Lord Of The Flies And Animal Farm

The Lord of the Flies by William Golding and Animal Farm by George Orwell, both contain the theme of power and control. It is evident that in both texts power starts under the command of the protagonists, Ralph (Lord of the Flies) and Snowball (Animal Farm), which allows communism and harmony within the plot. However, the antagonists have a strong desire for power, which causes an uprising and also a downfall in the society. The authors of both texts revel this theme and its effects on the plot by the use of symbols.

In the beginning of the two texts the Protagonist’s Ralph and Snowball are the beholders of power and create communism and hope for the other characters. The central characters obtain their power by their charismatic attributes

Jack and Napoleon’s aspiration for complete control and power creates a negative impact on the communist society that the protagonists have in place. Jack regularly “spoke against the rules” (Pg.109) and uses his voice to manipulate the others. Likewise, Napoleon has “a reputation for getting his own way” (pg.9) and also uses the power of speech to influence others that “[he] is always right” (Pg.45). Both characters have strong opinions and want to have everything their way, in doing this they create conflict between them and the protagonists. Jack considers himself as the “obvious leader” (Pg.30) and is relentless with gaining power. He breaks moral code and ends up killing other characters in his rise to power. This is very similar to Napoleon, as he too trains animals to kill the other characters. This creates conflict and an uprising between the antagonists and the other characters. Golding uses the new symbol of The Beast to revel Jacks rising power. He uses the other characters fear of the beast to convince them to listen to him, saying “fear cant hurt you anymore then a dream”(Pg. ). However, The Beast soon gets to Jack, which allows for Golding’s other symbol The Lord of the Flies to be reveled. This represents Jacks savage actions against the other characters and also his rise of corruption in the text. These symbols are similar to

The authors create a peak in the antagonists rise for power, which causes them to gain dominance over the protagonists. Golding uses the symbol of the conch and Piggy’s glasses to emphasise Jack superiority and dictatorship. Jack destroys the conch “into a thousand white fragments and it [ceases] to exist”(Pg.), which then symbolises the end of democracy and civilisation. Likewise, he also destroys Piggy’s glasses, which too were symbolic for innovation and saviour. This relates to Animal Farm as Napoleon also over throws the farm and breaks animal code. Orwell’s use of the farmhouse displays the pig’s link to human nature as it symbolises authority and dominance. The pigs move in there along with humans and it becomes “impossible to say which [is] which”(Pg.), this demonstrates the overall supremacy they have other the other animals. Both antagonists take complete power over the protagonists and use it to create a totalitarian society. It is evident that both authors create a dictator, which they use to over-power the other characters. They express the desire for power through these characters and use them to create a downfall in each text.

Lord of the Flies and Animal Farm both explore the theme of power and what happens when there is a fight for it. It is evident that in both texts, power is initially able