Cruelty In Lord Of The Flies Quote Analysis

“Youngsters kill -- that's been drilled into the national consciousness by a succession of school shootings” (Sachs, 1). Children are capable of many things, and those who kill should receive a multitude of consequences. However, bystanders who witness this murder should not face any charges and should not take the blame. Lord of the Flies is a symbolic novel written by William Golding about a group of boys who crash land onto an island, and become stranded with no adults. As they inhabit the island, two groups form; Ralph and Piggy’s tribe versus Jack and Roger’s tribe. Ralph and his group focus on survival and rescue, where as Jack and his party concentrate on hunting and savagery. In the midst of a dance consisting of Jack and his tribe along with Ralph and Piggy, they kill a boy named Simon. Each tribe begins to spiral down after their beloved conch, breaks. Another casualty occurs when Roger kills Piggy

If he had not been apart of the dance, then his own life would have been at risk. “There are, for instance, conditions in which cruelty seems to flourish, which is different from saying that it has clear causes. What are these conditions? Chaos is one, fear is another.” (Golding, 1) When people are afraid and in a chaotic environment, they often act cruelly, and this is precisely how Ralph acts. He is in dismay during the dance because he knows that if he does not participate, the boys may target him instead of Simon. The only thing he thinks to do is join the dance, so he blends in and no one notices him. Many members of Jack’s tribe are already unpleased with Ralph, so if he does one more thing to aggravate them, then he would be in a prodigious amount of trouble. Therefore, Ralph had only been apart of the dance because the fear of losing his own life controls him. He panics and needs to act quickly, and joining the dance seems like the only