William Golding's Lord of the Flies and John Knowles' A Separate Peace

Throughout the history of humanity, humans have different behaviors that change depending on what situations they are in. Psychologist Philip Zimbardo spent many years exploring human nature and has developed many theories about human behavior. One of Zimbardo’s ideas is about situational factors that states “one’s behavior is assumed to be dependent upon their current circumstances, situation or the environment that they are in.” He concluded the concept of situational factors after his Stanford Prison Experiment, in which he gave authority to regular people and observed any changes. The experiment proved that people’s behavior will change when they are in different situations. Zimbardo also believes that evilness is the exercise of power to harm people in anyway possible, so a five year old who teases others to Adolf Hitler would be classified as perpetrators of evil.

When placed in the right situations and circumstances, all human beings are capable of revealing a darker side of them-a side that almost everyone is afraid to show. No one will admit to having a dark side in them, until nature forces them to face it. Lord of the Flies by William Golding and A Separate Peace by John Knowles are two books that emphasize man’s savagery through their characters, themes, and plots. At first, all men have hidden savagery, then something triggers the savagery within them, and they complete the transformation.

Jack is the perfect representation of a Tyrant, who uses his power to control his teammates, which always causes a Fray between Ralph and himself. Ralph’s character is the perfect image the boys need to follow since he unlike the others, avoids playtime to

The difference between Jack and Ralph was not as significant as readers might think. Both them at points were at the savage “ready to kill” state of minds, where they we not thinking in reality. In chapter 7 Ralph got caught up in the exhilaration of the chase. He excitedly flings his spear at the boar, and though it glances off the animal’s snout, Ralph is thrilled with his marksmanship nonetheless. He is showing multiple signs of savagery when they accidentally kill Simon.

Ralph represents the calm, civilized world, while Jack represents the inner animal in each and every person. We must try to keep to our inner Ralph and not give into our Jack. We must be kind and compassionate to others and think carefully about our words and thoughts before taking action. Throughout the many adventures that Jack and Ralph experience, we learn a lot about the people they really are, as well as the personalities that they exhibit, and are able to extract important lessons which can be applied to better ourselves and our

Ralph is the protagonist whereas Jack is the antagonist of this novel. Throughout the book, Jack sees himself as admirable and he constantly shows off his leadership skills with his choir. At the start of the novel, we can see his disappointment that he was not elected as "chief" as for Ralph was. He is often harsh towards Ralph for this reason. However, things take a dark and violent turn when the fire burns out. Jacks true colors come out and we see him for who he really is. Their friendship reaches it’s highs and lows, however, when Jack takes complete leadership over the entire island, the

Ralph is the elected leader who governs through fairness and a sense of justice. He is concerned with the welfare of all the boys. He is the inspiration for Thomas’ character. The character opposing Jack is Ralph. Jack’s character represents the darkest aspects of human nature. He is unrestricted by societal norms however acts purely on base instincts. He comes to represent an irrational, unintellectual side of the human mind. A struggle to obtain power flares up between him and Ralph, who attempts to maintain a democratic order against Jack’s barbaric freedom.

jack throughout the story is Ralph's counterpart representing what happens when one fully accepts humans dark inner nature. even at the beginning of the story he is shown to be violent and at odds with Ralph."he (jack) tried to convey the compulsion to track down and kill that was swallowing him up" pg.51.this shows that even towards the beginning of the story jack was embracing savagery putting him at odds with Ralph, who

In the novel, the boys always fought, argued, and disobeyed one another. They had difficulty deciding on a leader because more than one person had a strong leadership personality; however, Jack’s aggressive attitude eventually wins out over Ralph’s diplomatic desire to see everyone work together and get along.

Two of the primary characters, Jack and Ralph, who constantly fight to gain authority and respect from the boys on the island. Jack’s way of government is significantly based on dictatorship, he is constantly fighting against Ralph’s democratic ideas. When the boy’s become two rival groups, innocent and moral characters suffer the consequences of their actions. ( insert quote).

Three boys, each with drastically different personalities, all crash on the same, sun-scorched island; one boy, fiery and impulsive, becomes enamored with the idea of hunting, while the other two stay rational and focused on rescue. William Golding, author of Lord of the Flies, uses these children to represent the different aspects that exist in our subconscious mind: the id, the ego, and the superego. When he uses the Freudian psychoanalysis theory to personify the main characters in the book, Golding succeeds in successfully representing the three different aspects of the human psyche; therefore, the traits Ralph, Jack, and Piggy possess and the things they say can all directly correlate to the psyche and the traits of each different part.

Ever since we were young kids we used to believe that in times of crisis Superman would come to our rescue, however the most heartbreaking day in our childhood was probably when we realized that Superman did not exist. Similarly, parents look for proper education for their children however they soon find that just like Superman, this education does not exist. In Waiting for “Superman”, Davis Guggenheim informs parents that schools are failing to produce successful students and inspires his viewers to act against this injustice. Waiting for “Superman” is a documentary directed by Davis Guggenheim that shows the injustices in the public school system. The film reveals how education has declined.

Jack, negatively portrayed in comparison to Ralph, tempts the boys with an array of forbidden treats, indulging their most violent, suppressed desires in an attempt to lull them away from the security of Ralph. In a sense, Jack is negatively compared to Ralph throughout the novel, and is often portrayed as confused and violent, very aware of the evil inside of him: “The real problem that arises among the boys involves their own inner nature…” (Johnston 2). When his plan fails, Jack feels as though his seat of power is threatened and therefore resorts to terrorizing, threatening and essentially forcing the boys to join him and align themselves against Ralph, alienating them from their former, comfortable life-style and thus making what they once failed to appreciate all the more desirable.

According to the text, what factorshave been major contributors to the demise of the two-parent household?

Ralph's antithesis in the novel is Jack, the book's antagonist. Jack is uncompromising as well as domineering and represents impulsive savagery and violence; he has a desire and craving for power, which is shown early in the book when he is infuriated that he loses the election of island leader to Ralph. However, Jack soon learns how to become the real leader over all of the boys. He begins by instinctively appealing to their base instincts, becoming more savage and barbaric; he hunts pigs and obsesses over this violence. He eventually learns to control the boys with their fear of the beast. Jack is the quintessential example of one who misuses free will; Jack chooses to use his knowledge and power to bring out the savagery in the little ones. Jack's savage mindset becomes even more power-hungry and violent after he kills his first pig, "His mind was crowded with memories; memories