Lord Of The Flies - What's The Point?

Lord of the Flies - What's the Point?

Lord of the Flies, a literary classic, examines specific social and human nature

issues. The boys experience power and leadership struggles, a battle with sadism, and

the never-ending fight for the role of intellectuals in society. The author William

Golding, presents human nature as a contrast to the reality of the boys on the island.

Jack and Ralph were two boys who both wanted to be the leader. From the very

beginning of the book the two boys had disagreements. Jack thought that he should be

leader. Ralph was the central character and he had a lot of pressure put on him to come

up with ideas for survival. That's where Piggy comes in; he was the never noticed

sidekick of Ralph. Piggy always came up with the acceptable ideas to help Ralph be the

preferred leader. Ralph was a democrat, he wanted order and things to be accomplished.

Such as the rescue fire and huts being built. At first everyone wanted to help and get

everything achieved, but soon after the tasks went to a few people. The boys who did not

want to work wanted to play. That is when Jack started to do whatever he wanted. At

first Jack preferred rules, but after the book progressed he slowly put the things he

wanted first; that's when the battle for leadership starts between Jack and Ralph. Jack

wanted to have fun and to hunt. He was the appointed leader of the hunters and he had

an addiction to kill. Jack got satisfaction out of slaughtering animals, it made him feel

commanding and powerful. Jack represented dictatorship and showed how everything

should be his way. He played on the fear of the boys and persuades them to join his tribe.

Jack had his own agenda to follow. Now that he had control over so many boys, he could

have his own fort with guards. Anytime he wanted Jack and his hunters could go kill

without Ralph getting mad at them for not working. Jack won the battle for leadership.

Jack was the evil or the dark side of the island. The beginning of the story started

out with Jack and the rest of the boys painted as innocent. Jack was just a choir boy, but

slowly his human nature was tested. He turns in to a bully, he picks on and fights with

Piggy. Piggy is made an outcast by Jack teasing him about being a "fatty". Jack also

isolated Simon from the group by making fun of Simon's view of the beast, shown in this

example:

Ð''Maybe,' he said hesitatingly, Ð''maybe there is a beast'

The assembly cried out savagely and Ralph stood up in amazement.

Ð''You, Simon? You believe in this?'

Ð''I don't know,' said Simon.

His heartbeats were choking him. Ð''But....'

The storm broke.

Ð''Sit down!'

Ð''Shut up!'

Ð''Take the conch!'

Ð''Sod you!'

Ð''Shut up!'

Ralph shouted.

Ð''Hear him! He's got the conch!'

Ð''What I mean is... maybe it's only us'

Ð''Nuts!' That was from Piggy, shocked out of decorum. Simon went on.

Ð''We could be sort of....'

Simon became inarticulate in his effort to express mankind's essential illness.

Inspiration came to him.

Ð''What's the dirtiest thing there is?'

As an answer Jack dropped into the uncomprehending silence that followed it the one

crude expressive syllable. Release was immense. Those littluns who had climbed back

on the twister fell off again and did not mind. The hunters were screaming withdelight.

Simon's effort fell about him in ruins; the laughter beat him cruelly and he shrank

away defenseless to his seat." (pgs 95-96). The order that Ralph tried to make turned to

chaos by Jack. As Jack starts to go to the dark side he instills a fear of ridicule in the

boys. Without rules and order Jack turned evil and brought the rest of the boys along

with him. He even becomes a pig by painting his face to camouflage and making it

easier to kill the pigs. The painted faces let the boys hide behind their own masks and

not be responsible for their actions. They turned into bloodthirsty savages and started

their own rituals and chant, for example: