Isolation In Lord Of The Flies

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In a study about mental illness and isolation it was found that “perhaps the thing that can happen to someone in isolation is the experience of the ‘sensed presence,’ or the feeling that another person or even a supernatural being is with us”(Frank McAndrew, psypost.org). When trapped on a island and being unable to trust anything or anybody around himself, he is sure to develop these signs of insanity. In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, all of the boys that feel like the Beastie is a real thing have revealed to the reader that they have completely lost their sanity. Jack, along with all of his hunter feel this way. After crashing on a deserted island with no parents left alive, a group of only boys ages twelve through six have to learn to …show more content…

Some boys are born natural leaders and some are natural followers, but one big problem is that two boys , Jack and Ralph, want to lead the group. Ralph would be a better leader than Jack because he has better qualities for leading and has not completely lost his sanity. To begin with, Ralph would be a better leader than Jack because throughout the book he wants to focus on the boys main goal of being rescued along with being able to listen to ideas from other boys. Jack wants to do other less important actions like hunting pigs, stealing from others, and killing the beast. For example, when Jack lets the fire go out because he is hunting Ralph says “There was a ship. Out there. You said you’d keep the fire going and you let it out. They might have seen us. We might have gone home”(Golding 70). Ralph’s main focus is to keep the fire going so that passing ships will see the smoke resulting in the boys getting rescued. Jack's love for hunting pigs and lack wanting to get rescued show that he is turning more savage by the day. This is just another reason why Ralph would make a better leader than Jack would. This also shows that Ralph has better priorities than Jack does. The boys first reaction