Argumentative Essay On Lord Of The Flies

All people have an inner beast, just waiting to be released if and when the time comes. Most people do not think that they could do anything remotely threatening to another person's life, but when placed into certain desperate situations anyone can exhibit extreme behaviors. There are precise limits to every person’s willingness to act in drastic ways but sometimes they are put in situations where they must go beyond their own moral codes. Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a novel about a group of schoolboys who are stranded alone on an island, with no adult supervision. Trying to escape the horrors of war, the boys’ plane crashes on a remote uninhabited island, the boys are left with no resources or hope of rescue in the near future

Jack, the former choir leader and main antagonist, decides that he will be the head hunter and the other choir boys will help him. As they trek the unexplored forest, they are able to successfully hunt and kill many wild pigs, or ‘sows’, for feasts. The “hunt” brought out a beast lurking in each of the boys in the hunting party and they quickly became too invested in the idea of hunting and killing of innocent prey. The bloodlust of the group and their paranoia around a mythical beast soon blinded them from reality and they created their own tribe among the boys. After the killing and feast of one of their most prominent hunts the hunters begin to dance and chant as they surrounded their next victim, “kill the pig! Cut his throat. Kill the pig! Bash him in” (Golding 114). They work themselves into a blind frenzy and begin to beat the life out of the ‘victim’ not recognizing that this supposed beast is one of their own, Simon. Simon was a soft-spoken, but caring boy who took a leadership role in protecting the younger boys but flew under the radar and was easily overlooked. The newly formed tribe was blinded by their inner savages and they did not notice that the beast was Simon until he was too far gone and they pretended that it never even happened. Before being marooned on the island the thought taking another living

Although, Ralph, the main protagonist and original leader of the group tries to take charge and create some system of community, this eventually fails and spirals out of control, causing a separation of the boys and rivalry between tribes. Many times the boys act out because there is no one to tell them not to or any system to assign discipline when rules established by the group are broken. The order of the island soon becomes survival of the fittest. In this system of society, if you can not provide and keep yourself safe you are helpless. One character who is seen as an outsider and at many times helpless because of his differences is Piggy. Piggy is not seen as a valuable member of the group but he does possess something of value. His eyeglasses are the only way for the boys to produce fire. Roger, a rebel in the group, has been planning how to get rid of Piggy and get his glasses and his chance comes with the opportunity to cause a boulder to fall on Piggy, “with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever” (Golding 180). When Roger pushes the rock off the cliff with knowing intentions to hit, and kill Piggy, any remaining form of civilization is lost. The morals of the boys are completely lost when they place a greater value on an object rather than a person’s life. Behavior such as this is not normal or acceptable for anyone in a civilized society