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Lord Of The Flies Civilization Analysis

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In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, young children are left stranded on an island during WWII without any adult leadership. Entropy increases on the island, and the boys soon fall into disarray despite the efforts of Ralph, the figurehead of civilization in the novel. They begin to follow Jack, who leads the group further away from society and creates more chaos. Their connection with civilization, at the start of the novel, is weak, and by the end, is nonexistent. The human mind is made of up two instincts that are constantly in conflict - the instinct to live by society’s rules, and the instinct to live by your own rules. Civilization is when man meets his basic needs in a fine manner. Civilization forms slowly and carefully, …show more content…

Ralph creates a civil system of government that is organized and based on laws. However, Jack displays power by defying the existing democracy on the island. His leadership is more careless than Ralph’s, but with greater, inhumane consequences. The boys of Jack’s tribe follow him out of fear - another major source of problems on the island. At first, the island is thought to be a splendid paradise, but as the boys stay on the island, their fear increases. They soon become afraid of each other. Soon after that they break up and fight (Golding 13) because of the fear. Their original fears are of what they think are beasts. Eventually, fear is what unites their weak society. No member of the group would be willing to protest their actions in fear of another member assaulting them who in turn is probably also driven by fear. The increased savagery on the island also plays a role in this - committing an unthinkable act is easier when everyone else behaves similarly, and if there are extreme consequences to face if you do not. This can be seen as the last remaining members of Ralph’s group transfer to Jack’s. The fact that everyone else is there acting a certain way, the power of Jack’s group, and the fear of being persecuted makes joining them a much simpler choice. Fear causes controlling behavior to become harmful. The hunt for power is fear, and the aspiration for fear is power to eliminate fear (Wilson). People with such fright realize what they are supposed to avoid in order to get past their fears and indirectly comprehend their personality with such traits (Pelczar). In the Lord of the Flies, Jack wants to hunt and kill the beast, but Ralph continues arguing that there is none (Golding 35). When it is proven that there is a beast on the mountain, things go awry. Jack then tells Ralph to stay behind on the mountaintop while Roger and him go ahead (Golding 139). This shows cowardice and

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He becomes one of the prominent leadership figures and his interest in establishing a society aligns with Ralph’s, the first elected leader, but he shows a propensity for aggressive behavior by yelling that it would "serve [them] right if something did get [them], you useless lot of cry-babies!" (Golding 64). Choosing to attack the young boys for their fears plays into Jack’s fanaticism about his nearly-embraced island life. Becoming defensive about what he is doing for the group, he attacks the same people he attempts to govern. Later, the ideological differences between Jack and Ralph prove too great, and Jack sets fire to the island in his bid to kill him, “smoke...seeping through the branches in white and yellow wisps, the patch of blue sky overhead turned to the color of a storm cloud” (152).

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The tribe wants to hunt Ralph even though he did not do anything wrong. In fact, all Ralph wants to do is get rescued which is something that not only benefits him but everyone else on the island. The boys on the island want to hurt Ralph solely for their own pleasure. Ralph does not share the violent beliefs of the tribe and because of this, he does not join them. However, because Ralph does not engage in the violent actions taken by the other boys, they target him.

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These boys felt that Ralph was not providing the rights that they needed. On the other hand Jack was. This was a reason to form a new government. The boys wanted fun, food and protection, which was nothing Ralph provided. Ralph’s main goal was to get off the island, where the boys wanted to enjoy their time.

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A Crumbling Society The novel Lord of the Flies written by William Golding tells the story of a group of boys abandoned on an island to fend for themselves. In the novel, a group of young English boys trying to escape war get stranded on an island after a plane crash. Initially there is order, but as time progresses things begin to fall apart and the island is reverted to a much more primitive state. This movement away from a normal, civil society over time shows what the disconnect from the larger civilized world can do to people, especially young children who have never been on their own before.

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This could because they don't know the true meaning of what a civilization is and what goes into keeping a successful one going, or the fact that they are too young to be able to make something g so complexed if they don't understand it yet themselves. A power struggle happens a lot through the book. No one really knows who to listen to because the boys don't really know what is going to happen to them.

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(Pg 63). Jack has very high expectations for the people on the island especially the older kids. He expects them to listen and obey and when they don't they face punishments. This mentality and type of government representing a dictatorship Jack would like to run would've worked great on the island and would've gotten a lot more done than Ralph did. He doesn't take no for an answer and knows how to appeal to emotions to get stuff done even if he hurts someone's

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Ralph was the leader of the civilized group, and Jack was the leader of the savage and bloodthirsty hunting group. Important arguments between the civilized boys and savage boys come up in three important moments throughout the book: when the signal fire is allowed to go out and a boat passes by the island, when Jack leaves the civilized group to create his group of savages, and when the savages steal Piggy’s glasses to make their own fire. The first key moment near the beginning of the book shows the growing tension between civilization and savagery. It comes up when

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Throughout the novel, Jack consistently demonstrates a disregard for rules and a desire for dominance and power. When he leads the boys in hunting and violence, he taps into their savage and primal instincts - including Ralph’s. As Jack proclaims, "The conch doesn't count at this end of the island" (Golding, 150) it becomes evident that he prioritizes dominance and power over order, authority, and the established rules on the island. In the midst of their destructive rivalry, Jack’s failures teach Ralph important lessons. Witnessing Jack’s inability to maintain the signal fire makes Ralph recognize the value of collaboration, communication, and planning for survival.

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Jack, the boy who is outvoted by Ralph causes most of the conflicts in the book. The boys try to figure out how to maintain their society by themselves, but due to their failure, the boys transform from being innocent to savages. The two essential components lacking from the boys’ island government are discipline and respect for one another’s property, which political Enlightenment philosophers Cesare Beccaria and John Locke believes are essential for a successful government. Since the boys do not establish these components, they ultimately face death and chaos.

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The Lord Of The Flies by William Golding takes us to an abandoned island, where there is a fight for leadership among boys. Jack and Ralph were friends but when civilization is tested. Jack turns to savagery. Ralph struggles to survive and bring back order and civilization.

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This division ultimately leads to the collapse of the society they attempted to build. The boys' inability to find common ground and cooperate causes them to view the world in absolutes, erasing the nuances

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William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies is about a group of British kids who survive a plane crash and form their own civilization on an island to survive. There are many quotes about civilization, one being a famous quote from Werner Herzog, a German film director, screenwriter, actor and author. Herzog said, “Civilization is like a thin layer of ice upon a deep ocean of chaos and darkness.” This quote is saying that beneath every community is a sense of madness and insanity, but it is covered by a very small layer of controlling people or people with power. But this layer can be broken and then all hell breaks loose.

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