Technology In Lord Of The Flies

In the novel The Lord of the Flies, a group of boys crash-land on an island without adults. Although the boys were quick to appoint a leader, the leadership role struggled to be filled adequately. Leadership is a role not to be taken lightly; a great leader is one with character traits such as patience, intelligence, respect, and communication. Throughout the novel, it was evident that Piggy was the boy with the majority of these qualities (regardless of his lack of confidence—most likely due to the constant bullying he receives from the other boys because of his weight, his asthma, and his glasses).

This quote explains how Jack is not willing to follow the rules of the civilization that they have created. In order to create this fire on the other hand, Jack needs to steal Piggy’s glasses which will cause a lot of chaos and destruction. Even though he could have politely asked for

This only further proves my point that jack represents savagery in this novel. Due to Jacks overwhelming desire to hunt a pig he along with a small group of boys go into the jungle to try their luck. Because of Jacks carelessness, though the fire is extinguished and they lost a chance of being rescued. We also learn in this chapter that the fire symbolizes the hope they share a group, when the fire went out so did their hope, but when they relight it they regain some of their hope. Piggy being the “fat nerd” of the group his thoughts and beliefs are immediately shot down, its only when Ralph tells them to do the suggested task do they listen.

After being stranded on an island with no sign of rescue or grownups, the schoolboys need some form of government or leader to rule them all. The first day they discover they are not alone, the boys elect Ralph, one of the older boys, to lead them. He believes they need authority, in place of the grownups. Otherwise, chaos will break out, as it does later on. Golding’s Lord of the Flies serves as a perfect illustration of Hobbes’s philosophy on the brutish, selfish nature of man and, therefore, the need for a strong government.

Because Jack is able to control Ralph’s community’s fire he is able to determine if they get rescued. Jack was so excited that he finally got the fire from Piggy that as he walked away from the shelters he triumphantly stabbed the air with his spear. With Jack controlling the fire, Piggy is becoming concerned that Jack’s savages are not putting off enough smoke to create a

This conflict grows when Jack did not keep the fire lit and a ship passed by. Jack wants to hunt and does not give a second thought as to what he is affecting. Conflict and confusion take over as the children fully grasp that the ship and the hope they had is gone. Ralph also states while watching people cave into the fear that Jack has imposed that “The world , that understandable and lawful world, was slipping away. Once there was this and that; and now- and the ship had gone.

In the beginning the boys want to sustain the fire. This demonstrates their want to be return home. Nevertheless,  when the fire is allowed to go out, it is emblematic of the boys refusal of civilization and return to

In the novel Ralph had noticed a ship off the horizon; however, the ship was going the opposite direction and Ralph had no idea why. Jack had let the fire die down because he thought him and his boys hunting was more important. Jack replies to Ralph, “’ The fire’s only been out an hour or two. We can light up again-‘” (70). What Jack doesn’t know though is with him only caring what he wants to do it cost everyone else from being

Realizing Ralph's reliance on the fire and in otherways Piggy, Piggy begins to trust Ralph to protect him from Jack. His insecurities cause him to obsess over the idea of the fire to show that he does have some importance, while the savages are focused on power and hunting. Golding uses the struggle of power to demonstrate how destructive it can be. The desire for power causes the boys' civilization the crumble, discord and rivalries, and ends up destroying their island.

So when Golding tells us that in Jack’s “left hand dangled Piggy’s broken glasses.” (191), it demonstrates that Jack’s savage boys now have the power to make fire. The fire symbolizes hope when on the civilized side but its inner demon is of destruction and evil. Predictably this demon does in fact come out when in the end Jack and his boys “had smoked him (Ralph) out and set the island on fire” (Golding 224), in order to kill Ralph. Ironically, the fire instead fulfills its civilized purpose, of a signal instead of killing Ralph. The purpose and the extreme strength of the fire here shows us that the boys had become brutal savages, literally killing civilization out of the their systems.

The first fire is built to signal ships for their rescue; it symbolizes hope here. Once the fire is burning brightly, the boys “paused to enjoy the freshness of [the fire]... they flung themselves down in the shadows that lay among the shattered rocks,” (41). The fire comforts the young island inhabitants because it lets them relax with the hope of getting rescued. The boys on the island start to lose hope, even Ralph. Ralph tells Piggy “let the fire go then, for tonight,” (164), showing that he has stopped caring about getting home.

Ralph says, “The fire is the most important thing on the island. How can we ever be rescued except by luck, if we don’t keep a fire going? Is a fire too much for us to make” (80). As an effort to show the boys their dire circumstances, he tries to convict them, including himself, of their ignorance. On the contrary, Jack Merridew counters Ralph’s authority with the proposition of thrill and amusement.

One of the times Jack lets the fire go out a ship comes by. Ralph is enraged that Jack didn’t keep the fire going. Piggy is enraged as well. Piggy yells “You and your blood, Jack Merridew! You and your hunting!

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.

The fire was also a symbol of civilization, that the boys would survive and get rescued. Fire is quite profound in what it reveals about humans. The fire was the object that the hunters didn’t have, it was desirable because it was limited. The fire brought out the innate greed that humans possess. The hunters weren’t content with asking for fire from Ralph, they were too prideful and savage to be civil in any manner, so they stole it.