Equality In Lord Of The Flies

Rousseau strongly believed that equal representation wasn’t enough. He didn’t think that citizens could delegate their civil duties. Instead, he believed what the government needed to do in order to thrive is unite the people under one will, “The General Will”, the will of the people as a whole rather than the will of one, “Individual Will”. Rousseau believed that all citizens should live in a way that promoted the general good hence the, “General Will”. “Each of us puts his person and all his power in common under the supreme direction of the general will… We receive each member as an individual part of the whole.”

Society becomes corrupt and there will be violence and as a result will lead to revolution in the society. Rousseau believes in a direct democracy. These views will not be successful because good ideas will be hard to accomplish because of practical difficulties of the people living in the society. Rousseau says that a section of the society will provide certain types of jobs to their own relations and friends. This will create partiality and deprive the talented ones.

Rousseau’s believe that humans are inherently good provides us with a different side. He believed that humans were rather corrupted by the “evils of society”. A collective good will and being closer to nature, he believed ensured the survival of a group and equal promotion of liberty. Indeed the collective good will is much like the social contract that he and John Locke both write about. The idea that man is born free, and voluntarily gives up some of this freedom to create government for the purpose of social order is its central idea. Like the argument of Hobbes, Jack’s power play does in fact ultimately lead to the groups downfall, yet Rousseau’s point is that Jack did not give up some of his freedom. He sought to pursue what he wanted, without concern for the group, thus violating the social contract. Rousseau would argue that this loss of civil discourse, and this “beast” is not attributed to some inner savagery that humanity has, but is because the group as a whole did not abide by this contract. They didn’t abide by it because, they are simply kids. There are no real role models on this island with them, no adults to show them what should be

Personally, if feel as if this was the major beginning of the modern day democracy in which people have a say so in government. Immanuel Kant went in depth as far as explaining why a democracy was important while Rousseau spoke his mind, he seemed to do it not enough to upset the French. Personally, I feel as if Kant’s efforts along with his actual push for democracy made him the more effective

In order to have a successful government, many rules and ideas must be followed. William Golding’s Lord of the Flies is about a group of British boys who get stranded on an island, because their plane crashes. They attempt to govern themselves, but the government does not protect the natural rights of those being governed, nor do the boys have equality, which are two essential components in a well-functioning government; the lack of these components are what leads to the downfall of their government.

Rousseau explains that direct democracy is the only true form of appropriate government. He argues that the will of the people cannot be represented, or it will be corrupted, and only by direct vote and ratification by the people can laws be valid and acceptable, as they are truly the will of the people. Representative democracy is unacceptable, because those appointed to work for the people cannot adequately represent them, as they are different people.

Jean Jacques Rousseau had brilliant views on government, human nature, and rights of the people. He believed that people were born naturally good and compassionate, and it is society, and the influence of their surroundings that make people bad. Jean Jacques Rousseau was had the most compelling argument of the three philosophers. He believed that people were born good, independent, and compassionate but greed and it is greed and corruption makes them bad. Rousseau said: “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.” (Document 1-C) He is saying that people are born good, and it is the weight of society that makes them bad. A perfect example of this is a toddler. A toddler is just barely exposed to society so they are a good example. A toddler is all laughs and smiles, nobody would be able to say that a toddler was bad because toddlers are innocent and happy. Rousseau’s ideal form of government was a direct democracy. This gives everyone an equal say on rules and laws that are to be instated. This is a very good way for everyone to express their beliefs, and it is non-corrupt which is very important. Rousseau believed in freedom and equality above all else, “Each giving himself to all, gives himself to nobody.” (Document 1-C). Rousseau believed that if everyone were to participate in democracy and give their opinions, everyone would be free.

The general idea of Rousseau’s philosophy can be also be associated with the thematic message of power in Lord of the Flies. By summarizing Rousseau’s philosophy, readers will instantly learn that he believes the “complete consensus (should be) based on dictatorship of the General Will” and that that is the ideal government. He believes that if a monarchy is established it will become difficult for the society to combat inequality. To prove this, he also claims “the social contract is between the people, not the government. Each person gives up all rights to the “General Will” which then incorporates every individual through the legislature.” In other words, Rousseau’s philosophy states that “complete consensus” should be put into the people, and different governments will cause inequality. He supports this statement by claiming it will “incorporate every individual through the legislature.” Rousseau’s philosophy and Golding both delivered ideas that revealed the importance in keeping the authority in the people itself. In fact, this seems more than similar to the concluding universal message Golding ended Lord of the Flies with. His philosophy reflected ideas that were applied in Golding’s argument. It relates to Lord of the Flies because it

As the boys get more used to the island life, order starts to deteriorate and cause the boys to do the unthinkable. Extreme situations inevitably lead the boys towards savagery and malice.

Social values and social order is all around us. It’s everywhere and we see it everyday. Social value and order is a quintessential part of keeping a society intact and free from distress in our modern world. In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the author uses a social allegory to represent modern day society.

Golding, in Lord of the Flies, explores the nature of a group of young school boys when left to their devices. According to Golding, young girls would not have behaved in the same uncivilised manner as the boys did. This comment is driven out from the gender roles placed upon individuals by the society. The gender difference is not explicitly discussed or represented in the novel, although femininity is symbolically present in the novel’s representations of nature. Some of the male characters are ‘feminised’ by the other boys when they are considered un-masculine or vulnerable. Piggy is considered to be the most feminine character amongst the boys. The major difference that sets him apart from the other boys is his weaknesses: his asthma, weak

The Social Contract is a political work written by Swiss philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau that theorized the best way to establish a sovereign political community in the face of the problems within a divided commercial society. The Social Contract helped inspire political reforms or revolutions in Europe; most notably in France. Furthermore, Rousseau’s argument was against the idea that Monarchs were divinely empowered to legislate; in his opinion only the people who are sovereign have that all-powerful right. Rousseau’s aim in writing The Social Contract is to determine whether there can be a legitimate political authority, since peoples’ interaction with government left them worse off with their freedoms “restrained” by the society created by their political leaders. With this stated purpose I believe that Rousseau’s ideas are to a great extent liberal and cry out for the people of this time to take a stand and voice their will towards a corrupt system of government and gain back their natural freedoms.

At some point they cannot survive by themselves and everyone needs to come together for the common good In giving everything to the community the individual receives everything he or she has lost plus "more power to preserve what he has" (189). Lives must be lived in and for the group; the life as an individual must be merged into the life of the state, and the people must be involved in all aspects of government. There can be no clubs, separate churches, power groups, or political parties, because these would create separate rights for individuals, and give some individuals more power than others. By creating this, Rousseau annihilates power struggles between the rights of a group and individual rights. In this system, there is no one ruler of the community. A citizen who puts his or her community first is ruler, and ruled. The political government is one united system, it does what the community wants it to do.

The way Rousseau believes our society needs to be run a very unorthodox way. He believes if there is a new law that needs to be passed then, everyone needs to come to an agreement to have the law passed.

Rousseau attempted to tackle this by the fact that for a society to be set up there is a need for unanimity and ¡¥the majority binds the rest¡¦. This concept can also be threatened by a corrupt government who can appear to be projecting the general will when they are just serving their own ends and benefits.