The desire for power and leadership has been established into people's consciences since the beginning of mankind. Power has been used to improve the quality of life, and power has been used to suppress and control. For example, there are leaders in the world that are tyrants who use their leadership to better the world. In the novel Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, a group of boys are stranded on an uninhabited island and try to set up the structure of society, an undertaking in which they ultimately end up failing. We can see this idea when two boys are fighting for power and leadership. Jack Merridew, the head of the choir, sways the boys to follow under his violent leadership and power. This conveys the theme that when people have …show more content…
When the boys find out that there is a “monster”, Jack thinks that Ralph should not be a leader because he is a coward. Jack tries to tell the boys that Ralph does nothing for the tribe and Jack has done everything for them: “[Ralph’s] not a hunter … he just gives orders and expects people to obey for nothing” before saying “all this talk” to which Ralph responds, “Talk, talk! Who wanted it? Who called the meeting?” (126). Jack then blushes and sits back down “[glowering] up under his eyebrows” (127). When someone has power and tries to be controlling they normally have everyone’s full attention. We can see when Jack tries to take over the situation he ends up embarrassing himself. Jack expected to be the authority of everyone, but instead, most of the boys agree with Ralph, including some of the hunters. We can see when Jack gets “schooled” by Ralph when Ralph takes control and uses his leadership skills, Ralph glowers and is infuriated by the …show more content…
Bullies have so much more power that they do not understand the effects of their actions. Jack and the rest of the hunters did not keep the rescue fire going which prevented the boys from being saved. Ralph and Piggy have a fight with the hunters and Jack. Piggy had been fighting with Jack which caused great tension between the two. The other boys and even the hunters had begun to agree with Piggy: “ … and the walls of agreement from the hunters, drove Jack to violence. The bolting look came into his eyes. He took a step, and able at last hit someone, struck his face in Piggy’s stomach. Piggy sat down with a grunt Jack stood over him. His voice was vicious with humiliation ‘You would, would you? Fatty!’ ” (71). To have a “bolting look” often times means one will explode or become very angry. When Jack sees that even his own group has turned on him, he becomes enraged and has the desire to hurt people physically with his power as the head hunter. Jack proves this when he starts to beat up Piggy and hurt him. Finally, having “vicious humiliation” we would assume is when someone is trying to belittle or bully another human. Jack calls Piggy a “fatty” due to the boys siding with Piggy instead of him. This caused Jack to use his power and bully Piggy, so he would feel he was in power. As one can see, Jack uses his power to hurt people mentally and physically. When one
In Lord of the Flies the moral is teaching you that man can go mad no matter what age. The kids start trying to build a society after they crashed landed on an island. The way they choose their leader doomed them from the start, Ralph finds a shell and declares him the ruler. There’s a famous saying, “power makes man corrupt.” This holds true in this story. After arguments with other people in the tribe about his ruling situation a sort of revolution erupts. This leads to the boys going back to the savage days of survival-of-the-fittest. The ones with most power start taking in kids as slaves showing how getting the advantage of power made them enslave their own friends. The story isn’t set back in the 1800s either when slavery was tolerated,
They often obey his destructive orders just to avoid being punished. Jack tells Ralph, after Roger kills Piggy, “ ‘See? See? That’s what you’ll get! I meant that! There isn’t a tribe for you anymore! The conch is gone—’ -He ran forward, stooping- ‘I’m chief!’ ” (Golding 181) Jack threatens Ralph and the boys by reminding them of the consequences of not succumbing to his authority. They are physically and emotionally tormented, forced to participate in Jack’s violent acts. As time goes by, they willingly join in on Jack’s brutal endeavors, such as hunting Ralph down in an attempt to sacrifice him to the beast. He
"They looked at each other, baffled in love and hate," (Golding 71). In the tale of Lord of the Flies by William Golding, in attempt to escape from their boarding school during WWII, numerous British schoolboys end up stranded on an island after the catastrophe of a plane crash. Before long, innocent kids are dying, society is falling apart, and anarchy reigns. The dominate characters in Lord of the Flies, Jack and Ralph, are two boys of the same age and who battle constantly for power throughout the entire novel. While Ralph possesses some rescue skills, Jack possesses survival skills which ensure him to live a moderate life while stranded on the island. Jack also accomplishes many things while living on the island, such as creating a tribe, whereas Ralph only achieves starting a small fire atop a mountain in attempt to be rescued. Considering these facts, Jack is the better leader in Lord of the Flies.
