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Evil deeds in lord of the flies by William Golding
Evil deeds in lord of the flies by William Golding
Power and morality in lord of the flies
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Recommended: Evil deeds in lord of the flies by William Golding
Throughout both stories, “The Lord of the Flies” by William Golding, and “The Phone” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, some characters abuse their power. Although most people abuse power when it is given to them, these characters use it in unique, uncommon ways.
In the Lord of the Flies, the abuse of power is used in several different ways. For example, once Ralph met Piggy, he immediately realized he was “different” and began to call him Piggy, specifically after Piggy said he hated that name. Also, he kept reffering to him by “fat boy” and would tell him to shut up. Ralph would also tease him about his aunt, and his asthma, as did Jack.
Although Ralph and Jack both verbally abuse Piggy, Jack also physically abuses him. For example, in chapter 4, he punches Piggy. Piggys’ glasses fall off his face and break. Then later on in the story he steals the remaining parts of Piggys’ glasses and uses them to create a fire. Jack knew if his clan could steal the glasses that they could control and continue to have a fire. Since Jacks’ clan members had allowed the fire to go out before, th...
...ing the boys know that if they do not stay prim and proper, rescue will be the last thing on their minds. Piggy is the brains of the group, he is the one with all the answers. When the boys first start the fire they want smoke, but Piggy is the only one who knows why, “Course we have. ’Cos the smoke’s a signal and we can’t be rescued if we don’t have smoke” (Golding 173). Ralph’s boys all just want to get off the island at this point, they are tierd of fighting Jack and his sneaky devious ways of getting what he wants. By stealing the glasses he has an edge on everyone and the power of fire, so Piggy is trying to come up with a way to keep the smoke signal going so they can still attract any passing ships attention. With all of Piggy’s genius ideas he shares with the boys to stay safe and civil on the island, he really is not paid back with the respect he deserves.
Jack, William Golding’s antagonist in Lord of the Flies, reveals through his experience on the island that it is an individual’s assertiveness, manipulative abilities, and charisma which dictate who commandeers power and privilege over others, and that possessing these traits often negatively impacts the lives of the people leaders seek to control.
In the books The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, and Lord of the Flies by William Golding, both Amir and Ralph go through many similar troubles, and change according to their ups and downs. When Amir is young, he goes through painful torments by his fathers disregard for him, and as he witnesses the rape of Hassan, he doesn’t bother to intervene, as it will gain the respect of his father. When Ralph hears about the death of Piggy, and the possibility of getting rescued, a change in the characters thought process begins. Amir as well as Ralph share common traits of loss of innocence, that changes them from an innocent immature character into a mature, and responsible character.
Once this happened Piggy started to care less and less about the boys and more about his own safety and getting himself off the island with or without the boys. Jack had taken Piggy’s glasses to start his own fire and Piggy was very upset and he took Ralph and the twins over to Jack’s tribe and demanded his glasses back, but Ralph got a little sidetracked so Piggy brought him back. “‘Ralph remember what we came for. The fire. My specs’”(177)
What is human nature? How does William Golding use it in such a simple story of English boys to precisely illustrate how truly destructive humans can be? Golding was in World War Two, he saw how destructive humans can be, and how a normal person can go from a civilized human beign into savages. In Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses the theme of human nature to show how easily society can collapse, and how self-destructive human nature is. Throughout the story Golding conveys a theme of how twisted and sick human nature can lead us to be. Many different parts of human nature can all lead to the collapse of society. Some of the aspects of human nature Golding plugged into the book are; destruction, demoralization, hysteria and panic. These emotions all attribute to the collapse of society. Golding includes character, conflict, and as well as symbolism to portray that men are inherently evil.
William Golding’s timeless classic, Lord of the Flies, reflects Philip Zimbardo’s observations on the power of power through the transformation and development of the character Roger and his personality. The more power available to Roger, the more savage he becomes until it reaches a point where he can violently murder a peer and put his head on a stick for all to see and feel no remorse. Power can corrupt even the greatest of men and if a man can have power and not be corrupt, he has passed the ultimate test of character.
Piggy tries to do what’s best for everyone. He was the ‘word of reason.’ But since nobody respected him, he was never given power. The author states, “ ‘I got the conch,’ said Piggy indignantly. ‘You let me speak!’ ‘The conch doesn’t count on top of the mountain,’ said Jack. ‘So you shut up.’ ‘... I got the conch!’ Jack turned fiercely. ‘You shut up!’ Piggy wilted.” (Golding 42.) Jack treats Piggy as if he is unimportant. All characters show cruelty towards Piggy one way or another. Because Piggy has the mentality of an adult, the boys refuse to listen since they want their freedom. The author indicates, “... Roger with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all
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
William Golding’s 1954 novel, Lord of the Flies, explores and analyzes human nature. The novel follows a group of boys stranded on an island without any adult supervision after a plane crash. In the beginning, the boys elect another boy, Ralph, as chief. Ralph is at odds with another boy named Jack, who leads the designated hunters among them. The boys gradually descend from civility to savagery. Jack is leading some boys into violent savagery, leaving Ralph trying to salvage the notion of a functioning civilization. By the end of the novel, Jack leads most of the boys in their savage nature and leaves Ralph in danger. Throughout the novel, Golding brings the themes of the abuse of power, the fear of the unknown, and the need for civilization to the surface.
Lord of the Flies by William Golding Through his writing in the book Lord of the Flies, William Golding's view on. nature is not as in the plant and tree kind of nature, but in the nature of man at a young age of life. Golding is trying to portray what instincts and desires are like at an early time in a man's life when there are no adults around to help shape those. feelings to fit in with the mainstream society that people live in everyday. The nature of man is any and all of the instincts and desires of a person or animal.
In some of the novels that we read had characters that desire power that affect the people surrounding them. In some of the novel the novel we read like “Macbeth” and the book that I read “The Clockwork Orange” , The main character's desire for power were their downfall. In the book” Lord Of the Flies” Jack is the character that desire power. The characters desire for power were their downfall.
In addition, Jack treated Piggy with extreme cruelty. Jack's brutal behavior toward Piggy exposed his evil side. This could be why he wanted to kill him, as they began arguing since they had first met. Jack also felt a desire for power; Piggy would never grant him this supremacy, which led to violence either physically or verbally. After Jack let the fire go out, Piggy reprimanded him leading to frustration in Jack; “This from Piggy, and the wails of agreement from some of the hunters, drove Jack to violence. The bolting look came into his blue eyes. He took a step, and able at last to hit someone, stuck his fist into Piggy’s stomach ” Jack could have hit anyone else but struck Piggy, showing his deep hatred for him. All Jack needed was the opportunity to kill Piggy, and he would have taken it just like when he punched him in the stomach.
Jack hated Piggy because he was always on Ralph’s side. The rule at meetings was a boy could only speak if he had the conch shell. While Piggy was talking, Jack interrupted him and tried to take away the shell. Ralph yelled out “The rules! You’re breaking the rules!”
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...
After Ralph carelessly reveal the nickname “Piggy” to the others it triggered all the boys, "even the tiniest," to laugh which sets up Piggy to be the brunt of jokes and bullying. As the story develops, Piggy demonstrates time after time that he is able to contribute to the group mentally. For an example, Piggy suggested that they should construct the signal fire on the beach instead of the top of the mountain after Jack formed his own tribe. Piggy’s wisdom and intelligence begins to become obvious to Ralph but to the rest of the group, Piggy is still thought as weak and useless; it seems that the only time anyone speaks to piggy it involves an insult of some sort.