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Power In Lord Of The Flies Quote Analysis

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“Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts... perhaps the fear of a loss of power” (Goodreads). John Steinbeck’s quote asserts that people do not get corrupted because of power, they get corrupted because of the fear of the power. In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, Jack does not use his dominance to control the other boys; he instills authority into the boys making them fear him. By doing so, Jack controls the actions of the boys and changes their morals. The boys turn into savages who are inhumane and stolid to the environment around them. Jack uses fear and his response to the daily struggles of living on the island to show that man is born innocent and is corrupted by society.
When the Jack first arrives on the island, he tries to cooperate …show more content…
At the beginning when Jack explores the island, he is too scared to kill a pig that comes to him as stated on page 31, “They knew very well why he hadn’t: because of the enormity of the knife descending and cutting into living flesh; because of the unbearable blood.” Jack is not fully overcome by savagery yet, and as a result of that, he does not kill the pig that comes to him. Jack becomes more and more savage like through his time on the island. Near the end, he is so overcome by savagery that he decides to kill a sow that is with her babies. At this climax, all the humanity within Jack seizes to exist. Jack would not have killed an innocent being had he been part of a civilized society. Jack’s obsession concerning overthrowing Ralph’s leadership over the boys leads him to become a mindless savage. Jack wants all the boys to be on his side, and he does whatever it takes to get the boys on his team. He kills innocent beings, steals property that is not his, and even uses the boys on his side as an example to show what will happen if they do not surrender to him. Because of the lack of rules and society around him, Jack’s worst features are brought out of him. He becomes a stolid killing machine that will do anything for power. Along with Jack, the worst parts of the others boys are brought out of …show more content…
Jack is an innocent schoolboy when he arrives on the island, but as the struggles of surviving get worse, his humanity deteriorates. He turns into an unemotional killer who is concerned about only his well being. Because of the absence of humanity in Jack, the other boys turn into savages just like him due to the powerful influence Jack has over the young boys. Jack also makes the boys fear him so that they obey his orders. He uses many persuasive actions in order to attract the boys to his side. Through the use of fear, Jack has a way to turn the innocent boys into stolid savages like himself without anyone realizing that he is corrupting them. Jack is an example of an innocent man getting corrupted by society. He has evil desires within him, but he does not show them because he knows he will get into trouble if he does, so when the boys arrive on the island and are exposed to a violent environment, Jack brings out the ill desires he has inside of him. Man enters the world as an innocent being, but due to a corrupted society that only cares about itself, man is left no choice but to get corrupted

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