The Sense Of Power In Jack Of The Flies By William Golding

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

Many of the boys want to have fun and see Jack's hunting as the fun

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.

Francis B. Sayre once stated, “Unless man has the wit and the grit to build his civilization on something better than material power, it is surely idle to talk of plans for a stable peace.” People control society because people set the rules and inform others what is right and what is wrong in which the rest follow through their actions. On the other hand, one may believe society controls the people because they view society as the one who is in charge and supposes that society advises people what to do and how to do it. People assemble the choices of what is justifiable in society, therefore controlling how society is perceived., In Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies, a society is controlled by a select few: allowing the boys to develop their own society through their rules and decisions, and entitling their society to transform into savagery

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.

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

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.

William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, explores what makes a person powerful, and the contrast between Ralph and Jack shows how power is gained for each of them. Ralph’s power comes from the mere fact that he has a conch shell in his hands, while Jack’s power is gained by him manipulating others and forcing himself into this position. This is due to three main reasons, which are:

To start off, Jack is guiltless at the beginning of the novel, until he turns himself into a new person. For one, Jack wants laws and organization at the start and wants to discipline whoever violates them and eventually he is the first to contravene them. Furthermore, Jack is the initial one to influence the boys to infringe the rules and destruct the

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was right in saying that the “only thing we have to fear is fear itself”. Jack Merridew’s evil ways are evident as he uses fear to control the boys on the island. In the beginning of the book, his presence itself at the election of chief instills the first of the fears within each of the boys. Jack uses his personality as a menace to the boys on the island. Although Jack garners support from the majority of the group, they assist him only through fear of what he is capable of doing to them if they do not do as he commands. As one can see multiple times throughout the book, Jack deems it necessary to hunt down pigs on the island, but why? Jack carries a demon inside of him that allows him to do such acts. If things are not done as he wishes, his fury is unleashed on everyone around him. While the others find hunting as a chance for adventure, Jack practices it as if it were a ritual. This ritual extends beyond the pig caught between the “creepers”; pigs are eventually replaced with human flesh. The boys’ fear keep them in the circle of dancing for they are afraid that one of them will be the next in the center of the dance. This outlook on violence is what drives the fear inside them. Later on, Jack uses the belief of the beast to further enlarge the terror of the schoolboys. The idea of the beast was originally brought up by a “littlun” but Jack uses the little boy’s fear to his advantage. The sacrifices made, the spears, and the face

though Jack does not want to be seen as a child, but as a figure of

From the beginning Jack has been obsessed with his need to kill and to prove himself as a man “He snatched his knife out of the sheath and slammed it into a tree trunk. Next time there would be no mercy” (Golding, 31). When the pig first escaped Jack in the jungle he first experiences the feeling of inadequacy and self doubt. With this extreme embarrassment weighing on Jack's conscience he develops an obsession with the hunt and the bloodlust of the kill. Forcing him to abandon reason and ignore his basic responsibilities as one of the leaders of the group.

For example, when the boys first arrive on the island, most, if not all, are illustrated as civilized children who seem to have a firm grasp on the differences between right and wrong. However, Jack quickly develops an obsession with killing a pig, and makes a point showing his determination to shed her blood: “He snatched his knife and out of the sheath and slammed it into a tree trunk. Next time there will be no mercy” (31). This demonstrates the beginning of jacks morality loss. Jack instantly feels ashamed and pathetic when he is unable to kill the pig, even when he had a purpose for doing so.

C.G. Jung states, “There is no coming into consciousness without pain. People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own soul. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the dark conscious.” Lord Of The Flies shows how savage and absurd a group of young boys can get. It shows how boys can lose control of themselves when they lose an adult figure.The two main sources of power in Lord Of The Flies were the conch and pig’s head. The ideas developed by William Golding, in the novel Lord of the Flies show the importance of the conch and the pig's head, how each had power, what each of them symbolizes. The boys struggle with which of these powers are good and which are evil.

Once these boys join Jack’s tribe, they are forced to follow his orders, committing heinous atrocities against their former friends in a desperate attempt to avoid the physical punishment Jack inflicts on those who disobey him. Jack rules his subjects through fear and intimidation, and yet lures them in by playing on hidden desires unbeknownst to them. Jack is often shown acting cruel and menacing towards the other boys, however is he also shown as being self-conscious and a bit insecure: “Boys are desperate to distract from their own helplessness and do so by projecting their fear of subjection onto an even weaker