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Democracy In Lord Of The Flies Essay

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In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, Golding attempts to compare and contrast two opposite strategies of control. Golding portrays that while Ralph and Piggy’s government may have been a morally sound solution, the boys chaos is too strong to be controlled by a democracy. It must be controlled by a feared dictator. While the idea of democracy, represented by the conch, is a pure concept and can provide an equal opportunity for all of the boys on the island, the animalistic need for power and chaos that controls the boys can only be reined in by a powerful dictatorship. Democracy on the island could have provided an equal opportunity for all the boys on the island. Ralph, Piggy, and several of the other boys decide that the best way to organize everyone is democracy, the fragile system that is threatened at any moment by selfishness and chaos. "I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he’s speaking”(Golding 45). Democracy is a fragile system, represented by the fragility of the conch, that can provide …show more content…

As it not only controls the boys, the chaos that ensues when Ralph is in charge is controlled to the point that Jack can exploit the boy’s weakness to his advantage. “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!" (Golding 178). Jack uses the boy’s animalistic need to kill, and shapes it into a fear driven mob. Eventually Jack’s leadership eventually achieves what Ralph and Piggy had attempted to do since the start of the book. Get Rescued. “We saw your smoke. What have you been doing? Having a war or something?" (Golding 207) Jack and his Tribe's fire, though out of control and dangerous is more effective in being seen. This is contradictory to the goal that Ralph and Piggy keep reiterating, get rescued. Ralph's Government is ineffective, even in it's main pillar of

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This only further proves my point that jack represents savagery in this novel. Due to Jacks overwhelming desire to hunt a pig he along with a small group of boys go into the jungle to try their luck. Because of Jacks carelessness, though the fire is extinguished and they lost a chance of being rescued. We also learn in this chapter that the fire symbolizes the hope they share a group, when the fire went out so did their hope, but when they relight it they regain some of their hope. Piggy being the “fat nerd” of the group his thoughts and beliefs are immediately shot down, its only when Ralph tells them to do the suggested task do they listen.

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Jack makes the boys believe that the beast will not hurt them as long as they do what he says, this gives Jack more control over the boys. When Jack and his hunters go hunting, they find a sow and kill it. When they

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To demonstrate, If you were not on Jack's team he would terrorize you. For example, Jack would say things like, “Shut up”(Golding 37) to Piggy because Piggy did not support him. Additionally, Jack assures the boys “a feast and have fun”(Golding 176) using fear of starvation to gain power. Jack used fear to control the boys which lead to the separation of the tribe. Likewise, Jack and his companions feared that Ralph was abusing his power.

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After ralph and piggy journey to the other tribe they are met by hostile savages who wouldn't listen to reason. “ Jack backed against the tribe and they were a solid mass of menace. ”(pg.180). The author shows how jack now has complete control of the boys and how they are backing him up and wont go with the side of reason. At this point in the book Jacks power is at its height and he has made all the boys sever their own ties to being civilized.”

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Insert Creative Title Here In the dystopian novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, shows the importance of civilization and the dangers of evil inside all of us. There are difficult factors within ourselves we have to face. Everyone has the ability of good and evil, anyone can be tempted to cross each line when pressured by a situation; this reveals itself in the novel through major characters such as Jack, Ralph and Piggy.

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The conch shell is first found by Piggy and Ralph who use it to call for survivors. The shell is then established as a symbol of democracy, as found in this quote, “... I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he’s speaking,” (33). Allowing each boy to speak when in possession of the conch shows that, although Ralph is chief, all boys can have a say in the rulings of the island. This democratic system is a beginning representation of our world in which everyone knows their place and there is overall peace.

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Two characters Ralph and Piggy coincide, and decide to call for others. They found a valuable white shell called a conch, that can create loud sounds. Ralph blew into the conch and the survivors eventually gathered all together. The group establishes a leader by voting for either Ralph, Piggy, or the respectable hunter Jack. Ralph becomes elected and creates a government that will eventually split the group into two, civilized people and savages.

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