Corrupt Power: Lord of the Flies and I Only Came To Use The Phone

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Americans as they go through their day to day lives, do not very often see corruption of power here at home, so they very frequently forget the sufferings of other nations under the power of oppressive regimes. It is important to remember that human power, in its pure form, will tend to be used for evil rather than good. In fact Golding creates such a situation in his book Lord of the Flies which will later be seen. It is also important to know that even if a person is conditioned to use his human power for good and not for evil, the temptation to use that human power for evil is often so great that the user will succumb to the temptation and could use that human power to do something terrible. This is seen in both I Only Came to Use the Phone and Lord of the Flies. Another important aspect of human power is that human power with good intent is often stamped out by human power with evil intent. This is demonstrated by some characters in Lord of the Flies. So basically, human power is an indiscriminate force which can be used for either good or for evil depending on the human who is yielding said power; however, in general, human power is used to achieve selfish and evil desires.
The topic of human nature, in its pure form, will tend to use its human power for evil rather than good. This topic is illustrated in Lord of the Flies in a series of quotes that show how a boy named Jack acts when his human nature in its pure form takes over. This first quote establishes that Jack’s human nature in pure form will eventually show itself, by showing that Jack is on an island with only himself and other kids: “Beyond the hollow was the square top of the mountain and soon they were standing on it. They had guessed before that this wa...

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...ic have painted their faces. Sam and Eric started off as some of Ralph’s followers in that they believed that it was savage to paint your face and that to be savage was to be evil. However, now after they have been hurt, the temptation to use their human power for evil, by endorsing the savages with their painted faces and by effectively pledging themselves to participate in the savage acts, and by allying themselves with the savages. This enforces the topic that even if a person is conditioned to use his human power for good and not for evil the temptation to use that human power for evil is often so great that the user will succumb to the temptation and could use that human power to do something terrible.

Works Cited
Golding, William. Lord Of The Flies. New York: Perigee, 1954. Print.
Marquez, Grabriel. I Only Came To Use The Phone. Oveja Negra, 1992. Print.

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