Desire For Power In Lord Of The Flies

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Lord of the Flies is a book about a group of young British boys being stranded on an island, and attempting to overcome adversity. In this book there are many symbols, themes, and other literary elements. The desire for power will create problems between the characters, and lead to violence. Throughout the story, the boys realize that the "beast" that is in the dark isn't a physical being, it is the evil inside them.
Symbolism and foreshadowing are major literary devices used in Lord of the Flies. When the boys first crashed on the island, Ralph is elected the leader, (Thapliyal, Rohitash and Kuntar, Shakuntala) and symbolizes the dictator. Ralph tells the boys what to do, and organizes them into groups depending on what task they …show more content…

When the boys crash on the island, they set up rules and tasks for everyone. Jack is elected the leader of the hunters, while Ralph is leader of everyone else. Throughout the book there is a constant struggle for power between the boys. Jack is obsessed with power, and does whatever it takes to get it.(Thapliyal, Rohitash and Kuntar, Shakuntala) Jack's desire for power leads to the murder of animals, and later the murder of Simon. The hunters, and even Ralph get excited about the killing of the pig. They would dance around the pig's head in a ritualistic way. They all participated in this until the murder of Simon, which gives Ralph a snap back to reality. Ralph tries to get everything back to normal, but it is too late. Jack and the hunters are too far gone and too evil to be brought back to normal civilization. Another theme in this book is that without consequence or authority, there will be violence. Jack and the hunters destroyed the island by setting it on fire, and murdered innocent animals and boys. There were no consequences or punishments for these actions, so it made it seem like it was okay to do. They were to indulged in violence and destruction that they don’t realize what they are doing.
When the boys had their first encounter with the "beast", they were terrified and thought a huge monster was in the forest trying to capture them. Every night, the little boys saw monsters on the island. The boys decided

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