Thesis: In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the boys fail to effectively govern themselves because they lack enforcement of order and balanced power, which Hobbes and Montesquieu argued were necessary in creating an effective government. Because the boys lack these two necessary elements, the result is Jack gaining too much power and leading the group to chaos and anarchy. Hobbes believes the enforcement of order by a strong government is necessary for effective leadership, but because the boys on the island lack the enforcement of order, they ultimately fail to govern themselves, causing them to devolve to primitive beasts and descend into chaos. Hobbes is an English philosopher and known as founding father of modern political philosophy, …show more content…
Near the middle of the book, Jack calls for an assembly, and “[his] voice went up, tremulous yet determined, pushing against the uncooperative silence. ‘He’s like Piggy. He says things like Piggy. He isn’t a proper chief.’ Jack clutched the conch to him. ‘He’s a coward himself… He’s not a hunter. He’d never have got us meat. He isn’t a prefect and we don’t know anything about him. He just gives orders and expects people to obey for nothing’” (Golding 126). Ralph’s government has been shown to be quite close to Hobbes’ ideal government as he did attempt to enforce and listened to the boys’ problems, but Ralph did not enforce his power enough, which is significant as Jack is able to overthrow his power by belittling Ralph and encouraging others’ to rebel. Ralph’s failure to form a proper government allowed Jack to gain power and to become a dictator that encouraged chaos with hunting and violent acts, rather than order and reasoning. Jack’s power is wrongly given since it did not come from the boys’ deciding for their benefit, but rather was given because the boys dislike the rules Ralph set to keep order, and some follow
The Lord of the Flies is a gruesome story about young boys stranded on an island, who underwent a transformation from polite British choir boys to savage hooligans. One of the main difficulties the boys face during their adventures upon the island, is their method of government, they either follow the path of Ralph, the democratic leader whose main focus is to escape the despairing island; or Jack a power-hungry monarchical leader who won't ever take no for an answer. The two boys are constantly bickering and arguing over who deserves the leader-position. We all understand Ralph wants to be leader so that he can ensure that the boys will return back home, but in Jack's case, it is a constant mystery to us about why he wants power over the other children. But we do get much small hints from the author, William Golding, that Jack's biggest fear among the other children on the island is public humiliation. This becomes more and more evident the farther on into the book, and his fear seems to be what persuades him to reach for a powerful position.
In Lord of the Flies, the school boys went from order to utter chaos, with unlimited power granted to the leader. John Locke would disapprove of the manner in which the boys lived in Lord of the Flies. Locke would also disagree with the leadership on the island, believing that the boys’ natural rights were infringed upon, the government was not legitimate, and would oppose Ralph’s and Jack's’ style of ruling.
The author, William Golding uses the main characters of Ralph, Jack, and Simon in The Lord of the Flies to portray how their desire for leadership, combined with lack of compromise leads to the fall of their society. This desire for leadership and compromise led to the fall of their society just like multiple countries during times of wars.
He tries to keep a democracy, but Jack's aggressive nature does not allow it to last very long. Ralph is probably the most likable person in the book, because of his good nature and his handsome looks, "His size and attractive appearance". Ralph means "counsel" in the Anglo- Saxon language, and he's the one who calls all the meetings by blowing the conch, and he's chosen as the leader. The conch is seen as a powerful symbol, and he holds it. Ralph does not specialize in any area of human behaviour, except maybe for having common sense (building shelters, climbing the mountain to see if it is an island) and Jack can be seen as his opposite.
Lord of the Flies: Final Essay Exam. Are the defects of society traced back to the defects of human nature? The defects of society, and how it relates to the defects of human nature, can be explained with the savagery that drives the defects of society and the same savagery that drives the defects of human nature. In this story, Lord of the Flies, Golding shows the id, ego, and superego within the characters in the book. Golding represents the id with Jack, whereas the id says “I want, and I want it now,” and Jack constantly wants and needs power, and wants his way in every situation.
At the opening of the novel, Ralph and Jack get on extremely well. We are informed Jack, “shared his burden,” and there was an, “invisible light of friendship,” between the two boys. Jack changes considerably throughout this novel. At first he tells us, “I agree with Ralph we’ve got to have rules and obey them,” This shows us that at the beginning of the novel, just like Ralph, he wants to uphold a civilised society. We are also notified, “Most powerfully there was the conch.” As the conch represents democracy we can see that at the beginning of the novel the boys sustain a powerful democratic society.
Ralph is one of the few boys who realize that the only way to survive is through peace and order. Because he summons the boys at the beginning of the novel with the conch he and Piggy find, they look upon him as the most responsible of the boys and elect him as a chief over the humiliated Jack. Ralph creates a stable and peaceful society for the children to live; this significantly bothers Jack because he wants to have fun and do things that he never did back in the civilized society. Jack is eventually successful of pulling nearly all of the children out of Ralph’s control to form savages. Ralph represents the civilization, and Jack represents the primitive society.
