John Adams, the second President of the United States once said, “Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide”. In this quote, Adams explicitly acknowledges that democracies always eventually collapse. Adams included the words ‘murders’ and ‘suicide’ in his diction to imply that once a democracy collapses, it turns into extreme chaos. William Golding, the author of Lord of the Flies, shared a similar opinion with Adams. Lord of the Flies is about a group of English boys who are stranded on a deserted island. On this island, the boys attempt to create a fair and just society, but fail to do so, plunging the boys into chaos until their rescue at
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One of the main ideals of a true democracy is equality, and without equality in a society, having a true democracy is not possible. At the beginning of Lord of the Flies, when the boys are having their first assembly, Jack quickly emerges as a leader of the boys alongside Ralph, the chief, while Piggy quickly plummets to the bottom of society. Jack tells Piggy, “You’re talking too much. [...] Shut up, Fatty” (Golding 21). This quote is significant because Jack is suppressing Piggy’s freedom of speech in their democratic society. Since Jack represents the people with political power, and Golding believes that humans are naturally evil, Golding is showing that even in newly-founded democratic societies, the evil nature of people eliminates equality amongst citizens. Also, the fact that Piggy represents the bottom of social hierarchy clearly means that the boys have not set up a society where everyone is equal, which is another disregard of equality due to humans being evil by nature. Jean Jacques Rousseau, a French philosopher, wouldn’t even consider the boys’ original society a democracy. Jean Jacques Rousseau is the author of The Social Contract, a book which explains how to create an ideal society in order to address the social and political issues of his time. According to Rousseau in his work, The Social Contract, a direct democracy is the best form of government. Rousseau’s vision of a democracy is the closest to a true democracy because all men are equal and social hierarchy is expunged. It is clear that Golding and Rousseau would disagree about government and human nature, but by applying Rousseau’s ‘standards’ of democracy to the boys’ society, one would believe that their society is in fact an oligarchy, rather than a democracy due to the lack of equality amongst the boys. Although, if the boys actually followed the laws they set and had some checks
One of the main ideals of a true democracy is equality, and without equality in a society, having a true democracy is not possible. At the beginning of Lord of the Flies, when the boys are having their first assembly, Jack quickly emerges as a leader of the boys alongside Ralph, the chief, while Piggy quickly plummets to the bottom of society. Jack tells Piggy, “You’re talking too much. [...] Shut up, Fatty” (Golding 21). This quote is significant because Jack is suppressing Piggy’s freedom of speech in their democratic society. Since Jack represents the people with political power, and Golding believes that humans are naturally evil, Golding is showing that even in newly-founded democratic societies, the evil nature of people eliminates equality amongst citizens. Also, the fact that Piggy represents the bottom of social hierarchy clearly means that the boys have not set up a society where everyone is equal, which is another disregard of equality due to humans being evil by nature. Jean Jacques Rousseau, a French philosopher, wouldn’t even consider the boys’ original society a democracy. Jean Jacques Rousseau is the author of The Social Contract, a book which explains how to create an ideal society in order to address the social and political issues of his time. According to Rousseau in his work, The Social Contract, a direct democracy is the best form of government. Rousseau’s vision of a democracy is the closest to a true democracy because all men are equal and social hierarchy is expunged. It is clear that Golding and Rousseau would disagree about government and human nature, but by applying Rousseau’s ‘standards’ of democracy to the boys’ society, one would believe that their society is in fact an oligarchy, rather than a democracy due to the lack of equality amongst the boys. Although, if the boys actually followed the laws they set and had some checks