The Beast Chief on Paradise Island “It is not the misuse of power that is evil; the very existence of power is evil.” Charles A. Reich legal and social scholar, professor at Yale, and author of Opposing the System said on the topic of power, in saying this Riech is saying that power is evil and so to gain power you must be or do evil, burn some villages to get the land so to speak. This quote can be applied to the narrative The Lord of the Flies by William Golding, as the struggle for power increases between Jack and Ralph, the rising ‘chief’ and the voted ‘chief’ of the boys. In this narrative, the author writes about stranded boys and their struggle to choose salvation or a hunt and a good time. The boys have at this point …show more content…
A segment of what this Lord of the Flies ‘says’ on page 143, “You knew didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s a no go? Why things are the way they are?” The Lord of the Flies, William Golding. This line perfectly represents the control the Lord of the Flies has over the boys, he is the ‘beast’ within the boys, the evil that controls their nature. These lines can be a bit confusing if they are overlooked or misunderstood as to their context in the text. It is important for the reader to know that the author’s stance is that humankind is inherently evil as is seen in the conflicts between the boys and the violence on the island. If this Lord of the Flies actually has the power over the boys that he claims he does, then this island is going down in flames, which happened on the first day of the island actually, perhaps this Lord of the Flies is the best leader of the boys after all, Ralph is seen as a popular figure; however, he cannot make the boys listen or do anything, at least this Lord of the Flies can do that much. This Lord of the Flies actually does some foreshadowing as well, which is a trait only Simon had before, he displays his power over the boys in saying, “I’m warning you. I’m going to get angry. D’you see? You’re not wanted. …show more content…
For example, Ralph forgets what he is about to say and can’t seem to get the boys to do as he says, Jack has no one’s best interest at heart and is dangerous (possibly psychotic) and Piggy, well that all the boys call him Piggy says a lot for how much everyone respects him, even if he is by far the smartest person on the island. To be fair, all these characters have their good qualities of course, Ralph is focused on rescue and keeping the boys civilized this can be seen even on page 172, “We’ll be like we were. We’ll wash-” and again on that same page, “Well, we won’t be painted, … because we aren’t savages.” Golding, The Lord of the Flies. In both of these it is fairly clear that Ralph wants to preserve the civil part of the boys and keep them away from becoming savage and violent like Jack. He wants them to stay sane and relatively put together until they get rescued. And even though Ralph can’t make the boys do anything to help Jack can, using fear tactics of course, Ralph couldn’t make the boys listen to him as the elected chief because Jack had meat and a fun dance, well for everyone but the one getting beaten half to death. An example of Jack’s power over the boys is on page 182 as he is forcing Samneric to join his tribe, “ ‘What d’you mean by coming with spears? What d’you mean by not joining my tribe?” The Lord of the
The Lord of the Flies is a gruesome story about young boys stranded on an island, who underwent a transformation from polite British choir boys to savage hooligans. One of the main difficulties the boys face during their adventures upon the island, is their method of government, they either follow the path of Ralph, the democratic leader whose main focus is to escape the despairing island; or Jack a power-hungry monarchical leader who won't ever take no for an answer. The two boys are constantly bickering and arguing over who deserves the leader-position. We all understand Ralph wants to be leader so that he can ensure that the boys will return back home, but in Jack's case, it is a constant mystery to us about why he wants power over the other children. But we do get much small hints from the author, William Golding, that Jack's biggest fear among the other children on the island is public humiliation. This becomes more and more evident the farther on into the book, and his fear seems to be what persuades him to reach for a powerful position.
When the boys first arrived on the island, their behaviour was civilized and they attempted to convince themselves that they would soon be rescued by their parents. As the days passed, the boys began to open their eyes and realized that sitting around was not going to benefit them in any way, and most importantly it would not help them survive. Because of their new unrestricted life on the island, the boys become ruthless and replaced their previous identity.
