Bystander Effect In Lord Of The Flies Essay

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Although it may be natural human behavior when stripped from civilization, how the boys' behavior has changed morally based on their situation is the main part of the destruction on the island. One thing is that the boys on the island were not willing to go after and help each other. The bystander effect engaged, they let all these horrible things happen to each other without taking action to stop it and get things under control. This quote shows us an example of how the bystander effect was happening while Jack and his tribe were killing Simon: “Again the blue-white scar jagged above them and the sulphurous explosion beat down. The littluns screamed and blundered about, fleeing from the edge of the forest, and one of them broke the ring of biguns in …show more content…

There wasn’t any kind or response as they saw Simon get murdered in this moment, except expressing emotions of fear. They saw him, and knew it wasn’t the beast. No one stopped to help Simon, they let him die to the hands of Jack and his group of hunters. That also went along with another psychological factor. The boys were following whoever took charge which led them to be manipulated, or they were under blind obedience to authority. This quote of dialogue shows us that they were going to let a chief takeover decide things for them instead providing ideas themselves: “‘Seems to me we ought to have a chief to decide for things.’ ‘a chief!, a chief!’” (Golding 22). Clearly showing their willingness to have a leader and more importantly, to be led. This was only the beginning of the boys just following and needing a leader just because they couldn’t do anything, along with them being under the influence of fear. Everyone just followed whoever took charge and didn’t bother to weigh the pros and cons, or actually question if they were a good leader. They were so blinded and would do whatever it takes to survive. This also connecting to this next psychological

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