An Enemy Of The People Critical Analysis

In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding and the play An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen, the characters are alike in several ways. There are self-driven leaders, blind followers and a truth teller. Self-interest controls the leaders into making decisions based on themselves. Leaders whose main concern is their success tend to put themselves above others. In each book, the leader drives their society into failure when it has potential of prospering. This makes self-interest the key factor of the destruction of human societies. Self-interest leads to a power struggle, mob mentality, and savagery. If the leader would care about the well-being of others more, than the societies will be a paradise instead of a ruin.
Leaders want to have recognition for their good actions, but are afraid of their bad …show more content…
In Lord of the Flies, Jack comes up with a way to get the boys on his side. He makes his desires appeal to everyone by making them sound fun and as if it’s for the good of everyone. Jack gets satisfaction in killing, so he feels the desire to do it. One time when Jack, Ralph, and the other boys were killing a pig, they chanted “Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Kill the pig! Bash him in!” (Golding 114). At first, Ralph does not like hunting because he wants to focus on building a shelter, but when he joins Jack’s clan on a hunt, he realizes how much fun he can have. Ralph soon comes back into reality and “uneasily” says it’s “just a game” because he is frightened at how easily he felt savagery advance in him (Golding 115). This shows how quickly Jack’s method of manipulation works. Ralph is brainwashed for a minimal amount of time and comes back into reality, unlike the other boys. Self-interested leaders tend to brainwash their followers to make them obey their commands and support their decisions. Jack’s self-interest makes him manipulate others into doing something he wants them to, which will sabotage