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Power In Lord Of The Flies Essay

684 Words3 Pages

It is a human tendency to crave power. Written in 1954 by William Golding, Lord of the Flies is a classic novel about a group of stranded boys and their adventures on an island. Based off of Golding realizations of humans during World War ll, the story also follows the boys from being civilized to being comparable to animals. The main characters, Ralph and Jack, are constantly competing for the highest ranking in the group. After seeing World War ll, Golding conveys the fact that evil is present in every human and its is human tendency to crave power. Ralph’s role of power is determined by the status of the conch shell which reveals how the role of power, symbolized by the shell, shifts as civilized mindsets change. In the Lord of the Flies, the first assembly meeting was called using the conch shell which designated Ralph as leader. One of the first actions Ralph did to acquire the role of leader was calling the first assembly of all the boys. Still civilized, the young boys automatically assumed Ralph was leader …show more content…

Towards the end of the book, many of the boys shift their main focus from being rescued and following Ralph, to hunting, having fun and following Jack. After Jack leaves the group because he doesn’t initially win power, lots of the boys follow him because he promises food, which they aren’t promised with Ralph. Although Jack’s group guarantees food, he says to his group, “But now I’m going to get more of the biguns away from the conch and all that. We’ll kill a pig and give a feast,” (Golding, pg 136), his group is focused on hunting and has a skewed mentality. This quote displays Jack’s focus on power. As time advances, they loose their sense off civilization, which creates an environment with violence and fear of the powerful. The purpose of the conch shell remains the same throughout the story, as does the focus on power remains the

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