Blind Obedience In Lord Of The Flies Quote Analysis

Ignorantia est Causa Timoris

1961, Stanley Milgram conducts an experiment on participating adult males utilizing the power of authority and electric shocks to examine two common underlying principles in humanity: blind obedience to authority and the fear of the repercussions of contravening. Similar to the focus of this study, the dreading of consequences and trusting higher authority are the basis of the plot in The Lord of the Flies, where William Golding depicts a large group of boys (aged twelve and under) stranded on a desolate island that are left to configure their own law and order. The essence of this novel is clear; the blind trust of authority in societal situations, which will tarnish the conditions of a person’s life, and the

fear of disobeying the authority, that will eliminate the ability to function in a healthy way, it are two issues prominent in society. Within just about a year, at least three boys have died, multiple were tortured, and one was hunted by the rest, all because the adolescents got mixed up in the chaos that erupted from the power and primal fear. These concepts compose the message of the story, and connect well to humanity itself.
The boys on the island were terrified of beasts, starvation, and becoming someone they did not recognize; the fear prohibited them from thinking about how to avoid these circumstances.

Golding teaches the reader that when dictatorial authority is created, the fear of going against it is much stronger than the need to speak one’s mind. The children, being starving, begin to kill pigs as a group; the hunting scenes in the novel are quite brutal and create fear for the reader and hunters alike. During a moment where a group of children are searching for a wild pig in the forest, the hunters begin gathering around character Roger. A few begin to poke fun at him, and the rest follow their lead; they drive their spears at his direction and chant “Kill the pig! Cut his throat!” (Golding 114), which of course scares many of the hunters and Roger. They are no longer consciously making decisions; their personalities have been altered by their fear and impulse to follow the leader. What must be months into their life on the island, they have learned to make fires and where to camp; tensions have risen between two sides of the surviving boys, and their fears of dying become all too intense. When a storm is upon the group and they are all uneasy, Jack instructs the boys to “Do our dance! Come on! Dance!” (Golding 151), and because they fear the consequences, they did as he commanded. In simple words, The Lord of the Flies is teaching us that when there is a leader and a mob to follow,

the mob will trust what their leader has to say no matter what.
This theme is rather fair in the sense that humans typically give into their deep fears because they want to stay safe. Perhaps mankind can control these conditions as much as consciously possible, but it is wired into the brain to obey certain feelings. When an outcome is foreseen as not favorable, avoiding it at most or all costs appears to be the primary option. Speaking about issues that impact and reflect one’s emotions and mentality can be near impossible to accomplish due to the dread of reactions of the ones the truth impacts. Anxiety of public speaking, or glossophobia, impacts roughly 75% of the population worldwide and prohibits the transferring of honest points of view, all due to how the audience will judge what the speaker says. As studied by Ron Jones (teacher of classroom experiment The Third Wave), some knowledgeable and concerned German citizens during the time of the Holocaust had taken no action against the genocide and persecution occurring around them, perhaps because they did not want to be targeted next.
When Shakti Gawain, author of novels such as Living in the Light, expressed “When we consistently suppress and distrust our intuitive knowingness, looking instead for authority, validation, and approval from others, we give our personal power away” (Living in the Light 116), she captured the concept of the compliance to authority relative in The Lord of the Flies. This action of ‘giving away our personal power’ so to say connects to the fear factor, as the boys had overwhelming concerns with being harmed or even killed for arguing that an action was not right. The boys of the island, who were from England and had not too long ago lived in a regular society with rules, had dropped their morals they knew to be true and gave their power to Jack or Ralph. In the novel, Jack had found his way to power and the younger children had trusted him one hundred percent. To a point, authority and rules are needed to keep order, but when it stretches to the extent the boys reached, where the followers no longer question morality, that is when chaos arises. The boys reached the point of where Jack could command ‘jump’ and they would ask ‘how high?’ because they trusted his choices without reason. In chapter twelve, the reader has the event of the children at Jack’s will are sharpening spears and preparing for the hunt of another’s life (character Ralph) as they were told to do by a leaderhead. Shirley Jackson, author of The Lottery, depicts a tale of citizens who annually participate in the organized stoning of another citizen picked at random, which has the same principle; the citizens knew no different from the death lottery, and they went along with its rules. The principle addressed in both works depicts the real world, and I believe both authors successfully attempted to show that. Golding teaches us that fear drives our actions, first and foremost; when fear is all you have, it can be the strongest foundation for poor choices.
The aspect of following authority and blind trust are fairly prominent in society and is rather true. Since parents are the primary source of knowledge to toddlers, they often will follow as they do in aspects of opinions, ways of life, and conduct. As schooling and teachers are implemented into their life, children and preadolescents will also begin to trust and follow their educators. Teenagers and some adults may even take the advice from celebrities and political leaders. If that trust is really there in the relationship, there may be no end to what a person will do for those they respect, right or wrong. If a pupil had no inclination that they were in an experiment, they would most likely follow the rules and instructions given from a teacher because the behaviors would most likely not seem too abstract. The difference between trusting a leader and being a drone to their regime is simple: the thought process of the follower; if the subject considers if the actions are in the right or wrong and choose to obey or not, it is just following instructions but if the subject automatically adheres to the conditions and consider them to be factual, it is more of a toxic, submissive scenario.
Allowing these concepts to be highlighted in popular written pieces enhances the comprehension of what truly drives a society in terms of chaotic events.

The aspects The Lord of the Flies and other works place forward are truly insightful for how one should deal with themselves in situations of distress. Being knowledgeable about what dictatorial control may appear to be and the effects it can have on those underneath it can truly make the difference between a person being an free-thinking, compliant individual and a semi-literal pseudo-nazi in an anti-anarchist regime (e.g. the students in The Third Wave or citizens of Germany during the World War Two era). Perhaps there are no born leaders, but there are those who are powerful enough and more insightful to develop into the position. The blind trust of authority is way more powerful than getting one’s feelings hurt; it is breaking the moral grounds once established and plastering new ones in, almost becoming a new human being. Some say the root of every emotion and action is fear, irrational or not, and that is correct in the children of the island’s case. The two key factors are important because having knowledge on how poorly-treated leadership can have on the axioms of those who follow him is truly monumental to surviving in society. The main lessons that can be taken out of this are: placing faith in unworthy power and the effect fear has on actions and morality; these should most certainly be taken into consideration

for life and how the human race as a whole needs to practice the implementation of courage and individuality into our souls.