Literary Elements Of Power 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

Similar to most literary classics, William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies contains allusions to the Christian Bible and character archetypes that convey universal ideas. Golding’s story focuses on a group of British schoolboys who are stranded on an island and ultimately succumb to their innate savage tendencies. Literary analysts often compare components of Lord of the Flies to various aspects in the Christian Bible. For instance, the setting in Lord of the Flies is often linked to the Garden of Eden, and some characters are thought to have religious-inspired names. Critics believe Simon’s name originates from Jesus Christ’s disciple, Peter, whose name was originally Simon. Biblical allusions exist throughout the novel associated with

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.

Despite the fact that Jack’s fear of not being chief ends badly, Ralph’s fear of not surviving has another whole level of bad endings. Ralph’s main concern when the boys crash into the island is being rescued, but because of this, he neglects other problems such as looking out for littluns. “’That litte’un – ‘gasped Piggy – ‘him with the mark of his face, I don’t see him. Where is he now?’” (Golding 46). Ralph is so blinded by the idea of being rescued that he forgets his priorities. He should be watching the littluns, but instead, he is being selfish and cares only about the fire. As a consequence to his poor action, an innocent life is taken away. Also when a ship comes by and Ralph realizes that the hunters let the fire out, he loses it and he yells at Jack, but “his voice was loud and savage, and struck them into silence. ‘There was a ship’” (Golding 74). This is the first time that Ralph shows any sign of savagery, which tells the readers that evil and savageness is

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.

Literary devices are techniques often used by authors to portray in-depth analyses of major characters, storylines, and central themes, which take place in a story. These analyses help readers understand a message the author is trying to convey. In the novel Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses different literary devices in order to demonstrate the boys’ struggle against the lack of society and law on the island, as well as the consequences that have transpired due to this loss. This conflict is evident through the different instances of irony, foreshadowing, and symbolism that occurs throughout the novel.

Over time there have been many leaders of countries, groups and societies that are believed to be the “best” or what someone could only dream of. However what if a perfect leader doesn’t exist? In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies Ralph’s sense of leadership declines throughout the novel. So what if he doesn’t actually possess the skills the boys had hoped he for.

There is no given reason as to why, so, the boys believe that Jack is doing it simply because he can. Jack is able to show his authority as a chief and does this to fulfil his cruel needs. In chapters ten and eleven, Ralph and his boys go to the Reds, Jack and the hunters, side of the island. Limping along the edge of the water, the boys arrive to face the Reds. Once Piggy is dead, he and the other tell him that is what he will be looking forward to by yelling, “thats what youll get”, while showing no remorse he hurling a spear at Ralph. Once Ralph leaves, Jack tells the twins, “You have got to join my tribe.” Refusing, Sam and Eric say, “You lemme go..and me.” Jack responds with, “What d’you mean by not joining my tribe?” Eventually, they twins give in, knowing what would happen to them if they had not agreed. Jack and the majority of his boys, show their power to Ralph and the others in a cruel way. By doing this, it means that by using their power to their advantage, they can do anything by making the others fearful. While the twins are on guard duty, Ralph finds them, asking them to leave. However, the twins tell him, “You don’t know Roger. He’s a terror...And the chief...they’re both terrors.” The boys reveal that they are not only

Many philosophers believe that a correct government can make a strong society. However, these philosophers do not agree on what form of government is the most “correct”. English philosopher John Locke believed that Man is inherently moral and that the purpose for government is to grant the fundamental rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to its people. Another philosopher, Thomas Hobbes, however, held the belief that mankind is naturally evil and that society needs an absolute central authority to contain this evilness and grant its people with the common protection. Hobbes believes that in a state of nature, when there are no rules and everyone is granted equal power, the inherent evil impulses of Man are exposed. One

