Representation In Lord Of The Flies

Representation in government is vital to a stable and efficient society. A powerful leader, Franklin Roosevelt, once turned a society around when he told the deprived and starving population “ … Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us…”. Lord of the Flies is a dystopian novel where boys are stranded on an island and have to create their own society. While their society starts out promising it turns into a savage like environment as time goes on. The author of Lord of the Flies, William Goulding, reveals that representative governments are what makes perfect societies through the neglecting of powerful voices in the novel and miscommunication between the older boys on the island. The neglecting …show more content…
Meetings are a symbol in the novel that represents order and Jack’s voice being neglected by Piggy and Ralph during them suggests to the reader that he feels left out since he is not the founding member of this society. He has a confident personality that makes him feel like he should be a leader. Due to his neglection and personality, he repeatedly feels the need prove Ralph that he is pitching in and making a difference even though he isn’t a founder of the society. Another example of a neglected powerful voice is Piggy. He is often bullied by Jack and other hunters but has the knowledge to draw conclusions about the boy’s society before everyone else realizes how bad they have become. One instance of this was before his death. He compared Ralph and Jack and the tribe by calling Ralph “sensible” with “rules” and the mindset of “law and rescue” and Jack and the tribe “painted Indians” that “hunt and kill” and the mindset of “ breaking things up” like a “crowd of kids”(180). While his comparisons were apparent to the readers, they were not apparent to the boys as they kept living the same way. This causes the island to go up in flames when Jack and the tribe try to get Ralph to …show more content…
One example of this is when Jack and Ralph argue about hunting versus creating shelters( 53). Both of the boys have personalities in which they feel the need to lead and exert power. While Ralph is shown as good and sensible while Jack is shown as evil, they both want the same thing---power. The idea to give Ralph all of it the beginning was a bad idea because power was not equally given causing internal rebellions against him for that reason. It’s like an absolute monarchy since Ralph is given the power. While he is described as a primarily good character, him having all the power made him evil because he is ordering everyone on what to do and making the island run solely one what he thinks is best which is not always