Consequently speaking, Jack demonstrates parallels that are similar to the aspect of a bully. “He took a step, and able at last to hit someone, stuck his fist into Piggy’s stomach. Piggy sat down with a grunt. Jack stood over him. His voice was vicious was humiliation”(Golding 71). As every liquid has a boiling point, so does Jack’s temper for violence against others. This act of violence represents Jack’s attitude against his stubbornness and regretful nature. Jack is being verbally attacked for his careless behavior about surviving on the island. He has been put up against a wall, testing his ability for receiving constructive criticism. The arrogance Jack projects onto the others creates him to act violently to hide his vulnerability. Instead of ignoring Piggy’s remarks, he defends himself by displacing his anger on Piggy, who happens to be the weakest of the children, from Jack’s perspectives. “Children who fear expressing anger against their parents may displace it by kicking the family pet. Students upset over an exam may snap at a roomate” (Myers 600). The defense mechanism of displacement diverts aggression towards a less threatening object or person. In this case, Jack displaces Piggy. As most bullies do, they project their anger towards people who are weaker to make them look more confident and stronger than
Power is very dangerous, as shown in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. The novel explores the use of power in both the hands of good and evil and for success and for failure. Also, how some characters respond to having power. An examination of William Golding’s LOTF will show how fear is powerful and how the characters use that to their advantage. Also, the power shifts between the characters and the aftermath of that.
Momentarily after Piggy was killed, his limbs “twitched” like a “pig’s after it has been killed” (181). Comparing Piggy to an actual pig reveals how the savages are beginning to hunt and kill each other like they are pigs. Additionally, having Piggy’s name be Piggy was a foreshadow to this moment, where there was no difference between him and an actual pig prey. Likewise, the tribe “watched Ralph to see what he would do next” after the twins were tied up (179). Here, Ralph is portrayed almost as a wild animal that the savages are observing and just waiting when to pounce on him. In addition to this, after the conch was smashed, Jack “viciously” hurled his spear at Ralph “with full intention” (181). This implies that Jack is hunting Ralph, like he is the new pig. Ralph is his next prey, now that Piggy, his last prey, is dead. Lastly, through all of his frustration, Ralph accused Jack of being a “beast and a swine,” suggesting that through trying to stop and kill the beast, he has let out his inner darkness and become the beast, yet developed the qualities of a pig at the same time (179).
While the boys are under Jack's control, they quickly went back into how they started when they first got there. However, Ralph was able to keep the boys under control by holding meetings. At the meetings, a sense of order is instilled because the boys are not allowed to speak unless they have the conch shell. "I'll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he's speaking." (p. 31) By making this rule, he gains respect from the boys and becomes for confident as a leader. Ralph uses his power to tries to make the boys better people. He shows his by building them shelters. "They talk and scream. The littuns. Even some of the others." (p. 53) Ralph is saying that the boys need the shelters because they are afraid and the shelters will help the boys feel more secure. This shows he has better knowledge of people making him a better leader than Jack who does not understand this. Jack does not realize that the boys need to feel secure and need someone in control.
In order for Jack to be a bully, the story has to hint at his flaws and issues at the beginning of the story. In the book Jack says stuff like,"You're always scared. Yah ---- Fatty!"(Golding 45). He also says,"A fat lot you tried......You just sat..."(Golding 42). These are an example of Jack bullying Piggy. Even though everyone takes part in
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.