The thing is, the situation the boys are in is a life or death situation and it seems that only Ralph and Piggy are the ones that realize this. When jack left the group the rest of his understanding of survival where all lost except for hunting . Throughout, the story Jack becomes more and more power hungry, but now that he has gone wicked all he can think about is revenge toward his rival leader Ralph. “He’s going to beat Wilfred.” “What for?” Robert shook his head doubtfully. “I don’t know. He didn’t say. He got angry and made us tie Wilfred up. He’s been”—he giggled excitedly—“he’s been tied for hours, waiting—”(Golding, 159). From killing other striving animals, physically hurting piggy, and to tieing up wilfred to beat him. Jack is wicked in every way shape or form. Jack took advantage of his new position as leader on his group and went bloodthirsty. Then the monstrous red thing bounded across the neck and he flung himself flat while the tribe shrieked. The rock struck piggy a glancing blow from the chin the the knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist. Piggy, saying nothing, with no time for even a grunt, traveled through the air sideways from the rock, turning over as he went (jack signals the boys to roll the boulder to go pummel the boys and ends up killing piggy) (Golding, 181).

Jack becomes obsessed with hunting and changes his appearance by painting his face to resemble a savage. He just leads his tribe to make an act of transgression like raid Ralph’s camp, steals Piggy’s glasses, and orders his gang to hunt and kill Ralph. Meanwhile, Ralph does not fall into the savagery life as Jack did, he remains determined not to let this savagery -overwhelm him, and only briefly does he consider joining Jack’s tribe in order to save himself. When Ralph hunts a boar for the first time, however, he experiences the exhilaration and thrill of bloodlust and violence. When he attends Jacks feast and participates in the killing of Simon, he starts to realize that evil exists in him as well as everyone else. This new fact made him fall into a restless despair for some time, however, this knowledge enables him to cast down the Lord of the

The Lord of the Flies by William Golding is tale of a group of young boys who become stranded on a deserted island after their plane crashes. Intertwined in this classic novel are many themes, most that relate to the inherent evil that exists in all human beings and the malicious nature of mankind. In The Lord of the Flies, Golding shows the boys' gradual transformation from being civilized, well-mannered people to savage, ritualistic beasts.

Have you ever thought of having the same personality for the rest of your life? Many people would expect to have same personality for the rest of their lives, but "change is constant [and] change is inevitable" (-). This is well demonstrated in Lord of the Flies, as the character Ralph regularly changes his attitude in the face of unpredictable events. Further, Ralph undergoes massive changes in mood, due to his lack in leadership, thus ultimately taking away his role as leader. Lastly, in the term of the story, the belief in Ralph's order begins to significantly fade, ultimately sinking into savagery.

Jack steals fire, and Piggy’s glasses as well as beating up Ralph. The loss of Piggy’s glasses show the loss of intelligence on the island. Jack is now fully blinded by his brutal ways. He even tortures a boy to show the power he holds over them. In a last attempt to find civilization Ralph goes with the remainder of his group to demand for Piggy’s glasses back. Unfortunately the conversation goes awry when Piggy attempts to speak with the conch his hand. “What are we? Humans? Or animals? Or savages?”, a quote states towards Jack’s tribe. This shows the realization that Jack’s tribe goes further than acting like animals. They become inhumane savages. Piggy’s question was answered as Roger let lose a boulder from on top of the mountain crushing Piggy while the conch, “exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist”. This shows the loss of democracy and order on the island. All logic has been lost. Ralph was hit with an epiphany that there would be no more discussion. Jack had changed from humanity having a strong hold on him to a savage who would torture and kill. On the other hand, Ralph the only one alive who didn’t lose sight of his humanity became an outsider. Ralph becomes the pig. Hunted by the boys. Jack plans to give his head to the beast as an offering like a pigs that he has given before. As the hunts begins the savages light a fire to smoke out Ralph. Ironically Ralph is saved by a navy man who saw Jack’s fire. This is ironic because Jack was never interested in the signal fire, and yet it was his fire that saved Ralph. As Ralph looks up to the navy man he, “wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy”. As he weeps the others begin to copy realizing the horrors that they committed, and for the absence of their humanity. The rest of the boys show how savagery can affect the their decisions.

To be an effective society, itś important to have a few key qualities such as teamwork or cooperation and order. These make achieving goals much easier, and in the end, it leads to success by completing the tasks needed to get towards the goal, whether that be obtaining food or conquering an entire continent. In Golding 's Lord of the Flies, a lack of mutual respect between the leaders and followers as well as the failure to unite themselves to work together for the same goals, resulted in chaos, and ultimately, the division and failure of their society on the island.