The Terrified Leaders: How Fear Drives Power in Literature

1228 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Issues of power in literature

Manipulation is the basis of power in modern day society. Using fear with in societies, powerful people rise to power. Gaining control and dominance can be done by utilizing the anxiety in the society. Similarly, readers see fear as a driving force for authority in literature. Simangele from “The Test”, Jack from Lord of the Flies, and the government in The Hunger Games all utilize the fear in their societies or groups to rise and dominate in power.
The group of boys in “The Test” are afraid of Simangele’s sanguinary attitude. When Simangele argues with Vusi, the arguments heats up but the boys do not choose sides: "Simangele got no response from the others. It would have been risky for them to take sides" (Ndebele 3). The boys in the group are afraid of taking sides in arguments between Vusi and Simangele. They know that this argument can increase tremendously causing disputes that can end badly for all the boys. People are afraid of people from farms: "Then people say 'beware of those from the farms, they will stab with a broad smile on their faces'" (Ndebele 12). Because Simangele used to live on a farm, he does not understand things in towns. Since people would laugh at him, he would fight back and not back down in fights. Simangele’s friends are afraid of Simangele because he does not back down in fights.
The tribe in Lord of the Flies is afraid of certain aspects of on the island. Ralph asks Jack why he hates him, causing uneasiness across the other boys: "'Why do you hate me?' The boys stirred uneasily, as though something indecent has been said" (Golding 130). The boys in the tribe want a proper leader that everyone agrees on. However, because of the tension between Ralph and Jack, the boys are uncertain about the outcom...

... middle of paper ...

...ociety drives the authority of many leaders. Utilizing fear make a leader strong and powerful. Many characters in literature exploit fear to drive their campaign and to earn respect within their groups. Simangele in “The Test”, Jack in Lord of the Flies, and the government in The Hunger Games all use the fear in the public to dominate over them and to earn respect.

Works Cited

Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. New York: Scholastic, 2008. Print.
Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. New York: Coward-McCann, 1988 (1954). Print.
Ndebele, Njabulo S. Fools and Other Stories. New York: Readers International, 1986. Print.
Van Vuuren, Marijke. "Good Grief: Lord of the Flies as a Post-war Rewriting of Salvation History." Literator: Journal of Literary Criticism, Comparative Linguistics and Literary Studies 25.2 (2004): 1. Literature Resource Center. Web. 10 May 2014.

Show More
Related

  • Leader In Lord Of The Flies

    715 Words  | 2 Pages

    In “Lord of the Flies” Ralph has the goal of getting himself and the rest of the tribe off the island. His plan to execute it is by making a signal fire that a passing ship or boat will see to rescue them. Ralph realizes that maintaining order within their tribe is crucial to their survival and chance of being saved. As chief of their group, he assigns Jack the leader of the hunters. He then puts them in charge of keeping the signal fire lit. During this process, Jack and his boys get distracted from keeping it lit as they attempt to kill a pig. After a couple of hunts, Jack and his boys finally kill a pig and return in cheers. As they get back, Ralph gets mad at Jack saying “You and your blood Jack Merridew! You and your hunting! We might have gone home” (70). Ralph is angry with Jack because he realizes as leader that he has to make sure everyone understands their main goal, and are able to focus on that by blocking out distractions. These actions that Ralph show display why he is successful as a leader and why they accomplish the goal of getting

    Read More

  • Jack's Hunger for Power in The Lord of the Flies

    541 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Betrayal In Lord Of The Flies

    407 Words  | 1 Pages

    In Lord of the Flies, a group of boys are stranded on a deserted island. It starts out fine, until one of the boys, Jack, becomes jealous that he isn’t in charge. He forms a separate tribe. One night they start a war type of dance, chanting and screaming. They mistake Simon for the beast and kill him screaming “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!” (Goulding 138) After the boys realize they had killed Simon, they realized that who else would give them hope that they could survive, and keep the peace around the island. After Simon died Jack started to gain more power, because Ralph had lost a valuable member of his

    Read More

  • The Battle of Jericho, Apocalypse Now, and Citizen Kane Measure Up

    716 Words  | 2 Pages

    As told by Jim Grove, power is a “desire in all man that ceaseth only with death.” Many crave power, yet only few know how to maintain it. In the novel, The Battle of Jericho and the films, Apocalypse Now and Citizen Kane, rank or position, pride and gender inequality promote power in lives of the protagonists and significant characters. Each element indirectly correlates with advancement of power.