In Chapter 8 Jack says “He’s like Piggy. He says things like Piggy. He isn’t a proper chief.” He says this because Jack thinks his point of view is the right one, and it can only be the right one. This is similar to dictatorships in the past when people believe their right and anyone who doesn’t agree is the enemy. Later in the book Jack tries to get more followers by promising them psychological needs. Jack states “We’ve killed a pig and we’ve got meat. You can come and eat with us if you like.” Jack is trying to take away any of Ralph’s remaining supporters, so that Ralph is forced to follow him when all he has left is Piggy, Samneric, and a few clueless littluns. Later in this book Ralph is on his own a few hours after Piggy dies, he is considering joining Jack’s tribe because he will have food and protection. In the forest he thinks about the thought of eating fruit, and then remembering the feast and that maybe they would let him back. After that he realizes that the hunters killed Piggy and Simon, so they would kill him
When Jack loses the election to become chief to Ralph, it becomes apparent that Jack is schismatic and wholeheartedly intends to act against Ralph’s actions and decisions. From small nuances such as churlish remarks to fights, it is obvious that Jack intends to eventually either dethrone Ralph or form his own tribe. In one instance, Ralph assigns Jack a very simplistic task of watching the fire on the mountain, yet Jack decides that his appetence for blood and meat is more important than fulfilling his duty to the fire. Disobeying Ralph’s orders, Jack defects from his post to hunt and does not attempt to have another person tend the fire in his absence. Because of Jack’s actions, Ralph verbally scolds Jack and states to Jack, “You talk. But you can’t even build hut...
Ralph shows that he has a better understanding of the boys than Jack. He knows that the boys need some sort of order on the island in order for them to survive. He starts a simple form of government and sets a few rules for them. Even though they don’t last very long, the fact that he tried to help the group is what makes him a better leader. Ralph’s wisdom and ability to look toward the future also has an advantage over Jack. He has a sense to keep his focus on getting off the island. When the fire goes out, Ralph gets upset because the chance to be rescued was gone as well. Ralph enforces his role of leadership as he gives the boys a sense of stability of an authority figure. He keeps the boys in pretty good order at the meeting by making a rule that they can only speak if they have the conch. Ralph knows that the littleuns are afraid and they need shelter to feel more secure. They work together for a while, but as the time goes on the smaller boys want to go play. They slowly lose all their help until Simon and Ralph are the only ones left to work on them. Ralph knows that this is a necessity and keeps bringing it up at the meetings. Jack, on the other hand, is doing nothing but causing chaos.
The perfect leader is hard to find because it is very hard to try to satisfy everyone all at once. In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, different needs and opinions cause several boys that are stranded on an island to have troubles with the leaders. No leader can fulfill the needs of all people. For example, Ralph, Jack, and the rest of the boys all have different ideas, needs, and traits that make them unable to do so in the book.
At the beginning of Lord of the Flies, the boys create a democratic government. As the story progresses, the initial democracy on the island is ignored, and a dictatorship rises in its place. This dictatorship fails to keep the boys in order. The author, William Golding, shows that without the institution of a strong government and set of rules people will become impulsive and seek instant gratification. In the absence of order, people tend not to become disciplined of their own accord, but rather dissolve into destructive chaos.
Thomas Hobbes believes that sovereignty should be placed in the hands of a single person who holds absolute power. He argues that this absolute sovereign will ensure the protection and common defense of all citizens and will organize civil peace. Hobbes views the natural state of man as inherently violent and is the “war of every man against every man...
Ralph is a take charge kind of guy (20-21) and I find him to be very suitable for the leadership role bestowed upon him (22). Ralph applies logical thinking to situation to try and keep all the boys on the island alive. He thinks about the necessities for survival, just like any good leader. “‘So you see,’ said Ralph ’we need hunters to get us meat’” (33). One very admirable thing about Ralph is how he tries to be a peacemaker with the other boys and make sure everyone is pleased, to a certain extent. “Even the choir applauded; and the freckles on Jack’s face disappeared, under a blush of mortification… ‘The choir belongs to Jack of course’” (23) Throughout the book, we see Ralph trying to resist temptations on the island. Ralph also keeps everyone on the island on task, when he is in charge, and makes sure they have everything they need to survive. “Stay here? And be cramped into this bit of island, always on the lookout? How should we get our food? And what about the fire?” (101). As the story goes on, not only do we see Ralph lose his cool and go dark at times, but, we see him getting very attached to his power. “Something deep in Ralph spoke for him, ‘I’m the chief. I’ll go. Don’t argue!’” (104). As the novel progresses, we are able to see Ralph slowly drifting away from his previous good and civil state and into a darker realm of his mind. While it is obvious Ralph would like to
Under Jack's rule, the boys become uncivilized savages. They have no discipline. Ralph, however, keeps the boys under order through the meetings which he holds. At these meetings a sense of order is instilled because the boys have to wait until they hold the conch to speak. When Ralph says, "I'll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he's speaking." (Golding 36) he enforces his role of leader by making rules and gives the boys the stability of an authority figure, mainly himself. By doing this he wins the boys respect and confidence in his leadership abilities. Ralph uses his authority to try to improve the boys' society. By building shelters he demonstrates his knowledge of the boys' needs. When he says to Jack, "They talk and scream. The littluns.