Lord Of The Flies: Liberalism And Realism

Both liberalism and realism are evident in Lord of the Flies, influencing the behavior of the boys as well as the outcome of their time on the island. Concerning realism, the violent and egoistic behavior of the children in Lord of the Flies is unsurprising, if not completely expected. The realist perspective is succinctly described as a pessimistic approach to international politics. Realism expresses that states are unitary, egoistic, amoral, and power seeking actors on the world stage. On the other hand, the attempted cooperation and protection for all of the boys are liberal characteristics. Liberalism expresses cooperation as a means of achieving peace through international institutions. Liberals are less concerned with relative power

From the beginning of the story, Ralph makes it clear that he expects the boys to cooperate to ensure the survival of everyone. He establishes laws from the beginning to ensure peace and is consistently seen reaching out to Jack to maintain peace among the two groups that eventually emerge. He sees cooperation as the only means to peace and survival, and encourages all of the boys to keep the fire burning and to watch out for each other, especially the younger children. However, like most critiques of liberal theory make known, Ralph lacks the authority to enforce his ideology because he does not use hard power to enforce his laws. By establishing rules, such as keeping the fire burning, in exchange for community, building shelters where all of the boys can sleep, Ralph attempts to maintain control over the group but ultimately fails. Ralph continually tries to advocate for a moralistic approach to governing the other boys, and though he fails often, he attempts to protect the weaker children by defending and watching over them. In other words, Ralph tries to protect the rights of all of the boys, though he realizes that they are in an anarchical system. Ralph is concerned with each “state” benefiting from the system, disregarding that the hunters will benefit more in the system they had developed. This contrasts to Jack’s need to be stronger and possess more power than Ralph’s “state”. In the end, Ralph is overrun by the hunters and forced to run, a fulfilled expectation after the breakdown of cooperation among the two groups or