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Power In Lord Of The Flies By William Golding

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In William Golding’s timeless survival story, two boys go against each other to rule an unsupervised island. This turns into a chaotic mess, putting everyone's lives in danger. Ruling the boys is a big deal for Jack and Ralph, since one craves civilization and peace while the other desires to witness drama and violence. Throughout the novel, Jack and Ralph’s dynamic reveals the dangers of power. Jack’s desire for dominance reflects the destructive nature of humanity. Jack having this much power over innocent little boys puts their lives in danger. He is a dictator and maintains fear with the boys so they can’t leave his tribe. Jack becomes very aggressive and struggles with internal conflict. He created this image of himself being so strong …show more content…

Ralph only focuses on getting rescued and doesn't pay attention to comforting the little boys. He himself also has trouble processing that he is stuck on an island and can’t handle his feelings and emotions. “If only they could get a message to us.a sign or something”(Golding 94). He is struggling to digest this information. He’s not able to understand his situation, he gets aggressive during assemblies. He would start yelling at the boys for not working and running around.Throughout the book, he gets paranoid about the fire and is insensitive, he forgets that they all are trying to adapt to their situation, but everything comes back to him when they get rescued. Additionally, the struggle between Jack and Ralph turns into a violent fight as their power becomes overwhelming, putting the group in danger. They both have had enough of each other and become tired. Raph tries to confront Jack, and it does not end well. Jack sets the whole forest on fire after Ralph manages to get away from the tribe’s attack. “They had smoked... island on fire”(Golding 197). Jack is so determined to kill Ralph that he stops thinking about what he was about to do and does not need a reason to do

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Ralph was more concerned about making sure the fire was lit and smoking. Ralph is trying to lead everyone to survival and rescue. Later on, Piggy, Ralph's sidekick, was talking to Ralph about him staying chief. He says “If Jack was chaid hed have all hunted no fire. We’d be here till we died” (Golding 98).

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As the story progresses, Jack begins to gain more and more power over the tribe, causing the boys to become more savage and behavior irresponsible. Although conditions in the island has downgraded with Jack in charge, Golding shows that conditions can worsen under more savage leaders. As Roger begins to gain power, the island descended into a destructive place that grows in savagery. Throughout history civilizations have crumbled and prospered depending on those in power. Under the control of savage individuals, societies can derail into a pool of

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