Rudy Ureste and Anthony Lang
Mr. Baglow
English 11
10 May 2022
Corruption Essay Does power and strength make everyone corrupt? In many ways, people try not to be corrupt, but if they are given the opportunity, what would stop them? Being corrupt is to have or show a willingness to act dishonestly in return for money, power, or personal gain. In the book Lord of The Flies, by William Golding, it clearly shows what happens to people when they are confronted with opportunities to gain power. In this book, a group of kids are stranded on an island and they have to fight each other for power over the rest of the group. This book clearly shows how some people will take advantage over other people and lead them using hate and fear. Another story
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These topics are developed through elements like selfishness, greed, abandonment, and self interest. Ways in which selfishness is shown in Lord of the flies is through the boys not caring about the boy with the mulberry birthmark. Because of the boys only caring about the fire, the kid ends up dying. Another way that corruption is shown in this book is through greed. Greed can be expressed when Jack leaves the group with the intention of taking power away from ralph. Because of this urge for authority, Jack perverts the minds of the kids around them and gets them to attempt to kill and murder. This is proved by Jack getting all the boys to chant “kill the beast! cut his throat! spill his blood!” (Golding, 186). Corruption is further shown through abandonment. This is greatly shown when SamnEric betrayed Ralph and told the other boys where he was hiding. This would cause Ralph to almost become murdered due to his friends' abandonment. Lastly, self interest is also shown to explain the temptation for power. This can be shown through piggy always staying around Ralph and the conch to gain power. Because of this, he would gain opportunities to speak about what he wants. This shows that with the opportunity to have power, most men use it for their own