Democracy In Lord Of The Flies Essay

In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, Golding attempts to compare and contrast two opposite strategies of control. Golding portrays that while Ralph and Piggy’s government may have been a morally sound solution, the boys chaos is too strong to be controlled by a democracy. It must be controlled by a feared dictator. While the idea of democracy, represented by the conch, is a pure concept and can provide an equal opportunity for all of the boys on the island, the animalistic need for power and chaos that controls the boys can only be reined in by a powerful dictatorship.

Democracy on the island could have provided an equal opportunity for all the boys on the island. Ralph, Piggy, and several of the other boys decide that the best way to organize everyone is democracy, the fragile system that is threatened at any moment by selfishness and chaos. "I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he’s speaking”(Golding 45). Democracy is a fragile system, represented by the fragility of the conch, that can provide

As it not only controls the boys, the chaos that ensues when Ralph is in charge is controlled to the point that Jack can exploit the boy’s weakness to his advantage. “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!" (Golding 178). Jack uses the boy’s animalistic need to kill, and shapes it into a fear driven mob. Eventually Jack’s leadership eventually achieves what Ralph and Piggy had attempted to do since the start of the book. Get Rescued. “We saw your smoke. What have you been doing? Having a war or something?" (Golding 207) Jack and his Tribe's fire, though out of control and dangerous is more effective in being seen. This is contradictory to the goal that Ralph and Piggy keep reiterating, get rescued. Ralph's Government is ineffective, even in it's main pillar of