Power In Lord Of The Flies

In Golding’s novel, the lack of civilization and the corruption of power results in the deterioration of the boys’ morals and the loss of their integrity. Due to the lack of authority the boys seem to have no direction and can barely survive. Although, the boys do adopt civil rules and civility among each other, but with authority and power comes rebellion and a desire for more power. Lord of the Flies suggests that tyranny is the antithesis of civilization and the desires of power disintegrated the unity of the boys’ group and caused many unnecessary deaths.

In the novel Lord of the Flies, Jack Merridew is seen as a character that wants to be leader and have power over everyone. His presence seems to terrify all the boys on the island, and uses this to his advantage to control the boys and manipulate them. As evil as he already seems, Jack is known to be the character to experience the most change out of anyone involving the change from civilization to savagery. He begins as an arrogant choirboy, who is actually seen cry when Ralph is elected leader of the island instead of him. Jack's original feelings were to keep an organized group on the island, and also mentions that he is not a savage, and that he will always do the right things. When Ralph brings everyone in the group together, Jack says, "I agree with Ralph. We've got to have rules and obey them. After all, we're not savages. We're English, and the English are the best at everything. So we've got to do the right

In the first chapter of Lord of the Flies, the boys on the island choose a leader. As they decide between Ralph the Athletic sporty kind of kid and Jack the Stuck up rich choir kid, they choose Ralph. Jack is enraged by this choice by the boys. So he is set off onto the path he takes during the whole story by this decision. Jack already has his group behind him he just needs more power. The way he decides to gain this power is a terrible choice. The way he decides to take control is to strike fear into the littluns. One of Jack boys,

In William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, power is a notable theme that can be found very frequently throughout the novel. In the book, the theme of power is found in the form of items that revolve around the protagonist of the story, Ralph, and the antagonist, Jack (Burns 1). Ralph and Jack use these items in order to establish power in the group of boys for their own reasons (Burns 2). With Ralph, he uses items, which represent order in the story, to establish a democracy on the island, while Jack uses specific items that represent evil to create a monarchy out of Ralph’s democracy (Burns 1). The items used by Ralph and Jack in Golding’s novel will be later explained in the essay on how they represent power, what their meaning is, and their purpose in the story.

After World War II countries were in shambles, overran with fear that was fueled by the abundance of hate and violence that stemmed from Germany. The plentiful amounts of evil William Golding was witnessing drove him to write Lord of the Flies. Form this, we can conclude that aspects of his story are an allegory to what Golding observed throughout the war. In his story, William Golding expresses the importance of a civilization’s nature to be ethically correct and explains that without the precise guidance, the natural savageness of humans can prevent society from thriving. Golding’s statement is correct because without society’s moral compass humans would revert to their savage nature, pray on the weak, and would be driven toward aggression.

Children are, by nature, malevolent. They possess an ingrained cruelty that was not taught to them, because they require no instruction. This truth is present throughout the entirety of the novel but is especially demonstrated by the boy's treatment of “Piggy”. Even Ralph, the alleged “good” child takes pleasure from this cruelty, shown when Piggy says to him,“ ‘I don’t care what they call me,’ he said confidently, ‘so long as they don’t call me what they used to call me at school.’ … ‘They used to call me “Piggy”.’ Ralph shrieked with laughter.” (Page 6).

In William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies, we can see that Jack faces his own personal battle between himself and his want for power. Jack’s desire for dominance led him to commit evil acts for his own personal gain, than the greater good for all boys on the island. Jack claimed that he was fit for the role of leadership several times during the early chapters of the book. Golding stated that it was between Ralph and Jack who would lead and that Jack believed he should be chosen saying, “ ‘I ought to be chief,’ said Jack with simple arrogance, “because I’m chapter and head boy. I can sing a C charp.” (22). This is where Jack lists all the reasons that he is the best selection of a chief over Ralph, he wanted to persuade the rest of the boys for their vote. Towards, the end of the book we see Jack try to reclaim the already lost authority from Ralph. Jack induces the boys by saying, “ ‘I gave you food’ said Jack, ‘and my hunters will protect you from the beast. Who will join my tribe?” (150) Jack tries to make all the other boys, besides the hunters who already sided with him, to join his new tribe. This attempt for power with going against Ralph, clearly the most knowledgeable leader, displays how Jack only cares to satisfy his coveting of power.

