Mob Mentality In William Golding's Lord Of The Flies

William Golding’s Lord of the Flies shows a story that covers a group of young boys who have crash-landed on a deserted island. One of the older boys, Ralph, is voted as chief of their group. Piggy is Ralph’s close advisor and a keeper of wisdom in the group. Jack Merridew is the leader of the hunters who were once a choir group. Throughout their troubles finding food and keeping a signal fire going for rescue, the boys have a civil war of sorts when Jack and his group of hunters split off from Ralph’s group. By looking at Lord of the Flies there is a deep psychological interpretation that Golding leaves hints of in his novel. One of the most notable impacts is that of mob mentality; which, by definition, forebodes chaos. William Golding believed that inherently all humans were evil; his use of mob mentality in his novel represents his belief with full force. This type of collective thought can be used for either good or evil, but with Golding’s idealism, he uses it harshly to push forward the thought process that humans are evil and deadly creatures to each other. In an article writted by Rick Nauert PhD, he explains that researchers had discovered that it takes a minority of only five percent to influence a crowd’s direction – and that the other ninety-five per cent follow without realizing it (Nauert). I believe that Golding was

When faced with a hopeless situation, though, Golding displays that even the most innocent are affected by the mob. An MIT research team who conducted a study of mob mentality states that, “A group of people will often engage in actions that are contrary to the private moral standards of each individual in that group, sweeping otherwise decent individuals into ‘mobs’” (MIT Researchers). This is one of the most important representations of true evil shown by the group of boys who, on the surface, should be the perfect symbol of