Characters have played a large role in setting the theme of abusive power; they gain power over a group of individuals and misguide them. One obvious example from Lord Of the Flies was Jack. Towards the beginning of the novel, when the “elections” for the leader of the group took place Jack tried to get power. “‘I ought to be chief,’ said Jack with simple arrogance, ‘because I’m the chapter chorister and head boy. I can sing C sharp’” (Golding 22). After losing the election to Ralph, he became the head of the hunters. Here he abused the miniscule powers given to him over the small group of boys formerly known as the “choir”. Jack’s influence possibly corrupted the minds of the young boys and made them into cold blooded killers going from killing pigs for food to harming humans for enjoyment. “The circle moved round. Robert squealed in mock terror then in real pain… Jack had him by the hair and was brandishing his knife.” (Golding 114). The significance of this was that it was the first major point that lead to the collapse of society on the island. Jack thought that Ralph did not appreciate what he was doing for the group by gett...
Jack’s use of propaganda augmented his assets and facilitated his rise to power. For instance, Jack compared Ralph to a weaker character by stating, “He’s like Piggy. He says things like Piggy. He isn’t a proper chief... He’s a coward himself...” (115). This comparison of Ralph to Piggy portrayed Ralph as a weak, derided character, especially since Piggy was constantly ridiculed and abhorred for his corpulent appearance. As a result of this anti-Ralph propaganda, the boys looked to Jack as their leader because of Ralph’s lowered prestige and ostensible cowardliness. Jack additionally used propaganda against Ralph by explaining how Ralph allegedly thought that the others were cowards, “running away from the boar and the beast” (115). By conveying this misinformation with the tribe members, Jack gave himself more support, since he created more hatred towards Ralph. Furthermore, this rising hatred dem...
His concern for the individuals in the group is pertinent from the beginning: he conveys to Jack the necessity of shelters “as a sort of [home]”, upon noticing the distress of the younger children (pg. 58). It is seen that Ralph’s problems are not his own; he assumes the role of leader to bring orderly forces of civilization to all. By approaching circumstances with logistics rather than emotion, Ralph does not lose sight of himself in the face of adversity. Despite this, he is later forced to act irrationally in order to preserve his status. When confronted with the evidence of the beast, Ralph is hesitant to hunt it; he is only manipulated into doing so when Jack “[sneers]” and questions him if he is “frightened” (pg. 100). However, Ralph does not respond out of his spite or self-pride as he understands that he must retain his status among the boys. If he does not remain chief, Jack will secure the position, bearing the notion that there will always be individuals working against altruism for their own benefit. Ralph sacrifices his morals by becoming subservient to Jack’s ego, yet does so in order to preserve civility within the group. On the day of the boys’ rescue, Ralph understands that his efforts to preserve peace and order are all for naught. Man’s destructive forces overwhelm him as “[he weeps] for … the darkness of man’s
Jack was also at play in all this not just Ralph. Jack was an arrogant boy, but also tried to be civil and keep everything together, hunt, and, survive in the beginning. But then realized that getting saved might not be an opportunity for them. For example Jack split up his choir and hunted. Also kept the fire going but then left the fire unattended to go catch a pig with all of the group, Jack fought with Ralph because he was the leader and Jack wasn't. Then Ralph was “telling everyone what to do”. He was trying to keep everything together. Jack thought he should have been leader, so Jack left the group and started his own tribe.
Under Jack's rule, the boys become uncivilized savages. They have no discipline. Ralph, however, keeps the boys under order through the meetings which he holds. At these meetings a sense of order is instilled because the boys have to wait until they hold the conch to speak. When Ralph says, "I'll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he's speaking." (Golding 36) he enforces his role of leader by making rules and gives the boys the stability of an authority figure, mainly himself. By doing this he wins the boys respect and confidence in his leadership abilities. Ralph uses his authority to try to improve the boys' society. By building shelters he demonstrates his knowledge of the boys' needs. When he says to Jack, "They talk and scream. The littluns.