Lord Of The Flies Jack Merridew

The use of manipulation on others causes superiority and inferiority, which leads to a downfall in a society. William Golding wrote the novel, The Lord of the Flies (1954), in which he uses the protagonist, Jack Merridew, to demonstrate dictator-like characteristics. In comparison to today’s society, the leader of Ethiopia from 1995 to 2012, Meles Zenawi, has characteristics that mirror Jack’s leadership qualities. Both Jack Merridew and Meles Zenawi share characteristics that lean towards them both being dictators, which include: dominance, the torturing of others, and intimidation. A demonstration of strength shows one’s dominance when trying to be victorious. In the novel, The Lord of the Flies, the protagonist Jack shows his strength

Golding shows the torturing of others by Jack through Piggy when it is Jack’s responsibility to keep the rescue fire going and he fails to do so. Just as a dictator would, Jack blames it on Piggy and resorts to violence, “...the bolting look came into his blue eyes. He took a step, and able at last to hit someone, stuck his fist into Piggy’s stomach… Jack stood over him. His voice was vicious with humiliation” (71). Jack tortures Piggy even though the fire burning out was his responsibility, but he feels superior to everyone; which causes him to blame others for his own actions. Just as Jack did in The Lord of the Flies, Meles resorted to torturing others in certain situations. Dictators such as Meles resort to violence of innocent people “because they can” and it will show their power of being a leader. One critic of Ethiopia referred to him as “a devil incarnate” (Khazan) and it was also said that “Human rights groups condemned him for sweeping crackdowns on dissent, including the deaths of 193 political protesters in street demonstrations during the 2005 election” (Khazan). Both Jack and Meles resorted to violence and torturing of others to assert their power as

When Roger opened his eyes and saw him a darker shadow crept beneath the swarthiness of his skin; but Jack noticed nothing. He was eager, impatient, beckoning, so that Roger went to him” (62). Jack’s intimidation factor worked to cause Roger to stop throwing the stones at Henry. Roger had no remorse for throwing the stones until he saw Jack looking; Roger is scared of him. Such as Jack used intimidation to get others to do what he wanted, Zenawi did the exact same. He used intimidation to help win an election; “The shameless use of the security forces to retain power or intimidate the political opposition, and the culture of fear this engenders means that Premier Zenawi and his regime reinforced institutions the public fears” (Samatar). Zenawi used intimidation to put fear in the public and cause them to vote for his side. Intimidation is strong, especially when using it on weak minded people. Dictatorship is demonstrated when one feels the need to become superior to others. In today’s society, Meles Zenawi, and in the novel The Lord of the Flies, Jack Merridew, both share qualities that portray superiority. Through torture, dominance and intimidation they share a characteristic that is frowned upon; dictatorship. In today’s modern day society, dictatorship is not a worry because of things such as: elections, democracies and freedom. Although, there