William Golding's Lord Of The Flies

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The author, William Golding uses the main characters of Ralph, Jack, and Simon in The Lord of the Flies to portray how their desire for leadership, combined with lack of compromise leads to the fall of their society. This desire for leadership and compromise led to the fall of their society just like multiple countries during times of wars. In the Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses characters to convey the main idea of his novel. The story begins with a war, and a plane carrying several young boys, who are being evacuated, is shot down from the sky. There are no adult survivors; however; the boys were brought together by Ralph blowing on the conch shell. They formed a tribe to stay alive. Slowly the stability and the sense of safety in the group started to deteriorate, similar to the downfall of societies during World War II. They are not only hunting animals now, but they are killing each other like savages in order to stay alive. This action of killing is like Hitler during World War II and his persecution of Jews during the Holocaust. One of the main characters, Ralph, was very likeable to everyone and was almost immediately elected as the leader of the tribe, with the only competition being the leader of the choir boys, Jack. Even though Ralph just wants to get home, he remains to look strong and tough to the other boys, to try and keep things as civilized as possible. So, Ralph decides that; "We've got to have rules and obey them. After all, we're not savages. We're English, and the English are best a... ... middle of paper ... ...the North and the South, just like the differences between Jack and Ralph in this novel. Chaos broke out in both situations and led to multiple murders. Another example of desire for leadership that led to society downfall was Germany during World War II. Adolph Hitler was the leader of Germany who created a nation that persecuted Jewish persons. He did not give in to anyone or any nation; this led to the breakout of World War II. Jack is an example of Adolph Hitler due to his desire of power over the island. Jack's actions led to a similar situation as Hitler's, however not as extreme or wide spread. So, the desire for leadership, combined with lack of compromise usually leads to the fall of a society or at least a drastic change.

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