Shifts In Power In Lord Of The Flies

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Lord of the Flies by William Golding, published in 1954 highlights the negative traits of human nature known as human frailties and how this causes the downfall/destruction of humans/humanity. Based during times of war the novel centres a group of British boys who have crash landed on an inhabited island with no adults present the boys are left to fend for themselves. At first he boys follow rules of ordered society however it's not long before they decent into savagery. The novel also shows a conflict between the protagonist Ralph and antagonist jack as they struggle for power, from Ralph at the beginning to Jack in the end therefore the text analyses how shifts in power were used to illustrate one or more themes in the text. Golding uses …show more content…

In this chapter Ralph and piggy realise that all the boys including the loyal biguns have gone to jack's feast so out of curiosity and hunger Ralph and piggy decide to go to. there jack allows Ralph and piggy to join in but after everyone has eaten jack his true motive for the feast as he asks the boys to decide whether they want to join his tribe “who wants to join my tribe” as Ralph desperately tries to claim himself as chief and remind them of the first vote using fire and rescue as well as the conch however jack's overpowering authority is evident as Ralph struggles to find reasons to convince the boys to stay with him however Jake has a clear statement “I gave you food”, “my hunters will protect you from the beast” “ who’ll join my tribe and have fun” this is enough to persuade the boys as they one by one speak up to be in jack's tribe. Here Ralph tries to use the significance of the conch however jack denies following the established rules and makes it clear that the conch doesn't count on his side of the island signifying the loss of power in conch and the win[THE VICTORY OF SAVAGERY] of savagery and the downfall of civilization and ordered society and the boy’s reversion into savagery. While all this is taking place Simon gains conscious and goes to find out what actually is the beast, there he discovers the beast is not a beast but a man with a parachute, knowing the importance of this discovery he quickly makes his way to the boys but the day’s events have weaken him so much that it has forced him to crawl at the same time a storm breaks and jack orders the boys to dance as they chant “kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!” in terror of the thunderstorm and fear of the beast the boys mistake Simon for the beast and beat him to death as he desperately tries to tell the boys the truth about the beast however is cries go unnoticed. The author uses Simon as an

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