When people are suppressed, their tolerance reaches a breaking point which can lead to lashing out or the destroying of a society. In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the character Piggy snaps at Jack after he was disrespectful and not giving him the opportunity to talk when he holds the honored conch. Throughout the book, Piggy is constantly being harassed and disrespected by his peers because he was different. Piggy becomes exasperated due to the way everyone had been treating him, and it wasn't surprising when he lashed out on Jack. ISIS, an Islamic terrorist group founded in 1999 by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, is another example of how suppression can only silence for so long before a stronger force rebels against it. For instance, a
In the novel The Lord of the flies, William Golding illustrates the decline from innocence to savagery through a group of young boys. In the early chapters of The Lord of the Flies, the boys strive to maintain order. Throughout the book however, the organized civilization Ralph, Piggy, and Simon work diligently towards rapidly crumbles into pure, unadulterated, savagery. The book emphasized the idea that all humans have the potential for savagery, even the seemingly pure children of the book. The decline of all civilized behavior in these boys represents how easily all order can dissolve into chaos. The book’s antagonist, Jack, is the epitome of the evil present in us all. Conversely, the book’s protagonist, Ralph, and his only true ally, Piggy, both struggle to stifle their inner
For there is the power in losing innocent, there is the power causing the violence. Jack and Ralph are sided on the strong part of the power, and in the beginning, Ralph started with the civilized, innocent boy, but later, the boys become savage and harm each other., being violent. Golding put all the characters as the symbol of turning to savage, but Jack was the main one who Golding put as the symbol of violence. “The painted group moved round Samneric nervously and unhandily....‘Tie them up!’...Now the group... felt the power in their hands...Jack was inspired…‘See? They do what I want (178-179).’” Jack is using the power to cause the violence. He hunted pig and he needed fire to cook it. Since he had no source to light the fire, he sneaks
At one point in the story Jack says “Conch! Conch! We don’t need the conch anymore, we know who ought to say things” This quote really tells us that Jack’s pride has overtaken him and the idea of the kids submitting to him and calling him “chief.” has gone to his head. Jack has become very popular by force and by the kids feeling peer pressured to join Jack’s tribe and be hunters, or else they might be killed by the rest of the tribe. Everyone on the tribe is scared to step up to Jack because the people on his tribe are beginning to get used to the violent acts savagery that have been committed on the island so far. The kids start to let the fear of man overtake them and give into the peer pressure of joining Jack’s tribe because there isn’t really another option. By the kids giving into the peer pressure to follow the “popular” leader, Jack, they are ultimately giving Jack more power so he can do whatever he wants with the support of others who agreed to be apart of the tribe. This theme reaches its climax at the end of the story when it is literally Jack’s whole tribe, which basically consists of all the kids on the island, against Ralph. In the end, Ralph was the only one who didn’t give into the peer pressure to join Jack’s tribe, and ultimately he was rewarded for it because he got what he wanted, to be rescued. Now just because he didn’t give into peer pressure doesn’t mean you automatically get rewarded. I feel that giving Ralph his desire was William Golding’s way of rewarding Ralph for not giving into being apart of Jack's
Mankind is innately evil. The allegorical novel, The Lord of the Flies, allows for little interpretation about human nature. William Golding depicts the idea, “evil is an inborn trait of man” (Golding). Throughout the novel the children who have crash landed on the island begin to uncover their savage nature. Although all of the children somehow succumb to a heinous behaviour, Jack, Ralph, and Roger become most noticeably corrupt. Ultimately, it becomes clear that malicious intent is intrinsic in mankind.
A group of kids got stuck on an island after their plane got shot down and they all have many different personalities. Being stuck on an island usually brings out the worst of people.But, there were two characters in novel, “The Lord of The Flies” that had good morals. These two characters were Ralph and Simon. Ralph and Simon weren’t intimidated by not having any adults around, instead, they tried to bring out the best of themselves and not take part in any horseplay the rest of the boys did.
The influence of power, or “power hungry”, has had a huge effect on many people who feel that they must be in charge. These people often have trouble being told no or being told that they can’t be in charge. People throughout history have done it in many ways. Our own government displays this when we elect a new president every four years. These candidates often tell the public what they want to hear and how they’ll make it a better place, when, in reality, they only mean half of it and they just want to be able to have the power of the president. In the novel Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, the antagonist, Jack, shows throughout the book that he craves power and feels that he deserves it more than anybody else.
Do you believe when people are born, they are born with a blank slate? An English philosopher named John Locke believed that people are born with a blank slate and we acquire ideas from our environment and the people that influence us. In the book “Lord of The Flies” by William Golding it shows us that everyone has evil inside of us and even children can do things that we will not expect they would do. Jack Merridew was a good example because he represented evil in the novel he turned savaged and let the evil inside of him take over his actions and these actions impacted other characters. Jack Merridew let his anger toward Ralph change him and also him wanting power and being the leader of them.
