In the novel, The Lord of The Flies, William Golding utilises how the boys interact with the pigs to exhibit that when man is given too much power and control, it can cause him to become savage and vicious in nature; this is proven by the data collected from the Stanford prison experiment and the psychological experiments performed by Professor Stanley Milgram at Yale University.
When man is given power, he is held to a high standard, which is often upheld for a certain amount of time. This idea is shown by how Jack cannot kill the pig at the very beginning of the novel, it also shown by the prison experiment, how the guards start off as normal people, without a power hungry nature. In Mcruer’s article “Cops’ deadly identity problem: How ”
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They believe that police officers are there in order to protect everyone and act in a way that would accurately represent these expectation. Power comes at a price, it comes with the responsibility to do the right thing. Not only are police officers held to this high standard, often times other public figures such as fireman, prison guards and paramedics. Renowned professor at Stanford, Zimbardo, said in relation to the topic of human corruption that it’s not “bad apples in a good barrel. [Society] puts good apples in a bad barrel. The barrel corrupts anything it touches” (Schwartz 1). This quote uses apples as a symbol for humans. When they are put in a bad situation, or a position of power, they become more violent and react in a more violent way. It also shows that humans are good when they start, it’s the barrel that corrupts them, they do not begin corrupted. This is also shown by Golding when Jack cannot kill the pig in the beginning of the book. There is a group of boys that crashes on a deserted island in the middle of nowhere. Golding uses these little boys to show the innocence of society. When the boys begin to explore the island, they happen upon a piglet caught in some vine’s. One of the boys, Jack, has a knife and decided to