Why things are what they are?” As Simon begins to faint the beast says, “We are going to have fun on this island!” The lord of the flies admits to Simon he is inside all the boys, he is the savagery and the evil that has a hold on them. “Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could kill!” The more wild and deviant the children act the stronger and more real the beast becomes. The beast is seen as a threat to all the boys except Simon, who understands that the beast resides in the boys. Their fear of the beast formed a connection between them until Jack manipulated their fear to create two different groups to maintain power. Savagery is a primal instinct that exists within all humans and isn't something that can be
Jack Merridew is by far the most powerful individual on the island. He influences the boys to do things by yelling at them throughout the book. Just as it is stated in The Perils of Obedience by Kendra Cherry, “The physical presence of an authority figure dramatically increased compliance,” (Cherry 2). Jack is the main authority figure that has a lot of power of the kids because of his appeal to what they want and to the way he runs things. He runs his tribe like a dictatorship over the rest of the boys, but because they do what they want to do they comply with what he says, even though it is not the right thing.
This society though, slowly spirals into disorder and eventually chaos. The main characters, Ralph and Jack, constantly contradict each other and fight for the loyalty of the younger boys and power. The author, William Golding, created this book to portray the potential evil in every human. These boys in particular are not inherently wicked but most of them do get caught up in the fantasy of having ultimate control which leads to the boys being unable to live amongst one another. The boys immaturity of living in the fantasy results in frivolous behavior throughout the start of the book.
When we analyze the characterization of the boys, we see this trend of values being lost. As the boys spend progressively more time on the island, they begin to choose which leader they will reside with. There is one seen in particular that we see, that becomes the mile marker of no return, "Rodger became the pig, grunting and charging at Jack, who side-stepped...." (Golding page 151) At this point we are seeing that there are no values, morals, or a functioning society. It is absolute insanity; this event began with a dance and ends in the death of an innocent little boy, Simon. This young group of boys actively take part in beating Simon to death as they are all crazed with the spirit of The Lord of the Flies, that is taking part within them.
Vote for chief!Let’s vote--"(Golding 27) The boys chose Ralph as a leader through voting just like in a democracy. "Why should choosing make any difference? Just giving orders that don 't make any sense—"(Golding 106)These quotes make it seem as though Jack wants to take power away just like in a dictatorship. When Ralph becomes the leader he makes rules like whoever has the conch can speak. “We 've got to have special people for looking after the fire.
“We all have good and evil inside us.It's what side we choose to follow that defines who we are”-J.K. Rowling William Golding wrote Lord of the Flies during a time of conflict and war. In response to all the conflict Golding wrote Lord of the Flies, a book about kids that crash landed on an island and how the isolation affects them. Golding wrote Lord of the Flies to tell that humans are corrupted to evil or forced to be good based by their surroundings. Jack a character in the book is an example of this. In the beginning of the book Jack is a cocky kid who says “ I ought to be chief,because I’m chapter chorister and head boy” ( Golding,22).
Indeed, both books display the awful consequence that may derive from fear. Indeed, both books show how through fright the people can be totally controlled. For instance, in Golding’s work, it is seen that when Jack finally obtains power, he gets abusive and violent. “ 'He 's going to beat Wilfred. ' 'What for? '
In his novel, “Lord of the Flies,” Golding shows that society is defective due to defective human nature. He does this through the use of a group of boys stranded on an island, their behaviour in this situation and their progression towards savagery. He further illustrates this point by using numerous symbols. From the start of the novel, Ralph, the oldest of the boys, is presented as an “ideal” person and leader. He calls the first assembly, using the conch shell he and Piggy found and is voted into the role of leader by the majority of the boys.
They quickly transform from being civilized human beings to savages. The boys are alone and afraid of what the future has in store. Golding’s use of powerful characters demonstrates how the fears of others can be used to manipulate and maintain authority. Jack, a monarchical leader in the novel, has a dominant personality from the start. He is the controlling leader of the choir boys and is naturally intimidating.
This is first shown in the beginning of the story. When Ralph is chosen to be leader, he tells Jack to be in charge of the choir boys who become hunters. At first, Jack cannot handle being a hunter. He has trouble trying to kill the pig, “’Before I could kill it-but-next time!’” (31). Once he has finally killed a pig, however, he becomes more violent.