Government Power In Lord Of The Flies

In history, conflict has always been a constant fixture, whether internal or external, individual or united. Author William Golding demonstrates an excellent portrayal of the competing instincts that exist inside all humans: the instinct to act by rules, live peacefully, and value the common good pitted against the impulse to indulge one’s immediate wants, and to act violently to enforce one’s will in his film Lord of the Flies. However, this portrayal was not entirely his own. Golding derived several ideas and theories from political philosophers whose ideas he was familiar with by including examples such as the concepts of a state of nature, the theory that it is the people who give the government power, and humanity’s failure to conform.

Shortly after the boys gather together for the first time, they all agree that they must elect a chief to “decide things”. Jack believes that he should be chief, as he is chief chorister and head boy. However, the rest of the children vote for Ralph to be chief (Lord of the Flies). Jean-Jacques Rousseau was an idealist philosopher who theorized that it is the people who give the government power. He recognized that government is a creation of society and therefore does not have an independent existence (Nienstedt Lecture). The boys chose Ralph to be leader, and so it is them who bestowed the power to govern upon Ralph—displaying a perfect example of people giving a government its power. Seeing as how the preceding example wholly mirrors Rousseau’s theory, it can be reasonably theorized that William Golding was aware of and understood the previously mentioned

In the film, Jack ceases to listen to Ralph’s authority, veering off to form his own dictatorship (Lord of the Flies). However, Jack never received consent from the people he governs, nor does his organization have a constitution. Therefore, it cannot be considered a government (Nienstedt Lecture). Consequently, the organization he created does not break the preceding state of nature the island is in, proving Golding possessed knowledge about Locke’s theory.
Others may claim that the people do not give the government power in this scenario, since the conch shell gives Ralph more power than the boys. Whoever is holding the shell immediately gets granted authorization to speak during a meeting, signifying that it is the conch that holds ultimate power, not the group (Lord of the Flies). This counters Rousseau’s idea that it is the people who give the government power (Nienstedt Lecture). By virtue of this contradiction, it is clear that William Golding was uninformed of Rousseau’s contributions to the