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Desire For Power In Lord Of The Flies Research Paper

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The Desire for Power There is something in all of us that is the strongest desire we have, to have power. You see it everywhere, in our nation’s leaders, in our sport’s programs, even in something as basic as a middle school class. In Lord of the Flies, you witness multiple characters striving to be leaders, even though they only focus on one thing at a time. Once they have that power, it’s often taken too far or not even represented at all. William Golding used the desire for power in his book to fuel it with a very life-like feeling. The first character that you see striving for power would obviously be Jack. From the very beginning, he mentions how the small group of kids needs a leader and how he should be exactly that sense he has already lead a choir. After they take a vote on Ralph being a leader, Jack does everything he can to disobey Ralph or to get others to disobey him. Later on in the book once Jack has started his own group, you seem him taking the power far too seriously and feels the need to have to take a branch that is afire. Not only does he take a lit branch the first time, but then he and a few others raid Ralph’s group and steal Piggy’s spectacles. Once Piggy tries …show more content…

While Ralph and Jack were trying to establish their power over everyone, Roger was the playground bully that was establishing his power over the littluns. From the very beginning, you see him kicking sand at the little kids, attempting to make them cry, and he succeeded with ease. You can compare his form of power like that of the military, the grunt’s (littluns) all listen to the general (Jack or Ralph) because they are afraid of what the drill sergeant (Roger) will do to them if they don’t listen to the general. Roger took a more direct approach to power, instead of trying to establish power with kids that were the same size and age as him, he just takes power over kids he know’s he has power

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