How Does The Power Struggle In Lord Of The Flies

“They understood only too well the liberation into savagery the paint brought” (Golding 172). The paint masked their consciousness, it shields them from their wrongdoing, therefore it is easier for them to acquire power, specifically Jack. Lord of the Flies is about a group of British boys, whose plane crashed while attempting to escape the war. The author, William Golding, wrote this book believing that there is evil in everyone. He believed by taking away society and everyday norms, evil would take over. As the boys are on the island there is a clear power struggle between the boys. The power struggle begins to unravel as the novel progresses. Jack is one of the key characters to represent the power struggle. In Lord of the Flies, a major

After being elected chief, To keep balance Ralph suggested to Jack that he can keep the choir boys as an army or hunters and lead them. There is a constant struggle for power between Ralph and Jack. With this power struggle, many of the boys are torn about who to listen to and obey. As Rohitash Thapiyal and Shakuntala Kunwar (both Scholars of English) state “In the course of time, Ralph works to organize things, maintain order, and create laws so that all of them can stay together for the common goal to survive” (Thapliyal and Kunwar 86). While this is true of Ralph, Jack does the complete opposite. An example of Jack's control over the choirboys is when he orders them to take off their togs “As if released from class the choir boys stood up, chartered, piled their black cloaks on the grass” (Golding 23). Later on in the story, Jack uses the power he has for

Jack sent his hunters to go hunt Ralph. He must destroy Ralph for savagery to prevail over civilization. Ralph attempted to hide. This led to the boys dropping a rock on where Ralph was hidden. Since this did not force him out of the bushes Jack decided to smoke him out.“A flame, seemingly detached, swung like an acrobat and licked up the palm heads on the platform. The sky was black” (Golding 201). As Said and Rizano state in the Journal of Language and Literature “...Jack’s violent behavior is based on his internal desire for total power, he hurts and torture other to dominate them, gaining satisfaction from being superior to them” (Said and Rizano 23). Fire is a good representation of how Jack's power grew to absolute destruction by the end of the novel. Power is destructive if society is