Theme Of Selfishness In Lord Of The Flies

In the novel, Lord of The Flies, author William Golding tells the tragic and profound story of a group of boys stranded on a deserted island after their plane crashed and mysteriously disappeared during the 1940’s. By repeatedly showing the boys lust for power and disregard for others when fighting for the conch and control of the island, Golding suggests that selfishness leads to the downfall of relationships and society. Selfishness is one of the main themes throughout the story, though it mainly surrounds Jack and Ralph. Jack wants to be chief; he promises fun and full stomachs. Ralph wants to be leader; he promises order and rescue. Both boys want control for very different reasons, but the one thing that truly separates them is the conch.

He’s leaning quite heavily on the conch and his ability to make good decisions is slowly waning. He decides Piggy’s fate by going to speak with Jack, this of course leads to Piggy’s death as well as the obliteration of the conch. “...The conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist.” (181). As established, Ralph and the conch can be considered one character in some circumstances. This would be one of those circumstances. When the conch breaks it’s role in the story is over, while Ralph role overall is not, he is no longer a leader or an authoritative figure.
Lord of the Flies has many themes but selfishness is one of the most important. Though Ralph tries to be a good leader, his weaknesses of obsession, control and overthinking lead to his ultimate downfall and throughout it all the conch contributed to it. In the end when the conch breaks and Ralph is left to his own devices he makes better choices and saves himself from being killed. He focuses more on himself and his surroundings instead of the conch. It’s as if he’s finally awake. Ralph and the conch have a negative relationship that if continued would have lead to Ralph’s