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Comparing Power In 'Lord Of The Flies And The Hunger Games'

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Lord of the Flies by William Golding, The Hunger Games directed by Francis Lawrence and Gary Ross, and Animal Farm by George Orwell illustrate the corruption of power and the decay of civilized society under pressure. Lord of the Flies is unique because of the lack of outside influence on their community as well as the outright extremism of the characters in the way they interact with the world around them. The Hunger Games puts these concepts into more modern times and is more directly allegorical to American society and the life of it’s target audience. Animal Farm brings the perspective of revolution, as opposed to how in LOTF and Hunger Games, we are introduced to either an oppressive government or a government created out of necessity, …show more content…

The boys represent humanity and how over time people become more and more polarized in the pursuit of wants or power "Some were blood-thirsty or sadistic; others were fair-minded or smart. But every one of them became more or less of those things as time, and opportunity, wore on" (Betzig, "The Lord of the Flies"). As the story progresses, we watch Jack and Roger especially become more and more blood-thirsty, Ralf becomes manic about being rescued, Piggy starts to speak up for the logical solution, and Simon withdraws more often from the group. However, it isn't as simple as that, people are never truly polarized, society is complicated, people are complicated, and so are the boys "The best, and the worst, that’s in any of us, was in all of them."(Betzig, "The Lord of the Flies"). While Golding represented the extremes of society through the boys he also represented all the complex grey parts of who we all are as humans as the boys try to balance their wants and needs, with what they know to be right. The boys start with a civilized society that has structure, leadership, order, and collective goals, as time wears on they begin to give in to all of their wants and abandon the order they began with in favor of their short term

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