Dictatorship In Lord Of The Flies

Lord of the Flies is a novel by William Golding, a group of British school boy’s plane crashes and they try to survive in an isolated environment facing many hardships. They must create their own society with rules that they can cope with. Golding intends to show the dark side of human nature in his novel. He showed the savagery that causes the civilized humans to become barbaric in manner. The school boys were led from hope to disaster as they tried to survive in this remote island. In my opinion Lord of the Flies depict the governing methods of World War Two. Dictatorship was the leading method during this time period, which brings us to Jack, a character that displayed violence to prove his existence, and his rising power as a dictator.

In Lord of the Flies every character symbolizes something from a bigger civilization. Jack embodies violence and the evil side of humanity; he represents the envy for power and control. He is always making rules and is eager to punish whoever breaks those rules even though he does constantly. His main hobby is hunting which is led by the need for meat, his hobby build up savagery and the desire to murder other living creatures. Gradually, Jack’s dictatorship started rising as the conflicts between him and Ralph began. Jack tried to dominate instead of cooperating with Ralph, the chosen chief and can also be classified as the protagonist of this novel. Jack repeatedly questions and challenges the power of the conch, which symbolizes social order, authority and respect. However he uses the conch to his benefit when possible. These analyses show that Jack’s character is very much like the dictator Adolf Hitler.

Jack’s rise to power and his methods of ruling relate to Hitler’s. They are both anta...

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...anger” (Golding 20). And biographer Robert G.L Waite reports Hitler’s appearance: “We look at his unimpressive even ludicrous figure and wonder how it is possible for a great nation to hail him as their great leader and savior… physically Hitler did not seem well cast for his role and national hero and historic force”.

In conclusion, Lord of the Flies, a novel by William Golding, shows the savagery that leads a group of civilized boys to act in barbaric manner. Golding shows us the dark side of humanity through his novel. Jack, the antagonist, craves for total power and war. He becomes very wild, barbaric and cruel. Jack, skillful at manipulating the other boys, represents the dark side of humanity and violence and savagery within human beings. He becomes a dictator in need for more and more power and war very much like World War two’s dictator, Adolf Hitler.