Essay Comparing Lord Of The Flies And The Stanford Prison Experiment

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After reading Lord of the Flies by William Golding and Stanford Prison Experiment conducted by Philip Zimbardo, we were showed a degeneration and breakdown of the rules made and morals dictating how others should act towards each other. In the Stanford Prison Experiment Zimbardo was trying to show what would happen when your dignity would be stripped away. He also wanted to show the loosening of social and moral values that can happen under bad circumstances. In Lord Of The Flies after a plane crash a group of young boys washed ashore on a tropical island. The boys quickly established Ralph as their leader. But a big problem breaks out when jack no longer wants to live under ralphs rules. In both stories it was shown how people often let a …show more content…

Ads were placed in local newspapers willing to give $15 per day for people in the program. Out of 75 responses, 24 men were who were mentally and physically stable were selected. They were randomly divided into two groups 12 Prisoners and 12 guards. Guards were outfitted in military style uniforms. And prisoners were dressed in cheap smocks with no underwear allowed. The prisoners were told to “wait at home” the homes were raised without any warning, arrested by the real local police and were all charged with arm robbery. Palo Alto Police had help with the experiment. As if they were real suspects they were read there right, taken to the station for fingerprints and mugshots. And stripped searched and were put into their cells which would …show more content…

There have been many events in the past that could relate to both of these stories. In the Stanford prison effect after a couple days the prisoner began to revolt. And in today's world there are prisons revolts all the time. One being in On April 15, violence broke out among people at the Lee Correctional Institution, a maximum-security prison in South Carolina which lasted hours for police to stop the revolt. Being taken away from civilization behaviors begin to change. Everyone acts differently but the story shares a real life connection with today's world. Lord of the flies also relates to today's world by in the real world we need to eat to survive, but we are able to buy are food at the grocery store but they boys have the same need as us but they have to hunt for theirs. I do believe we need to be aware of the implications of both the study and what Golding was trying to emphasize in the novel because the connection between the are relevant to real life. After seeing how these stories relate to real life something like this could happen in today's

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