    Read More

  • Lord Of The Flies Jack Bully

    1048 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Power In Lord Of The Flies

    663 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Fear In Lord Of The Flies

    1227 Words  | 3 Pages

    Fear is a driving force in The Lord of the Flies. How does fear in all of its forms influence the boy's attitudes and behaviours?

    Read More

  • William Golding's Lord Of The Flies

    975 Words  | 2 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • The Power of Fear in The Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

    590 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Power of Fear Fear is an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat. The power of fear can lead to one’s destruction. In Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart, he uses fear to demonstrate the evolution of the protagonist Okonkwo. Achebe uses conflict, irony to demonstrate the influential aspect of fear in his well-known novel, which is examined by Robert Bennett in a literary criticism. Achebe uses internal conflict within his protagonist to demonstrate the power of fear.

    Read More

  • Machiavelli: The Power of Fear

    852 Words  | 2 Pages

    If one were to choose to be either feared or loved, their best bet would be to instill fear in their constituents. A loved, weak leader may be usurped by those with less pure intentions. However, one that is feared will have a much greater, lasting effect on its people and/or followers, scaring them into order. With...

    Read More

  • How Is Elizabeth Proctor's Guilt Shown In The Crucible

    724 Words  | 2 Pages

    The desire for power is prevalent in our day to day life from wanting control over little insignificant aspects to control over others. The Crucible by Arthur Miller is

    Read More

  • Fear in the Characters of The Crucible by Arthur Miller

    1212 Words  | 3 Pages

    Inside us all there is a deep dark fear this is what grabs us by the thresh hold of life. It controls the most important aspects of our lives. This is found within the deepest and darkest chasms of our souls. The very creature that wreaks havoc in our minds we cage and never confront we lock this beast away to afraid to overcome it. If the beast is not confronted it begins to contort and change who we are as a person and how we interact with others. Even the very decisions we make as a person to affect those around us and are loved ones to also suffer the consequences of our actions. Such as the crucible and how each person was warped into their own monster by greed.

    Read More

  • How Does Power Abuse Power In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

    1615 Words  | 4 Pages

    When somebody abuses a great amount of power, that individual can lose all of their power. The struggle against someone who abuses power is perfectly depicted in the novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey. When someone abuses their power, they can impose certain feelings and actions on others. If someone tries to conceal their personality. Finally, if someone abuses power and is constantly challenged by another individual who is trying to take the power abuser’s power away from them, the power abuser will always be frightened of his or her challenger.

    Read More

  • Abuses of Power: Lord of the Flies, and I Only Came To Use the Phone

    918 Words  | 2 Pages

    Often, too much power can go to that particular person’s head, and he/she can become corrupt. As readers have seen in literature, abuses of power are often harmful to the abuser and their subjects. Corrupted authority and abuses of power eventually lead to the collapse of society. This concept is shown many times throughout the novel Lord Of the Flies and the short story “I Only Came to Use the Phone”. Displayed through characters and actions, abusive power has dominated what should be morally correct in literature.

    Read More

  • Lord of the Flies: Fear of the Unknown

    1000 Words  | 2 Pages

    In closing, fear can make people act in ways that are unfamiliar to them, whether their fear is valid or imaginary. In reply to fear, people may act defensively by being violent, fear can either stop one from doing something, or it can make one behave in an absurd unpredictable behaviour. As revealed, fear is demonstrated in the “Lord of the Flies” in three major ways: Simon’s lack of fear, Ralph’s fear of being isolated, and Jacks vast fear of being over powered by Ralph. Evil and fear is brought to the island by the boys themselves believed Golding. The world will essentially always have the same problem until every human being on the earth is unblemished, until there is no more evil or fear in the world. Obviously fear isn’t over rated.

    Read More

More about The Terrified Leaders: How Fear Drives Power in Literature

Open Document