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Coercive Power In Lord Of The Flies

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Cecil Wysong Ms. Garber HELA 9 March 6th, 2023 Coercive Power Essay Punishing people for their wrongdoings sets firm expectations for other followers in society. In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the boys get divided after they realize Ralph may not be the great leader they thought him to be. Jack uses coercive power to lead his tribe after he succeeds in Ralph's original rule, which turns out to be successful in gaining authority. Coercive Power is the most beneficial way to achieve power in an uncontrolled environment because people will obey a leader threatening to punish them for their wrongdoings. Coercive power is a dominant way to gain power over people by controlling their fate when disobeying them. Coercive power uses punishment to …show more content…

These punishments could be anywhere from a slap in the face to cutting a hand off for stealing. For example, Jack uses punishment on Wilfred for making Jack mad, “He’s going to beat Wilfred.” “What for?” Robert shook his head doubtfully. “I don’t know. He didn’t say. He got angry and made us tie Wilfred up. He’s been” – he giggled excitedly – “he’s been tied up for hours, waiting – ”(Golding 159). Jack gets mad at Wilfred for an unknown reason but handles it with authority and shows the other boys what will happen if they get on his bad side. Jack shows pure intimidation to the other boys and they feel frightened.Coercive power is the most effective power because it uses intimidation to create fear in others and causes them to not go against the orders of the leader. When people are afraid of what will happen if they mess up, they tend to over-exaggerate the good things and try as hard as they can to make sure they are in

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