A study of pack mentality: the human potential for evil
Joshua Poon 10BD In today’s world we rarely stop to think about how often us humans clump together to form a group, to do things together, to share responsibility and to have a sense of belonging. It is simply human nature to come together, but the consequences of this pack mentality are often overlooked and neglected. In Lord of the Flies, William Golding explores the stranded schoolboys initially decide to work together to ensure their survival, but the group soon become entranced by the notion of a beast haunting the island. We soon see the many ramifications that arise from what may have seemed like successful ideas, and we can draw parallels with this in our lives today. In Nineteen
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In Lord of the Flies, Jack’s tribe accepts, and indeed promotes, the use of torture to punish a boy, Wilfred, while in 1984, torture is also used to silence rebels. In the former, the children are compromised and consumed by the immorality and savageness deep inside them; they don’t have guilty consciences that what they are doing is wrong. Similarly in 1984: the clueless members of the Outer Party don’t have a conscience, especially what is right and wrong is defined by the Party, because of the organised torture in order to brainwash rebels to promote a mob mentality across society. Fear can also be major factor employed by leaders in order to forward their own agenda and make it harder for the people to resist. In Lord of the Flies, it is fear of an imaginary beast, which in fact symbolises the savagery and wildness inside them. However, when the truth about this fear, in the form of Simon, seeks to become known to them, they reject it; they reject the truth and reality, instead feasting on their own desire. In contrary to Winston in 1984 where fear ultimately limits his ability to resist the Party’s wrath. Pain is the factor of him giving in; he has been forced to love due to pain; that is how the dystopian system of 1984