Democracy and Dictatorship in Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Lord of the flies is not just a story about boys trapped on an island; it is a story about power struggle over democracy and dictatorship in societies. They are many objects used in the novel to show dictatorship and democracy. Also, they are many situations between characters in the novel to show the power struggles between the two ideologies. Between the power struggle, characters also use these objects to control emotions and people’s decisions in the novel. People and societies give away too much power to objects and let them control their lives.

The conch shell was an object that Ralph found in the lagoon and was used to call assemblies. The sow’s head is a pig’s head that was chopped off and put on to a stick for the "beast". The conch is a symbol of the powers involved with civilized leadership. In the beginning of the Lord of the Flies, the boys valued the conch and the rules that came with it. The conch serves as an object that represents the sense of public law and power.

When the conch broke in the Lord of the Flies, it manifests the collapsing of order and civilization by savagery on the island. The sow’s head is a symbol of savagery, evil and authoritarian government. The power that the sow’s head has is fear and threats. These are two things that the character Jack used to control the other boys. It is also is known as the‘Lord of the Flies”, it is a manifestation inside the character Simon’s head. It serves as a push to get Simon to reveal the truths to the other boys.

Lord of the Flies is a novel about power. This is because of the conflict between Ralph and Jack for leadership of the boys. Ralph symbolizes civilization and democracy. Jack symbolizes savagery and dictatorship. For instance, in the begin...

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...ess the power of the fire, so he and his group of boy raid Ralph’s group to take Piggy’s glasses, which makes fire. The last symbol of power is sow's head. The sow's head was used by Jack to control the other boys. Jack tells the others, they need to leave a gift such as the pig head which will appease the beast and keep them safe but there is no truth to this claim however, the boys want to believe this, so it works just like a pleusbuo.

Any character or person are capable of letting things over power them. Objects such as; the conch shell, and the sow’s head symbolizes how characters control the group. The character’s emotions and actions demonstrate the power struggle of the two ideals in the groups. All the character’s fears gave the symbolized objects power to control them. Even though, they are powers struggles; each side are just as capable of being evil.