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). Although Jack was the most natural leader and Piggy was probably the smartest of the group, the boys voted Ralph as their chief. Jack’s jealousy is evident after Ralph is chosen as chief when he “disappeared under a blush of mortification” (Golding 23). In the first days and weeks on the …show more content…
Near the end of their time on the island, Piggy, Sam, and Eric are the only ones left with Ralph, and Jack, who appears as “a chief now in truth; and he made stabbing motions with his spear” (Golding 168). Jack starts to get violent, and what was fun when they first got to the island become attempts to kill. At this point, Jack has fully taken over, and the only thing left for him to do is kill Ralph. Lord of the Flies exemplifies how when one person has all of the power, there is always somebody else that wants it more than that person. Ralph is not against Jack, nor does he want to fight with him for the chief position, but ambition and violence overtakes Jack, and he turns into a dangerous savage. The shift in power in Lord of the Flies is comparable to many other usurps in history, and is one of many examples of how Lord of the Flies is about more than just a group of young boys stranded on an