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Struggle For Power In Lord Of The Flies Essay

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The desire for power is one of the strongest human drives. In Lord of The Flies by William Golding there is a constant struggle for power between the main characters, Ralph, Jack, and Piggy. Ralph has power because he was voted chief and uses his power in an ugly way. Jack is struggling to get out of Ralph's power and gain his own power. The boys’ struggle for power is an ugly struggle and the author uses this to demonstrate the ugly struggle for power that is human nature. Hunger for power is an ugly part of human nature. Ralph is voted chief and given power, but still uses his power in an ugly way. When Jack was in charge of keeping the signal fire going but let it go out Ralph was furious and used his power to yell and prove that Jack was wrong in what he did. Ralph yelled “I was chief, and you were going to do what I said”(70). Ralph was given power over Jack and when Jack didn't do what he was supposed to do Ralph wanted him to know he was in charge so he yelled at him in an ugly way. Ralph was still angry with Jack for not listening to him so, he took his anger out on Piggy. He “pushed piggy to one side” because he felt he needed to have power over someone (70). When someone doesn't do what you want them to do when you’re supposed to have power over them, you might want to assert your power over something weaker than you. That is why Ralph pushed Piggy when he was upset with Jack. In Chapter …show more content…

I think that everyone wants power in someway and everyone goes about getting that power differently. To feel like one has power they might yell, push, hit, or cause someone or something pain is someway, or they might want to boss someone around. Often the desire for power brings out and ugly side in people as we saw in Lord of The Flies. When someone has power over you and uses their power in an ugly way it causes us to have an even bigger hunger for

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