“The theme is an attempt to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature. The moral is that the shape of a society must depend on the ethical nature of the individual and not any political system however apparently logical or respectable.” This quote from the author, William Golding, summarizes the themes and morals presented in his novel Lord of the Flies. Despite society’s progression towards civilization and acceptance of the idea that human tendencies towards goodness, each individual is susceptible to their natural darker instincts. In the novel, Lord of the Flies, William Golding's characters begin as seemingly innocent school boys who deteriorate into savages. The author uses the characters of Piggy, Ralph and Jack

Ralph's first description about Piggy is the “fat boy” and this is a great example of how Ralph first sees Piggy as nothing but fat. “The fat boy waited to be asked his name…the fat boy stood by him breathing hard…’on account of my asthma and I’ve been wearing specs since I was three’”. Instead of asking Piggy his name Ralph refers to him as “the fat boy” only because of his overall appearance Ralph refuses to learn his name and when Piggy informs them of his asthma and his eyesight they judge him more, this is a perfect example of how the other characters judge Piggy because of his overall appearance. Piggy is once again ignored because of his physical appearance when jack says to him “‘there isn’t anything we can do. We ought to be more careful’. ‘I’m scared’- jack dragged his eyes away away from the fire ‘you're always scared Yah- fatty’” (Golding 45). This quote demonstrates that instead of listening to Piggy Jack rolls his eyes and calls him fat this shows that instead of respecting Piggy Jack decides to shun him down because of his perceived

“Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood.” In William Golding’s Lord Of The Flies, the reader can see how that chant turned the once caring and civil boys into savages. The audience can also see how the boys on the island are affected by power and how their personalities changed throughout Lord Of The Flies. The boys on the island are dramatically affected by the different chiefs.

In the book “Lord of the flies” by William Golding there is a group of boys that have crash landed on this island. But, majority of the boys don’t know each other. When the boys meet they pick a leader by voting and a boy named Ralph was selected. Ralph was one of the nice kids and never mean and treated all the kids fair. When he was selected a boy name Jack was upset because he had thought that he should become leader. “Im chief then” (23). When Ralph said this Jack felt like nobody liked him only the choir boys did but he ended up being the leader of them by being in charge and making them hunters. Jack was a type of leader that did not think much he would think of one idea then go do it he never plans nothing out. But Ralph thinks

Ralph wants everyone to voice their opinion when they had the conch at assemblies. He only lets the person with the conch talk at the assembly, and when someone tries to cut in he would stand up for them. “Jack! Jack! You haven’t got the conch! Let him speak.” (91). This is how Ralph stood up for them, is someone would but in when someone else was talking with the conch. But he also had bullied piggy a little bit also, he does not really mean it but Piggy didn’t like it so much. “Piggy! Piggy!” (11). Piggy does not want people to know that’s what they used to call him but Ralph does not care at the beginning of the book. W.G. demonstrates great evidence of Ralph being a bully and a good person.

The boys elect Ralph as chief but later on rebel against him. The boys choose Ralph because they know he has good ideas to be rescued and they believe in him, but when he tries to take charge they do not want to listen or manage their responsibilities. In fear of the beast, Ralph loses control of the boys. Jack does not like the way Ralph is leading so he takes advantage of all the panicking and tries to start his own camp and group to overthrow Ralph. The kids need rules and adults in order for them to be civilized, cooperative and calm while they wait for rescue. How Jack wanted to rule was made up of one thing, hunting and killing the beast because he thought that the beast is their main priority.

After all, what influence does power have on people? It is clear that power varies by definition, but should it have any effect when experienced? Several researchers suggest that power is defined as a relevant approach to obtain some future apparent benefit. According to Polity, “In the state of nature as Hobbes describes it, where trust is nonexistent, one is forced to act as if one's gain were always another's loss” (Read, 1991). In other words, one’s gain must come at a different person’s expense. Following that, power is said to relate to conflict. In the book Lord of the Flies, William Golding illustrated how Jack’s gain of power came at Ralph’s expense. In the beginning, Ralphs was in charge of the group of the boys, but Jack eventually took over and lead to a great conflict between the two.

Power is something everyone knows and wants. Mankind's essential illness is the need for power and control. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies many characters turn to their vices to climb the power structure on the island in order to become chief. In the book, Golding shows the need for power between Ralph, Jack, and Piggy. This struggle affects the boys and they realize that it can get you somewhere, or nowhere. This struggle of power not only affect the characters in the book, but it also happens in the real world. Nations often compete for land and resources as well as control. In an article called “The Iranian Revolution” written by Veronica Majerol, middle-class Iranians fight for political power. Golding’s message states that lust