The Exercise Of Power In Lord Of The Flies By William Golding

Lord of the Flies Paper Famously known for his studies on the topic of what makes people go wrong, psychologist Philip Zimbardo quotes, “Evil is the exercise of power. And that's the key: it's about power.” In the famous novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a group of young English boys were left stranded on an island after a tragic plane crash, left to fend for themselves. The main character, Ralph, was elected as chief to rule over the rest of the boys. Despite his best efforts, Ralph gradually lost full control over the boys to the ultimate savagery of Jack’s way of life, which he was never fully able to understand why, all leading back to the theme of the book that evil is a tempting force. All was going well for Ralph as his

Early on Ralph heavily stressed the importance of keeping a signal fire burning, so the smoke could be spotted by oncoming ships. Leaving the signal fire to burn out, Jack and a group of boys venture off into the forest to satisfy their need to hunt. As a result, on page 54, Ralph becomes extremely frustrated and screams at Jack, “Don’t you want to be rescued? All you can talk about is pig, pig, pig!” Ralph couldn’t understand why the boys could so easily lose sight of what was most important on the island, keeping up the signal fire so the chance of being rescued is greater. The fire means more than just getting rescued though, it’s also a symbol of hope and ambition. The fire burning out hints at the slow breakdown of the boys’ civilization, and Ralph’s anger shows how increasingly difficult it is for him to maintain order. As time passed, the majority of the boys eventually gave in to the strong temptation to hunt and kill, to join Jack’s way of life as opposed to staying on track with Ralphs. Thinking out loud, after sensing he was losing more followers to Jack, Ralph says to the boys during a meeting on page 82, “Things

Horrified by the severity of his actions, on page 156, Ralph tried to face the extent of Simon’s death with Piggy saying, “Piggy, that was murder.” Vulnerable and scared, Ralph allowed Piggy to slightly convince him that it was all an accident, but deep down he knew that was not the case. All of the boys on the island, including Ralph, had joined in on the chant, circling the fire and dancing. Ralph may have caught on to the fact that the boys had been the force that had killed Simon, but he still couldn’t understand how they could be driven to do such a horrible thing. Equally as important as Simon’s death, Piggy’s tragic ending marked the end of any chance of returning to civilization. With the strongest ties Ralph had left to civilization severed, no allies left, and nowhere to go, he tried to find Samneric to try and convince them to join his side. Trying to warn Ralph of the danger, on page 190, Samneric whispers to Ralph, “Roger sharpened a stick at both ends.” Ralph tried to attach some meaning or importance to this warning, but could not. This visible pattern of Ralph’s lack of understanding develops throughout the story, essentially being the root of his downfall. In the context of the scene, when someone sharpens a stick on both ends, it means they’re going to use it as a lethal weapon to hunt something, or