Deniz CINAR Prof. Aurore Bissières Literature 16 April 2023 Power Struggle Among Children Lord of the Flies is a well-known novel written by the English writer and poet William Golding in 1953. Set in an imaginary atomic war in the future, Lord of the Flies tells the story of a group of schoolchildren, aged six to twelve, who are stranded on a deserted island and lose their innocence to savagery. The novel has a dystopian tone as it questions the destruction of social norms and society created by the children. Lord of the Flies is more than just an entertaining story for children; it raises many questions about philosophy, politics, and theology. The confrontation between the main characters and the lust for power are the two main elements …show more content…
The society that Jack created after destroying Ralph's social order was so fragile and harmful. Ultimately, in order to destroy his enemies, Jack even risked killing everyone by setting a fire on the island just to murder Ralph. Because he was vulnerable on the inside, and he couldn't lose his identity completely, even though people were starting to call him “chief”: “I ought to be chief” (Golding, 24). Similar to dictators such as Hitler, Jack's strict regime, which focused only on the system of fear and ignored the welfare of the people, eventually collapsed when the rescuers came for Ralph. Writer, Yutaka Okuhata also mentions in his article: “Hitler gained strong power and formed a dictatorship in his country. In Lord of the Flies, Jack, like Hitler, becomes a dictator and starts to take control over the boys” (Okuhata, 13). In conclusion, William Golding's estimate is quite accurate as it draws the connection between the power struggles among the leaders and the evil side of each. When Golding states that man's capacity for greed, cruelty, and selfishness is hidden behind a kind of political pants, he ensures that his readers understand that titles and authority are obtained through underhanded games that scare people (Golding, UCLA, 86-87). After all, a system that does not take into account the interest of the people will never work, because it merely exists to satisfy the leader or
With absolute power comes absolute corruption, but with limited power comes limited corruption. In the novel Lord of the Flies, the arbitrary need for a leader brings forward strife and competition between characters that desire power. Ralph with his old democratic leadership style clashes with Jack’s unethical style to rule. In the book Lord of the Flies, we learn that eagerness for power is strong enough to break the boys’ fragile civilization, which is demonstrated by the characters Ralph, Piggy and Jack.
William Golding worked as a literature teacher before entering the British Navy during World War I and II, Golding based Lord of the Flies off the destruction and events from his own experiences in war. Though the boys were not in war they still had to survive on an island alone with their intrusive thoughts. As demonstrated through the foreshadowing of traumatic events, motif with repetition of actions, and imagery of the after effects of destruction, shows how the impulse to destroy can affect life physically and mentally William shows the impulse to destroy with foreshadowing from the beginning. When the boys first arrived on the island they climbed to the top of a pink granite mountain and started a huge bonfire on impulse, starting a forest
Ralph complains about the lack of help in the construction of the shelters, but all Jack can talk about in that same moment is how he should go about hunting to kill a pig. Jack was inconsiderate in the fact that he was not willing to lend a helping hand in the building of the foundation of the group. This was most likely due to the fact that Jack did not agree with Ralph’s ways of ruling, and wished the power upon himself. He eventually took the power for himself when he declared himself leader of a new
William Golding's timeless classic "Lord of the Flies" is a thought-provoking and harrowing exploration of the dark depths of human nature. Published in 1954, this novel continues to captivate readers with its stark portrayal of the inherent conflict between civilization and savagery, and the fragile nature of societal structures. Golding's expert storytelling and poignant symbolism make "Lord of the Flies" an enduring masterpiece that resonates across generations. The novel opens with a group of British boys, stranded on a deserted island after a plane crash during wartime. Initially hopeful of rescue, the boys establish a semblance of order under the leadership of Ralph, the charismatic and democratic protagonist.
In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the author uses Jack and his self-proclaimed authority to establish a concept of power that is derived from and maintained by fear. The concept of separable power leads to inevitable war. A struggle for leadership reveals how far Jack is willing to go to prove he is of the best intellectual abilities to carry out the role of Chief. Jack’s narcissistic mindset is adequately demonstrated to further establish how his authority derives from his own selfish desires. Jack symbolizes evil and a loss of innocence on the island.
In short, There is a chasm between Ralph and Jack as Ralph leads a democracy where he listens to others and wants others to be safe, while Jack leads an autocracy where he has all of the power and doesn’t care about others or their opinions. Jack’s carelessness causes a portion of their people to rebuke him because they disagree with his
However, power may be blissful and self-fulfilling, but it is temporary and corrupts one’s judgment. The book Lord of the Flies written by William Golding shows a great example of this. Ralph and Jack are two characters who are chiefs. They show different views of power, and how they express it.
In the book “Lord of the Flies” Jack isn’t the only one that started the destruction of the island but in my point of view the ultimate cause is Jack is the main cause of the destruction of the island the one that led to the destruction he is careless that only cares about himself and that wants to be the one everyone listens to the one everyone looks up to. In the beginning Jack has always had that ruthless look in him,that feeling of evil I mean he had red hair kinda symbolize as a devil,he saw himself powerful when he sees weak in people he takes advantage of them and makes fun of it without even realizing. One way of Jack seeing himself powerful and better than the others is when he automailty saw himself as chief because he is leader of the choir,and can sing a c sharp “A
Near the end of their time on the island, Piggy, Sam, and Eric are the only ones left with Ralph, and Jack, who appears as “a chief now in truth; and he made stabbing motions with his spear” (Golding 168). Jack starts to get violent, and what was fun when they first got to the island become attempts to kill. At this point, Jack has fully taken over, and the only thing left for him to do is kill Ralph. Lord of the Flies exemplifies how when one person has all of the power, there is always somebody else that wants it more than that person. Ralph is not against Jack, nor does he want to fight with him for the chief position, but ambition and violence overtakes Jack, and he turns into a dangerous savage.
William Golding’s Lord of the Flies depicts many different types of authority. Despite the fact that Piggy has the potential to gain authority, only Jack and Ralph have authority over the boys in the novel. Although they both have authority, Jack and Ralph rule as chief in very different ways. Ralph rules through order while Jack rules through fear, and a system of reward and punishment. Golding shows that authority based on desire and fear always triumphs over authority based on order and reason.
As the person that Jack is he needs to have full control to be sane in his nature. Before the plane crash, Jack was used to being the leader of his choir so when Ralph became chief of the group, Jack couldn’t stand to have this be. Jack sees Ralph as someone who caused his reign of leadership to end so now
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.
Corruption’s Rise to Power Combined Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler killed 54 million people. This begs the question, why do people who are clearly corrupted and even murderous followed by many? William Golding in his novel The Lord of the Flies attempts to answer that question through his portrayal of the character, Jack. In the novel, a group of boys get stranded on an island and attempt to create a proper government.
Power and manipulation takes over people’s minds and turns us into egotistical people without even knowing and the sense of having control or authority can brainwash us into the people who we despise. William Golding fabricates his ideas around the time period 1933 after he received his English degree where he mostly wrote poems. Golding’s world consists of writing novels, pulling ideas from the real world into his own creative words on paper, this is where he developed his most famous book, Lord of the Flies, throughout 1954. The perspective of Lord of the Flies is through the eyes of the Second World War and since he was in this war, his point of view on violence changed and gave him a different outlook on society. In the Lord of the Flies
Jack lost his sanity and civility and this changed him in more ways than imaginable. Jack was a natural leader when the boys first came onto the island, but as time continued he became a horrible dictator. On the first day on the island, Ralph and Jack competed for chief of the island. Ralph won. Jack was unhappy with this result, but it didn’t yet throw him into a spiral of craze and anger.