Democracy to Dictatorship in Lord of the Flies Essay

William Golding's Lord of the Flies is a novel about a group of boys who are lost on a deserted island and must do what they can to survive. At the beginning of the novel, two of the boys, Ralph and Jack, become leaders. These differences will form the main conflict in the story. The differences will cause them to hate each other and the anger that results is a recurring part of the plot throughout the novel. These two boys can be compared by the way they change, the reason for their actions, and the way they use or abuse power.

Even though many supporters suggest that Ralph is a great leader, it is obvious that Jack is the best leader on the island. Since the boys set foot on the island, Jack was honest, and he never hesitated to express his feelings. “Human nature cannot be so irremediably bad if the arrival of one adult can immediately put everything to rights” (Reilly,10). This quote explains that when Jack was introduced on the island he was a great leader, and this made the boys realize they each have individual responsibilities in order to contribute to the group. While being honest, Jack demanded the group to do what he wanted, and the boys would obey him. “Jack at first demands to be called as at school, Merridew, the surname his mark of superior age and authority”(Oldsey 4). This quote illustrates that Jack immediately separated himself from the other boys on the island.

The desire for power and not getting the desired power will often cause major conflicts. In the case of Jack, he will do anything to have the power he wants, even if that means lie about the current leader, Ralph. As Jack talks about Ralph he says, “He is not a proper chief… He is a coward himself. (page 176).” He goes on to say, “Who thinks Ralph oughtn’t to be chief ? (page

William Golding's Lord of the Flies is a novel about a group of boys who are lost on a deserted island and must do what they can to survive. At the beginning of the novel, two of the boys, Ralph and Jack, become leaders. These differences will form the main conflict in the story. The differences will cause them to hate each other and the anger that results is a recurring part of the plot throughout the novel. These two boys can be compared by the way they change, the reason for their actions, and the way they use or abuse power.

Jack represents evil, violence and how people can have a dark side emerge in a period of hardship. As a former choirmaster and "head boy" at his school, he lands on the island having had control and power over others, by overpowering the choir with his bad attitude. He wants to make rules similar to Ralph but his rules are much harsher. Jack’s rules are more black and white.

In our society we have our system for power set up making the understanding of who is in charge easy; However, when the boys are stranded on an island they are forced to come up with their own system, causing rivalries and corrupting rights and values. Before being stranded on an island Jack was an innocent, well-behaved child, however, when thrown into a foreign place with no society and no system of power it is very easy to destroy all of your innocence when obtaining most power. Jack was a hunter and was in charge of all the hunter, he eventually made his own tribe and almost everyone followed him, giving him a mass amount of control. Golding shows that Jack uses his power in ways only beneficial to him, easily seen when the remainder of Ralphs tribe approach Jacks and see him, “ painted up and wearing garland around his neck” (54). Jack uses his power to idolize himself and make the other

By disobeying Ralph’s rules, Jack is trying to weaken the rules. Jack still has an effect on the boys, and his breaking of rules weakens the their will to follow them. In a later meeting, Jack claims that Ralph “isn’t a proper chief” and that “[he’s] going off by [himself].” Jack’s departure weakens Ralph’s tribe, since the choir has been with Jack before the crash on the island, and showed loyalty to him on the island. This results in a majority of the boys abandon Ralph for Jack. Some of the non-choir boys go off with Jack’s tribe, because of the beast they want protection from. They believe his hunters will supply that. Jack is no longer under control, but is now in control. Jack’s department of the tribe, and weakening of the boy’s opinion on Ralph leads to his desire for power being satisfied.

The Lord Of The Flies is a Nobel prize winning novel, written by William Golding. Who was an English teacher in 1930’s. The novel is about a group of young British school boys who find themselves deserted on an island in the Pacific Ocean and are forced to fight for themselves. This has a unique symbolism of characters and the events. The young boys don’t know how to fight for themselves and turn into complete savages by the end of the Novel and they have some freedom from the adult rules they are familiar with back at home.

Both Jack and Ralph were struggling for power. At first, Jack and Ralph had similar goals for what they should do on the island. They quickly retreated when Jack became obsessed with hunting for pigs on the island. Ralph thought that they should keep the signal fire going at all times. Jack started to see that he did not want to leave the island he like that there were no rules. Ralph on the other hand felt that they could not be here forever. Ralph wanted to be rescued from the island. They're very different opinion forces Jack to leave Ralph's group and start his own. Jack toke most of the other boys with him leaving Ralph with very few people. From all of this Ralph started to realize that leading a group of people was not easy. There would always be people like Jack that would disagree. Jack left feeling insulted from Ralph insulting his hunting he felt that Ralph had undermined him as a result Jack turned mean and

Lord of the Flies is a novel, written by William Golding and published in 1954, about a young group of British school boys who are stranded on a desert island after their plane is shot down, in the midst of a raging war. The group encounters a myriad number of problems and boisterous arguments and disputes between the boys group. Internal and external conflicts are present throughout the novel, whether it be man vs man, man vs, himself or man versus nature. William Golding portrays conflict mainly through the characterisation of the two main characters: Ralph, leader of the civilised, and Jack, leader of the savage group. Golding draws on parallels with modern society through the growing tension between civilisation and savagery. The author does this in three key moments throughout the rising action

Ralph is an idealistic leader who believes that others will follow him simply because he has good ideas and considers their safety extremely important. Jack, on the other hand, is a selfish leader who values comfort and fun over practicality. I believe that neither one of these boys is a true leader. Ralph has a commanding presence and the makings of a good leader, but he goes about the action of leading all wrong. Jack is an absolutely terrible leader. He places those who follow him in danger, leading some to their deaths, simply because he wants to have fun. Most of the boys chose to follow Ralph in the beginning because he was similar to the authority they would have had back home. He had their attention, he made reasonable rules, and he was going to keep them safe and get them all rescued. “...of course we shall be rescued’...Ralph’s new authority brought light and happiness.” (37) The problem was, none of the other boys wanted to do any work, other than hunting for food. That’s where jack came in. He was relatable. He knew what it was like to

Primarily, Jack’s character represents evil and violence. For example, he is eager to make rules and replace Ralph in the position of a leader of the group; however, he tends to break the

Upon reading and analyzing the book it’s easy to see some very key factors that led to this madness; first Jack wanted more power than he was allotted causing him to become very jealous, second the boys didn’t have any respect for their true leader, and lastly they weren’t willing to work together and forgot who they were.

At the beginning of the novel, Jack is denied the position as chief. When the group of boys is voting between Ralph and Jack for the position as chief, only the “obedient choir raised their hands” for Jack, everyone is for Ralph. Since Jack has a dictator like personality, he is shocked

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