Humans are flawed creatures. Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a novel in which a group of young British schoolboys are stranded on an island slowly wander into savagery because of flaws. Golding’s novel is an attempt to trace the faults of society back to human nature. Through the behaviour of the schoolboys, Golding reveals that due to fear, power, and loss of identity, society is destined to fail.
Fear causes rash behaviour in humans. The main source of fear on the island is the Beast, an unseen and incredibly feared creature. The only one on the island not afraid of the Beast is Piggy, who represents intellect, reasoning and logic. This shows that fear is irrational and unaffected by the sense of the brain. Once “people started getting frightened” (102), the boys’ “understandable and law-filled world [begins] to slip away” (113). This begins with the death of Simon when the littluns mistake him for the Beast and beat him to death out of fear. The boys demonstrated rash behaviour caused by fear, they leave …show more content…
The two main sources of power are Ralph’s democratic outlook and Jack’s totalitarianism. At the beginning, Ralph is in charge and island life goes rather smoothly, although Jack is constantly trying to challenge Ralph’s authority. Jack announces in an assembly that “it’s time some people knew they’ve got to keep quiet and leave deciding things to the rest of us” (126), Jack presents his power lust, showing his desire to be in control of all the activities on the island. In the end, Jack’s force wins over Ralph’s stability, as the other boys join his tribe and hunt Ralph. The fact that Jack’s “hunt and kill” (222) outlook overthrew Ralph’s fair-mindedness shows how power makes us defective. As humans, we need it for organizing ourselves and keeping chaos away. Nonetheless, power habitually corrupts those in possession of it, and force triumphs over a
Fear causes rash behaviour in humans. The main source of fear on the island is the Beast, an unseen and incredibly feared creature. The only one on the island not afraid of the Beast is Piggy, who represents intellect, reasoning and logic. This shows that fear is irrational and unaffected by the sense of the brain. Once “people started getting frightened” (102), the boys’ “understandable and law-filled world [begins] to slip away” (113). This begins with the death of Simon when the littluns mistake him for the Beast and beat him to death out of fear. The boys demonstrated rash behaviour caused by fear, they leave …show more content…
The two main sources of power are Ralph’s democratic outlook and Jack’s totalitarianism. At the beginning, Ralph is in charge and island life goes rather smoothly, although Jack is constantly trying to challenge Ralph’s authority. Jack announces in an assembly that “it’s time some people knew they’ve got to keep quiet and leave deciding things to the rest of us” (126), Jack presents his power lust, showing his desire to be in control of all the activities on the island. In the end, Jack’s force wins over Ralph’s stability, as the other boys join his tribe and hunt Ralph. The fact that Jack’s “hunt and kill” (222) outlook overthrew Ralph’s fair-mindedness shows how power makes us defective. As humans, we need it for organizing ourselves and keeping chaos away. Nonetheless, power habitually corrupts those in possession of it, and force triumphs over a