s id solely care about his pleasure which is reflected when Jack talks about hunting for the beast. “There isn’t a snake thing. But if there was a snake we’d hunt it and kill it. We are going to hunt pigs to get meat for everyone.” (36). Now, Jack is focus on his primal desires to hunt. Therefore, the biggest clash of Jack’s id is his desire for separation from the original tribe and the creation of his own tribe, the choir boys. Jack’s id cannot live with the other tribe because he doesn’t want to follow the rules and leaves. “I’m not going to be part of Ralph’s lot – I’m going off by myself” (127) Jack’s

Have you ever met someone like Jack? An aggressive, obsessive, intimidating, egotistical boy that wants to be better than everyone he possibly can be. He's all about violence and torture. Many are scared of him because of how he is. Piggy states "I'm scared of him, and that's why I know him. If you're scared of someone you hate him but you can't stop thinking about him. You kid yourself he's all right really, an' then when you see him again; it's like asthma an' you can't breathe." It's like Jack can't focus on anything else once he's committed to something. Jack thrives off the kill. On the island he won't stop until he gets the pig and becomes obsessed with hunting.

However, on pages 152 to 153 Jack and his “tribe” kill Simon ruthlessly. Another example of Jack being an id is on page 135 when he kills a mother sow(pig) which was still nursing. These two events show you, the reader that, though Jack may seem less of an id than roger, Jack has more cruelty in him

Jack’s id cannot control his emotions which implode into an emotional outburst when they went to Castle Rock to search for the beast. On the hike, it was starting to get dark therefore, Ralph and the other boys made the decision to go straight to the platform and climb tomorrow, however Jack’s id could not control himself and he had an angry outburst. “I’m going up the mountain.” (119). Jack cannot control his id causing him to have this emotional outburst at the mountain. Jack id is not acting reasonable wanting to go up in the dark however it seems to be working off his pure emotions. Additionally, Jack’s id merely cares about his pleasure which is manifested when Jack talks about hunting for the beast. “There isn’t a snake thing. But if there was a snake we’d hunt it and kill it. We are going to hunt pigs to get meat for everyone.” (36). Now, Jack is focused on his primal desires to hunt. Jack’s id displays his preoccupation for hunting and killing. Therefore, the biggest clash of Jack’s id and Ralph’s ego is his desire for separation from the original tribe

Golding shows evil within humans through Jack. Jack symbolizes cruel political leaders such as Castro and Hitler. He is the leader of the hunters, but the first time they find a pig he is not able to kill it. Jack not being able to kill the pig showed that he was still civilized, but later obsessing over the pig he transformed into a savage. William Golding through Jacks character showed that everyone is born good and evil, but

Jack had been behaving as noble individual since long time but soon he showed his true self when he brutally killed a pig. He killed the pig to satisfy his hunting instincts and ended up beheading the pig. The killer instincts that demonstrates his savagery are observed when it stated, “Behind them on the grass the headless and paunched body of sow lay there where they had dropped it” (129) . Here, the pig was killed mercilessly by Jack and his group. The boys indulged in extremely savagery behaviour and kills the pig just for fun. Therefore, glimpses of savagery depicted in the text could have been controlled with the group power which could have generated more power among the

The littluns as well as some of the older boys wanted to have fun and just play around all the time when they first arrived but as the book progresses, most of the boys start acting like savages and can’t control their growing impulses and/ or their “Id.” Furthermore, the boys became psychologically imbalanced. Early in the book, the boys play around and have fun.”They looked at each other, baffled, in love and hate… the shouting and splashing and laughing were only just sufficient to bring them together again” (Golding, 55). In the quote, it shows how the boys are careless and are enjoying themselves by playing with each other. As the story goes on, Jack finds it hard to control his “Id” and acts impulsively. “Id” is part of Freud’s structure of personality. It represents the pleasure principle and it is present in everyone. It does whatever feels good and doesn’t care about reality only it’s own satisfaction. The quote, “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!”shows the savage-like behavior the boys have been expressing. Jack's dark impulses cause him to kill the sow brutally where as before he was unable and afraid to hurt and kill a living creature. Jack couldn’t control his “Id” and as a result, he acted savagely and impulsively.