Domination In Lord Of The Flies

Humans are inherently savage by nature and are thus moved by evil instincts. If not kept in check, these instincts could be catastrophic to society and others. If there is no society, people would try to dominate and control others based on their own instincts. The boys on the island become more savage and violent as they await rescue in Willam Golding's Lord of the Flies, which illustrates how humans are mainly moved by urges towards domination and brutality over others if their conduct is not kept in check.

In the beginning, the boys are respectful of the rules and each other as they are still trying to grasp the social standards of society. When the boys first fell on the island, during the voting of who is going to be chief the kids saw

The boys looked at the conch as a sign of order and what life was like back when they were in Britain. The conch represents order because it is what brings the boys together as a sense of unity. The boys see Ralph as a natural leader so they want him to become chief to bring a sense of home to the kids. Later, during one of the meetings Ralph says, “‘And another thing. We can’t have everybody talking at once. We’ll have to have ‘Hands up’ like at school.” . . . “Then I’ll give him the conch. . . . I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he’s speaking,”’(33). Ralph is still trying to hang on to the life he lost so he tries to bring it to the island. The kids also want to be civilized to something they know and are used to. It shows a sense of responsibility for each other and some courteous manners. After the littluns were getting a little reckless, Ralph is talking about keeping rules and obeying them, Jack agrees saying, “‘I agree with Ralph. We’ve got to have rules and obey them. After all, we’re not savages.

When Jack went hunting, he felt that,“The mask was a thing on its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness,”(64). The boys all created their own masks to hide themselves from the violence they commit. They put the mask on to hide the good in them behind the mask. This enables the boys to become aggressive, evil, and savage. Jack is able to use the mask to separate his identity and not have to deal with moral responsibilities. Later when Ralph is talking about the rules, Jack says,“‘Bollocks to the rules! We’re strong – we hunt! If there’s a beast, we’ll hunt it down! We’ll close in and beat and beat and beat - !’”(91). Jack is so far from the societal norm that he says that they do not need rules to keep them intact. As Jack is liberated from his self shame, he feels like he can get rid of the rules so he can commit acts of violence. Jack emphasizes being strong and able to kill the beast whereas everyone else is frightened of it. Later, when Jack and his hunters were doing a game, they circled Robert while,“Robert snarled at him. Ralph entered into the play and everybody laughed. Presently they were all jabbing at Robert who made mock rushes… The circle moved in and round. Robert squealed in mock terror, then in real pain,”(114). Robert at first is playing the game like anyone else but as they jab at him his squeals turn to painful