William Golding's Lord of the Flies Essay

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

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.

Jack insists that since Ralph had never hunted and provided meat for the boy’s he shouldn’t be chief; the other boy’s disagree, and, upset that he has not proven himself to the boys, says, "I'm not going to play any longer. Not with you… I'm going off by myself. He can catch his own pigs. Anyone who wants to hunt when I do can come too" (144). Jack then walks off, and many of the boys follow him and leave Ralph behind; in doing this, Jack takes a good portion of Ralph’s tribe, as well as much of Ralph’s dignity as a chief. Later, Jack names himself chief of the other group of boys. He uses his power to make rules, all of which establish that Jack’s side of the island is different from Ralph’s; "We'll hunt. I'm going to be chief… I say this. We aren't going to bother about the beast… And another thing. We shan't dream so much down here. This is near the end of the island" (146). In his anger, Jack created a society based on what children want instead of what adults need, which Ralph had. Jack has made himself the opposite of Ralph out of

In the beginning, the island has a happy, holiday feel, like a trip to the Bahamas. The boys explore the island feeling like adventurers and trailblazers instead of lost children. When scouting the island for the first time, Ralph, Simon, and Jack talked of making maps and a“kind of glamour was spread over them and the scene and they were conscious of the glamour and made happy by it” (Golding 25). But the island does not retain its pleasant and benign atmosphere for long- soon an aura of fear steals over the jungle. Hunting goes from an adrenaline fueled excursion to source a mild anxiety for all but Jack, and when he tells his hunters to follow him, they “spread out, nervously, in the forest” (Golding 133). The jungle has changed from a place full of fruit and joyous exploration, to one full of shadows and beasts. It is easier to revert back to savagery when lost within its trees. As early as the third chapter, Jack gets startled and “for a minute became less a hunter than a furtive thing, ape-like among the tangle of trees” (Golding 49). When one is alone or afraid, the jungle starts to feel like a hunt-or-be-hunted scenario. Jack, the character perhaps most acclimated to the jungle through his long hunting trips, describes being afraid and feeling vulnerable in the jungle, as if something is always behind him. When everything has deteriorated into chaos, perhaps the most telling

Lots of rules!” (32), and later on says, “We’ve got to have rules and obey them. After all we’re not savages. We’re English, and the English are best at everything” (42). However, on the contrary, it is shown in the consecutive chapters that Jack is one of the first boys to succumb to their primitive instincts despite what he claims in chapter 2. These instances of irony show the foolishness and naivety of the boys in the beginning, which also shows the major change of behaviour they go through. This change of behaviour is addressed by the naval officer at the conclusion of the story, where he remarks the boys with disgust, “I should have thought [...] a pack of British boys [...] would have been able to put up a better show than that”(224). This quotation coincidentally resembles Jack’s earlier line about “ the English are best at everything”(42). However, the naval officer does not realize the traumatic events that have happened on the island is a microcosm of the constant war between civilization and savagery happening in society in which the naval officer is a part of. After the naval officer’s comments about the boys, they all begin to sob, as they realize the immense change they went from innocent boys to complete savages. The irony in the story has revealed the inner conflict between civilization and savagery in a place without law and order and its effect on the behaviour of the boys; ultimately causing the boys to face their major consequence: the

Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a classic novel and portrays just how the society surrounding us can corrupt our once pure nature No one is born a killer, no one is born with an intense compulsion to kill, the island that the boys are stranded on has a very unusual, corrupting society; A society that erodes the boys innocence through the power struggle between Jack and Ralph, readers see the transfer from innocent to savagely through the hunting and Piggy’s death.

William Golding's Lord of the Flies "Everything is breaking up. I don't know why." - Ralph What is going wrong on the island and why?

Something deep in Ralph spoke for him. “I’m chief. I'll go. Don't argue." (p.155)Throughout the novel, we notice the similarities between the two characters Ralph and Jack, however, there are several great differences in the way they use these traits to benefit both themselves and others. In the novel Lord of the Flies, the contrasts aid in displaying the variances between Jack and Ralph, such as their leadership styles, civilization vs savagery, and their motives throughout the story.

      In the novel, Lord of the Flies, William Golding tells the story of a group of boys on an island left out to self survive. The time was World War II when the plane the boys were in was shot down leaving young survivals on a deserted island without any adults. The whole story is about what happens during their stay on the island representing metaphoric ideas of humanity in each incident as Golding describes. Golding has reportedly said that he wrote the novel in response to his personal war experiences. “ (The war)… taught us not fighting, politics or the follies of nationalism, but about the given nature of man.” (Golding) By looking at Lord of the Flies, it is clear that Golding’s view of

Civilization can be destroyed as easily as it is created.  Without the walls of society, humans are capable of committing actions that they would have never thought possible.  Lord of the Flies focuses on a group of boys who are alone on an island without authority. The novel reveals what can become of humanity without the presence of authority.  In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the protagonist Ralph symbolizes leadership, civilization,  as well as the loss of innocence.  Ralph is the closest resemblance to authority that the boys have on the island.  His appearance plays an important role in him signifying authority, “You could see now that he might make a boxer, as far as width and heaviness of shoulders went, but there was a

When humans are pushed to survive, they are willing to do anything to do so. In the novel “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding, a group of boys are stranded on an island and have to survive, however as the story progresses the boys become more barbaric and savage like. Even though there are good people in this world, there will always be evil. Why does evil exist? Golding’s belief of human nature is that humans are naturally evil and savage. However, law and civility keep humans from turning into this natural state of evil and Golding uses the development of Jack to show how savagery is created.

The author, William Golding uses the main characters of Ralph, Jack, and Simon in The Lord of the Flies to portray how their desire for leadership, combined with lack of compromise leads to the fall of their society. This desire for leadership and compromise led to the fall of their society just like multiple countries during times of wars.

“The boys looked at each other fearfully, unbelieving. ‘ ——-where is he now?’ ” (Golding 48). They all wish to deal with their fears in different ways. Jack is trying to deal with the beast by hunting it. He also wants to find food, make the boys a home on the island, and hopefully adapt to the horrors there. Ralph is coping by simply trying to help get the boys off of this dreary island as quickly as possible. Both of the views in this situation are clashing together, so that the boys could never agree. Neither of the boys can see past their own dreams and desires, which leads to anger.

“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 on any political system however apparently logical or respectable.” With this quote, William Golding simply justifies the theme and moral presented in his novel, Lord of the Flies. The characters portray a modern society and depict the cruelty of human disposition. The political system in the U.S., as a whole, is a prime example of the ignorance towards ethical nature and is definitely blameworthy of the ruthlessness of mankind as individuals. Change is needed!

Gangs are considered a group of people that have a common link together. Gangs are typically ethnically, racially, economically or geographically based. In William Golding 's Lord of the Flies, gangs rise up within the group of boys. William Golding gives us a glimpse of the savagery that underlies even the most civilized human beings. The bullying and group mentality demonstrated in gangs has resemblances to the characters in Lord of the Flies.