“The duty of the youth is to challenge corruption,” Kurt Cobain once said. The Lord of the Flies tells a fictional story of a group of kids whose plane crashes on an island. Among these boys is Jack, a choirboy who is eager to hunt and create laws. However, in Lord of the Flies, the character Jack shows himself to be an arrogant tyrant because throughout the novel he acts in a way that is cruel, evil, and violent.
Ralph shows that he has a better understanding of the boys than Jack. He knows that the boys need some sort of order on the island in order for them to survive. He starts a simple form of government and sets a few rules for them. Even though they don’t last very long, the fact that he tried to help the group is what makes him a better leader. Ralph’s wisdom and ability to look toward the future also has an advantage over Jack. He has a sense to keep his focus on getting off the island. When the fire goes out, Ralph gets upset because the chance to be rescued was gone as well. Ralph enforces his role of leadership as he gives the boys a sense of stability of an authority figure. He keeps the boys in pretty good order at the meeting by making a rule that they can only speak if they have the conch. Ralph knows that the littleuns are afraid and they need shelter to feel more secure. They work together for a while, but as the time goes on the smaller boys want to go play. They slowly lose all their help until Simon and Ralph are the only ones left to work on them. Ralph knows that this is a necessity and keeps bringing it up at the meetings. Jack, on the other hand, is doing nothing but causing chaos.
Golding teaches the reader that when dictatorial authority is created, the fear of going against it is much stronger than the need to speak one’s mind. The children, being starving, begin to kill pigs as a group; the hunting scenes in the novel are quite brutal and create fear for the reader and hunters alike. During a moment where a group of children are searching for a wild pig in the forest, the hunters begin gathering around character Roger. A few begin to poke fun at him, and the rest follow their lead; they drive their spears at his direction and chant “Kill the pig! Cut his throat!” (Golding 114), which of course scares many of the hunters and Roger. They are no longer consciously making decisions; their personalities have been altered by their fear and impulse to follow the leader. What must be months into their life on the island, they have learned to make fires and where to camp; tensions have risen between two sides of the surviving boys, and their fears of dying become all too intense. When a storm is upon the group and they are all uneasy, Jack instructs the boys to “Do our dance! Come on! Dance!” (Golding 151), and because they fear the consequences, they did as he commanded. In simple words, The Lord of the Flies is teaching us that when there is a leader and a mob to follow,
In the book Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a group of young boys from England are evacuated out of their country due to a war. The plane is then shot down and results into a plane crash on a deserted island. The boys are left all alone with no adults, no supplies, and no one to come and rescue them. They are all on their own and have to establish a new “society”. The boys have to choose someone to govern them and that person ends up being Ralph, who had an internal struggle between what is right and wrong closer to the end of the novel. The boys turn into savages, killing each other, and showing their evil inside each of them. According to, William Golding man is inherently evil, evil is in all of us, but it is oppressed by society, and comes out when there is not anything to hold us back, civilization is what holds back evil from coming out, or it is what triggers evil inside of man.
Contrasting Ralph and Jack in Lord of the Flies & nbsp;& nbsp; & nbsp; Ralph and Jack are both powerful and meaningful characters in William Golding's novel, Lord of the Flies. Ralph is an excellent leader; responsible, and stands for all that is good. Jack is a destructive hunter, selfish, and represents evil. These two main characters can be compared by the actions they take as leaders, their personalities, and what they symbolize in the story. & nbsp; Ralph first takes on the position as leader at the beginning of the story, when the rest of the boys vote him in as chief.&nbs Rules and standards are set when Ralph is the chief. He orders the group to build the basic necessities of civilization, shelters, and most importantly to keep the fire going, in hope that they will be rescued and return to humanity. " But I tell you that smoke is more important than the pig, however often you kill one" (Golding 75). Jack, on the other hand, takes on the idea of every man for himself. He does not care about making homes, only about hunting. When Jack is the leader, evil takes over and all good is destroyed. Under Jack's power both Simon and Piggy are killed. & nbsp; Not only do the two character's decisions clash so do their personalities. Ralph is caring and considerate, being kinder to Piggy, making friends with him and constantly confid Ralph represents law, order, organized society and moral integrity. Throughout the novel he is constantly making common-sense rules for the boys to follow. Unlike Ralph, Jack is unkind, caring about no one