Humans Are Power Hungry In Lord Of The Flies

As a base of human desire and need, power has always been one of the number one desire of mankind since the dawn of time. To place yourself above others, or gain control over your followers or a situation brings safety and comfort to a leader. A well written example of this concept lies within the twisted world created by William Golding in his, “Lord of the Flies”. Throughout the story, Jack seeks power above all else, and stops for nothing in this lustful quest of dominance. We can get a glimpse of Jack’s desires through his iron grip within his choirboys, how he clashes with Ralph, and how Jack’s actions bring about a deeper symbolism underlying within the story.

     Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a novel that represents a microcosm of society in a tale about children stranded on an island. Of the group of young boys there are two who want to lead for the duration of their stay, Jack and Ralph.  Through the opposing characters of Jack and Ralph, Golding reveals the gradual process from democracy to dictatorship from Ralph's democratic election to his lack of law enforcement to Jack's strict rule and his violent law enforcement.

Jack Merridew is perhaps one of the most intriguing individuals on the island throughout the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding. From the time he enters the story, to the very last page, Jack makes his presence and desire for authority well-known. Representing the darkness of mankind, even in children, Jack constantly abuses his power and brings out the worst in those around him. Jack Merridew is not a dynamic character, however, his original rebellious and malevolent nature gradually reveals itself more as the story progresses.

Because there are no grown ups on the island and less and less order among the boys, Jack starts to abandon his usual social norms and begins to embrace his primal instincts. One example of this is when Jack and some of the other boys get swept up in hunting pigs and let the signal fire go out. This can be seen on page 69 when Jack tells Ralph, “You should have been with us, Ralph. We had a smashing time” then Ralph simply responds with: ”you let the fire go out.”. The boys prioritized wanting to hunt over getting rescued.

“Maurice and Robert skewered the carcass, lifted the dead weight, and stood ready. In the silence, and standing over the dry blood, they suddenly looked furtively. Jack spoke loudly. ‘This head is for the beast. It’s a gift.’” (Golding 137). Before they gave this gift for the beast, Jack had exclaimed that they would forget the beast. Now he is giving the head of his kill to the beast as an offering, so the beast won’t hurt them. Jack targets that fear and that’s what keeps him in power. It’s also a way to let him hunt because the boys think that he would be able to kill the beast. He has already killed one person, Simon, because of his fear for the beast. He actually got the entire group to kill Simon, in a chant to kill the beast. Jack’s fear drove him to where is hurt someone, and therefore, causing a decline in the boy’s

William Golding’s experiences in World War II deeply influenced his views on man’s nature. Golding’s allegorical novel, Lord of The Flies, explores the frightening and consistent, yet ignored, truths of man’s nature. British schoolboys board a plane in hopes to escape their war torn land. Unfortunately, the plane is shot down, thrusting the boys into a deserted island and leaving them to their own devices. At first, the boys look to find independence and freedom on the island where civilization no longer matters. However, it is soon clear that the boys cannot simply run away from their natural tendencies. Jack, previously a choir leader, is among the stranded boys, and slowly but surely rises to power on the island. Jack’s corrupted authority fuels his inner selfishness and leads him to consciously feed off of the fear of isolation and annihilation of his blind followers, thus proving that authority can overpower one's self-control.

Jack was so angry at Ralph for his ways of leading a society, thinking he was doing it for fun. “I’m not going to play any longer not with you” (Golding 127). Jack was torn from the society, and left to Castle Rock with his hunters. Ralph’s society was too soft for him. Jack, after leaving, headed out into the jungle to kill a pig for a planned feast, which would bring in most of the other boys on the island. Beforehand, he decided to mess around with it. “Then Jack found the throat and the hot blood spouted over his hands… ‘look’... he giggled and flicked them” (Golding 135). Jack had no care in the world that the sow’s blood covered his hands, unlike the beginning where he was completely mortified of any blood. During the feast, a thunderstorm rolls over the island causing the boys to go crazy. They all began to dance; even Piggy and Ralph, after Ralph tries to intimidate Jack. “Jack leapt to the sand…’Do our dance! Come on! Dance!’” (Golding 151). Jack had been urging everyone to begin dancing, despite Ralph attempting to stand up to him immediately before. This was when the storm starts and the boys are too enveloped to know what they are

