Lord Of The Flies Patriarchy Analysis

Within Lord of the Flies, we see firsthand the tendency toward violence and destruction that lies within humanity, and boys in particular. Without society, they fell apart. They committed atrocities that go against every rule, every social expectation, we see in humanity. Although Lord of the Flies shows important ideas about boys’ place in society, it also allows the reader to form unrealistic views on ideas such as death, violence, and conflict.

The Lord of the Flies is a story about a group of boys who are stranded on an island. There aren’t any adults with them because the plane they were on had crashed and the pilot died, he had been the only adult with them. That main character Ralph is elected chief of the boys and is supposed to be in charge, but finds it hard to keep control. Ralph believes the most important thing is to keep the fire going, so that if a ship passes by they can get rescued. As the story goes on dissent begins to form among the other boys. The leader of this dissent was Jack. He had wanted to have control from the beginning and was fed up with Ralph’s rules.

Thus, the conch, a direct proponent of equal representation and democracy, serves as the ultimate symbol of civilization. Furthermore, the usage and state of the conch itself mirrors the state of civilization on the island—and its eventual decay. The boys’ gradual dismissal of the conch’s authority parallels their steady descent into savagery—particularly the actions of Jack, who reveals to Ralph during a heated confrontation his belief that the conch is not only unnecessary, but useless: “ ‘We don’t need the conch any more. We know who ought to say things’ ” (102). Jack’s tirade does more than showcase the boys’ growing discontent with the conch’s cumbersome rules and the society they represent; its menacing and ominous tone, particularly the phrase “We know who ought to say things”, foreshadows Jack’s eventual desertion from Ralph’s group and his creation of a new, tyrannical tribe of his own, one in which Jack, through intimidation and violence, chooses “who ought to say things” rather than let the boys speak for themselves. Most important is the conch’s destruction alongside Piggy’s death. In committing murder, the ultimate act of moral depravity, the boys lose whatever sense of civilization they have left—a metaphorical loss represented by the conch’s literal obliteration as it “exploded into a thousand white

The obligation of the conch within the boys’ lives is to help create a systematic society by maintaining order, authority, and sufficiency within tasks. Correspondingly, as the boys start to settle in on the island, Piggy and Ralph attempt to initiate everyone within the group accordingly. Piggy asks each of the frightened boys of their names to assemble them and “The children gave him the same simple obedience that they had given to the men with the megaphones” (Golding 18). With comparing Ralph and Piggy, when having possession of the conch, to men with megaphones resembles how the conch supplies them with a sense of dominance, allowing them to be assertive and powerful within the group of boys. Piggy and Ralph are capable of organizing the boys and creating peace due to the leadership role the conch gives them.

The story lord of the flies takes place on a island full of boys including Jack and Ralph. Jack and Ralph have opposite personalities which creates good suspense because they clash. We see their differences in personalities, leadership, but also through their similarities. Jack and Ralph’s differences end up destroying the island, the group, and all civilization. Jack is very demeaning person and who manipulates power to show who’s boss, which isn’t the case for Ralph.

Jack has stolen Piggy’s spectacles, so Ralph goes to retrieve them. Everyone is not listening to Ralph as he is trying to speak so he reminds them that “I’m chief...I’ve got the conch,” but as Jack has turned wild he says, “the conch doesn't count at this end of the island” (ch.9, pg.150). This is the turning point. From then on, everything the boys have done to build their society is gone. There is no respect for the shell, and their civilization begins to crumble. They believe the shell no longer has power over them. It is meaningless. It is useless. It insignificant. It no longer has value to the

One cause of the decline of the boys’ society in Lord of the Flies is their opposing beliefs. The two leaders, Jack and Ralph, often had

Jack began to point out weak links in the group that do not do what he believes is important for escaping, like hunting. The violence associated with his hunting is the violence and anger that is associated with his rebellious actions against Ralph which is incredibly scary for the others. The thought of power

One of the greatest plot points nearing the end of Lord of the Flies is the breaking apart of the schoolboys. At the beginning of the novel, Ralph was voted as chief in order for the group to have a leader. However, another power-hungry schoolboy named Jack decided he wanted to take charge, as he did not agree with Ralph’s obsessiveness over getting rescued, wanting to hunt and feast instead. As Jack leaves Ralph’s companionship,

