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Marxist Lens In Lord Of The Flies By William Golding

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Lord of the Flies Marxist Lens How is power really determined in society? Throughout the novel Lord of the Flies, a marxist lens connects in several ways, and many of the characters in this book have a sense of power, which shifts as the novel progresses. Reading the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding through a marxist lens reveals the change in power dynamics in the boys. The characters have different classes, and most of them are low-class, and Jack seems to be mostly middle-class throughout this book. A marxist lens views literary works as a reflection in which they originate. A marxist lens addresses human history and its many struggles with classes according to the theory of Karl Marx. Karl Marx was a theorist and a historian, and he examined many …show more content…

Also, when the officer came into the situation, the boys were not boys anymore, they were men, and acted like men, but as soon as the officer is gone, they are back to being little boys. 3. “He got angry and made us tie Wilfred up, He’s been” he giggled excitedly-- “hes been tied up for hours” Paragraph 3- This really shows what power can do to you, and shows your mindset when you have all that power, you have no care in the world. You think that your top of the world, and are better than everyone, and have authority over everyone and everything. Jack feels a sense of authority here, and thats why there is giggling because he is like “Gotcha now!” He is kind of rubbing it in his face a little bit. 2. Text Evidence: “Piggy I take to be Socrates, the voice of reason. Like Socrates, he is ugly, fat, and—to men unappreciative of reason—a bore, with a disinclination for manual labor. He is the “outsider.” He alone shows marks of intelligence; he can think; he has brains.” (Officer Quote) What does a Marxist Lens reveal about the novel The Lord of the

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In the Roman Empire, England, France, and the Middle East, ever since people have been around, there has always been conflict and fighting. A common theme in war is inhumanity. For example, in World War I mustard gas would produce terrible blisters on soldiers who were exposed to it. Empathy for those suffering young men was not present in those causing the pain.

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In the novel Lord of the Flies, Golding uses many quotes and Imagery to represent nature of mankind and society. Golding uses lots of analogies to try to foreshadow you about the real life. Throughout the book Golding uses many of the character and the setting to really make the point go across the whole story. As the story is told you begin to think humans are inherently good but nature and other people can turn you evil. In the beginning of the story jack is trying to get the group together to form so type of group which really means they are trying to set up a government.

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For example, when Ralph and Piggy were discussing what to do after the murder of Simon, Piggy suggests Ralph blow the conch where Ralph then “sharply” (Golding 156) laughed in response. This quote shows the audience that since the boys are not taking the conch seriously anymore it's beginning to lose power. Secondly when Jack begins to form his own alliance he starts to become more aware that he is now in control as he has always wanted to be. When Jack states “we shall take fire from the others.

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In the book Jack is always making fun of Piggy. Jack was being rude to Piggy and saying his fat behind doesn’t do nothing to help while piggy was trying to talk. However some of the time Piggy stands up for himself, “I got the conch … you let me speak!”(Golding 33). Piggy illustrates how its not easy to have integrity. This is because whenever he tries to talk the others mainly Jack just tell him to shut up or take his glasses from him making him feel uncomfortable.

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Jack displays the signs of a significant ruler during his first time meeting the boys, his hunt to kill a pig, and his response for letting the fire out. Jack gives Piggy an impression of his authoritative personality as Piggy observes, “the uninformed superiority and the offhand authority in Merridew’s voice”

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He uses it to compare the characters Jack, Ralph, and Piggy in the way each boy has different levels of respect from the boys. While at the top of a mountain on the island a heated argument breaks out between Jack and Ralph, “You’re always scared-yah fatty.” (Golding 38). Piggy is already established as fat and short and using this to his advantage Jack can bully Piggy with no repercussions. Earlier in the novel Jack is described as “Ugly without silliness” and the boys know not to mess with Jack based on physical appearance (Golding 20).

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One boy, Ralph was unwillingly thrust into power because of his attractiveness and easy-going personality, while a power hungry, cunning boy named Jack strives to rule them all. Power is an important concept in this novel as it causes most events to take place, such as it does in the world we live in. It causes wars, arguments, laws, and revolutions, but when the right

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In many stories someone can find that one villain. The one that is power hungry, the one that wants to rule. This is true for The Lord of the Flies as well. You have Jack, who from the very beginning, wanted power. As the story progresses it is easy to see that the unearned power that he did have, did not have positive impacts.

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From the moment the boys grouped, Jack reveals his ambition and lack of empathy. Jack uses verbal abuse towards everyone in order to gain control, but especially Piggy. When Piggy tries desperately to be heard while creating the fire, Jack tells

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Golding includes the reaction of the hunters to give the reader the intimation that Jack’s apology may not be sincere and he just wants to regain the respect of the boys. This shows that Jack is acting in self-interest and uses deceitful tactics to gain the trust of his supporters. Despite this, Jack continues to fulfill the role of the bully by calling the littluns cry babies and sissies, not to mention his constant jabs at Piggy. This lets the reader know that Jack takes advantage of his power when he knows he will not face any consequences. Another example of Jack becoming more savage is when he steals Piggy’s glasses by means of violence.

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Aggression for Progression In the novel, Lord of the Flies, by William Golding Jack’s characteristics controls the movement of the plot which contributes to the boys’ survival. Jack’s decisions, aggression, and leadership influence the occurrences on the island.

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Human behaviors are easy to be changed by the experiences and environment. As the time passes by, the changed behaviors can be worse or better than before. However, most people become worse because of the specific experiences in their life time. In Lord of the Flies, the changes of behavior are occurred obviously in the characters of Jack, Roger, and Ralph.

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Marxist lens came from the theory of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, where they both believed that “the working class were deprived of fair share by the higher rank” (Willette, 2010). From the famous play Hamlet, of William Shakespeare, that was published in 1603, it focuses more on social barriers between ranks. Social ranks is so important during the time period Shakespeare wrote Hamlet, that the whole play is based on how higher ranks abuses their power and were treated a lot better than the lower ranks. Through the vision of Marxist critical lens in Hamlet, an observer were able to see the strong boundary between the different social classes in the story. In Act 2 scene 2 from the book, showcases one example of viewing through the lens of

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In Lord of the Flies, William Golding shows the progression of absolute power, and how ambition can take over one's mind. Stranded on an island after their plane crashed, the boys create their own democracy with one absolute ruler, just like many other governments throughout history. The boys voted Ralph as their ruler, but Jack slowly starts to take some of Ralph’s power, and eventually usurps him as their chief. Lord of the Flies suggests that absolute power is corrupt, and that humans are overly ambitious in wanting to take power from the person who has the most of it. Just like any large group of people, the boys decide that they “ought to have a chief to decide things” (Golding 22).

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In William Golding's novel Lord of The Flies a key element is power and authority and how it connects to fear. Two very important characters that are prime examples of this are Jack and Ralph. Throughout the book they battle for authority, first Ralph’s reign, then Jack’s rise to power, and how they both affected the boys differently. Ralph is the original figure of authority on the island. At the beginning of the novel, Ralph is the one who, with Piggy’s help, finds and blows the conch.

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