Back to list
Everyone's Evil
In the book, "Lord of the Flies", by, William Golding, a group of British boys are stranded on an island. During their time being deserted on the island, tension grows between the young boys and savagery breaks out. The desire for power affects the group, and people begin going their own way. With no absolute government ruling over them things begin to get blown out of proportion. Golding symbolizes political references throughout his book by showing that any type of government is difficult to achieve and maintain because of individuals' selfish motives.
Even though government is hard to achieve, some people on the island tried to accomplish it. Ralph is one of the older boys who tried to make life on the island fair from the beginning. The first day they get there, Ralph, who represents democracy, decides everyone should have a say in who becomes leader by having a vote. By having these kinds of ideas, he seems appealing to the other children on the island which makes him have a natural authority over everyone. However, over time he loses this authority to Jack. Jack is the opposite of Ralph; he doesn't care about anyone except himself and just wants to be in power. Unlike Ralph, Jack represents a dictatorship. Jack is power hungry and wants to be leader for all the wrong reasons. Ralph wants to be leader so he can help everyone out for the well-being of the survivors, while Jack wants to be in control just so he can feel superior to everyone else.
In the book, "Lord of the Flies", by, William Golding, a group of British boys are stranded on an island. During their time being deserted on the island, tension grows between the young boys and savagery breaks out. The desire for power affects the group, and people begin going their own way. With no absolute government ruling over them things begin to get blown out of proportion. Golding symbolizes political references throughout his book by showing that any type of government is difficult to achieve and maintain because of individuals' selfish motives.
Even though government is hard to achieve, some people on the island tried to accomplish it. Ralph is one of the older boys who tried to make life on the island fair from the beginning. The first day they get there, Ralph, who represents democracy, decides everyone should have a say in who becomes leader by having a vote. By having these kinds of ideas, he seems appealing to the other children on the island which makes him have a natural authority over everyone. However, over time he loses this authority to Jack. Jack is the opposite of Ralph; he doesn't care about anyone except himself and just wants to be in power. Unlike Ralph, Jack represents a dictatorship. Jack is power hungry and wants to be leader for all the wrong reasons. Ralph wants to be leader so he can help everyone out for the well-being of the survivors, while Jack wants to be in control just so he can feel superior to everyone else.