Jack cares about the loyalty of his people, and in return, Jack will be loyal to them. Like before, Jack calls the meeting to talk about new leadership and becomes embarrassed. After this he says that “ ‘I’m going off by myself. He can catch his own pigs. Anyone who wants to hunt when I do can come too’ ” (127). When Jack leaves the “main” group, it is obvious that his loyal hunting group will follow him too. With them being loyal to Jack, he will most likely try his best so those who are really loyal to him survive too. Later when Jack’s group comes back to Ralph’s group with food. He gives all of them food, and lets them eat as much as they want. After letting them eat Jack, “waved his spear again. ‘Has everybody eaten as much as they want?” (149). Doing this shows that he is loyal to not just his own people, He does this to also lessen the amount of people in Ralph’s group so he has the upper hand in this

The children landed uncharted island far from any semblance of police, parents, or even teachers. The island was almost like the “Neverland” that Disney taught us about years ago, but without Tinkerbell and a magical home with all their needs. Jack and the children in this adventure were in a heap of trouble. They were many, some smaller and some bigger (littleuns and bigguns). These kids had to organize themselves into some sort of unit, to more efficiently find a way home. That is where the trouble begins. When one or more humans come together, a hierarchy is always established. Similar to when one goes to a restaurant and the waitress only addresses our father for the majority of the tables decisions. When this hierarchy forms, the decisions this leader takes will always be classified as good or evil, and the society will be judged by the character at their forefront. In William Golding’s novel “Lord of The Flies”, Jack Merridew is the character that takes leadership in the society and proves humanity is inherently evil by demonstrating human’s: selfish tendencies, competitive nature, and hopelessness.

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.

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.

William Golding’s novel ‘The Lord of The Flies’ tells the story of a group of English boys isolated on a desert island, left to attempt to retain civilisation. In the novel, Golding shows one of the boys, Jack, to change significantly. At the beginning of the book, Jack’s character desires power and although he does not immediately get it, he retains the values of civilized behaviour. However, as the story proceeds, his character becomes more savage, leaving behind the values of society. Jack uses fear of the beast to control the other boys and he changes to become the book’s representation of savagery, violence and domination. He is first taken over with an obsession to hunt, which leads to a change in his physical appearance This change

By the end of the novel, Jack has become a full blown barbarian. He is so caught up in killing pigs that he no longer listens to Ralph. He tries to become chief again and fails. Because of that, he starts his own tribe on the other side of the island where all they do is hunt pigs. The boys that follow him are transformed into the savage that he is. “Here, struck down by the heat, the sow fell and the hunters hurled themselves at her…Jack was on top of the sow, stabbing downward with his knife. Roger found a lodgment for his point and began to push till he was leaning with his whole weight. The spear moved forward inch by inch… [t]hen Jack found the throat and the hot blood spouted over his hands.” Jack and his followers were demoralized and tainted

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

Meat is something all the boys on the island want, and some even want it more than they want to be rescued. As originally being the leader of just the hunters, Jack leads the hunt that catches, and kills, a pig that gives the boys the meat they so desire. This success makes him more popular with the boys, and results in Jack having more pull over the boys. While not convincing anyone to vote Ralph out as chief; Jack goes on to start his own, more successful tribe. His tribe has the majority of the boys. All except Simon, Piggy, Ralph, and Samneric join his tribe willingly. Furthermore, Jack is a better leader than Ralph. While he has atrocious morals, the boys actually listen to Jack and do what he says. Opposed to Ralph, who can’t get the boys to listen to him, even with the conch. Jack has more success than Ralph, who has better morals and rules, when it comes to