Ralph also focused greatly on keeping a signal fire going as one of the boys only hopes of getting off the island. Jack is also interested in gaining power over the boys by offering them food, shelter, and protection against the beast. Jack's desire for more power ruins the friendship between all the boys and resembles in the creation of Jack and his group of savages. The more civilized group of the boys is Ralph and Piggy, while they still focus on their main goal of surviving and getting off the island. While the two separate groups argue, Piggy compares the savages to themselves, "Which is better-- to be a pack of painted Indians like you are or to be sensible like Ralph is?" … "Which is better-- to have rules and agree, or to hunt and kill?" … "Which is better, law and rescue, or hunting and breaking things up?" (Golding 180). That quote shows Piggy talking the savages and comparing them to Ralph, as a civilized human, and to them as a group of savages without any rules or order. Nearing the end of the novel, the conch was broken and Piggy was murdered, nearly all of the boys had lost any sense of civilization within them and they all became some sort of savage, even Ralph started to become a

Once Ralph blows into it, all the boys on the island gravitate towards it, and meet with each other. After they see how well it brings everyone together, Jack and Piggy decide that it will be the object of authority. As they are gathered together, Ralph decides that together they need to decide on a chief. An arrogant boy, who was the leader of his own little group, thinks that he should be the leader. Not wanting to exclude anyone from the ability to be chief, Ralph asked for the boys to raise their hands if they wanted Jack as chief. The only boys who raised their hands were those in Jack’s small group. “But there was a stillness about Ralph as he sat that marked him obscurely, yet most powerfully there was the Conch.” (Golding 22). Ralph, being the one who blew the conch and brought everyone together, is chosen as chief. To give everyone a fair chance, at meetings the person holding the conch has the right to communicate to the rest of the boys. This way they are all given a chance to express their opinion on how to get rescued, how to gather food, and how to build shelter. Jack and Piggy think this is the only way that the group of boys can work in a civilized manor. This works until Jack cannot take Ralph being chief over him anymore, and he decides to make his own group. Jack and Ralph’s groups stay away from each other for the most part, until one-night Jack and his group go to Ralph’s part of the island and steal

Eisa Casaclang Mrs. Carey English II (H), Period 6 16 February 2016 The Destruction and Disrespect of Femininity in Lord of the Flies Feminism is primarily seen as an issue that affects only women. This is not true however, as patriarchal constructs can have a negative effect on men, too, by imposing certain gender roles they are expected to subscribe to. These stereotypes are perpetuated through media and thus have a significant impact on the public’s view of how a male should act. Brute, commanding, confrontational: these are all traits commonly associated with masculinity.

There are no adult survivors , leaving the boys to fend for themselves. One of the boys, Ralph, finds a conch shell to blow into to gather all of the survivors to where he is. As a group the elect Ralph as their leader, this angers a boy, Jack, who thinks he should be the leader. Ralph is fond of Jack so he makes him head of the hunters. Ralph’s way of order is who ever hold the conch shell may speak. A problem occurs when a little boy questions what they will do about the “beastie” that is on the island. Ralph and Jack have to different approaches of this problem. Ralph thinks that their is no “beastie” that its just in their head. Jack believes as a tribe they could hunt and kill it. Their is problems and tension between Ralph and Jack. Jack solution is to try and overthrow Ralph’s civilized government with the idea of no government but living as savages. He goes about this by hunting and killing a pig, he cuts the head off of the pig and puts it on a stick. The head is called “the lord of the flies” . With the rest of the pig Jack cooks it and uses it to bribe the other boys. All of the boys except Simon, Ralph, and Piggy join his tribe. The

The novel, Lord of the Flies, is full of chaos and disorder throughout the child run civilization and society the boys create. The causes of the conflicts in the novel are caused by numerous different situations, including the characters and events that take place. The society had been created under pressure and stress due to the characters being stranded on an island alone with no adult supervision or help. Because of this, the society was not managed the way it should have been governed. The characters were not always violent ones but as soon as their innocence was lost nothing or no one could stop them from such a violent lifestyle on the island. The boys were easily influenced by others and their

Subsequently, the conch is not just a shell but also the sound of order, civilization, and political power between the good and the bad. Ralph finds it and uses it to call the boys together. He establishes a hand-raising rule, keeping to the rules of their civilized past. He organizes assemblies to discuss the issues tearing apart the island in order to keep everyone safe. After Jack gains power from hunting and breaks off to form his own group, Ralph and Piggy are nearly rendered helpless, especially since the conch's value diminishes. When they try to convince Jack to return and unite under the spell of the conch, Jack proves his separation by declaring, "And the conch doesn't count at this end of the island"(Golding 260). Finally, all chaos breaks loose when the large boulder kills Piggy and the conch shatters. All in one scene, the intellectual character dies, order and civilization is lost, and evil forces hunt the isolated common sense. Piggy's dependence on the conch shows his desperateness for bringing wellness back to the savage majority, even though the evil wins in the midst of the chaos.