Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures in Lord of the Flies by William Golding

In most societies, adults play a lead role in maintaining civilization. In William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, there is no adult guidance which drives the children to spiral out of control. No authority means there are no consequences for bad behavior; therefore the children were not afraid of getting in trouble for the things that they were doing. When fear of “The Beast” takes over the island, it begins to possess the boys and motivates them to do whatever they need to feel empowered and accepted. The boys’ fear of a higher power and lack of adult supervision urges them to kill two of the smartest and most innocent children on the island in search of respect from the other boys. In order to remain alive on the island the boys must compete for their lives. The innocent are bullied, and do not survive. The savagery that Golding presents his readers with in Lord of the Flies is still present in modern day society. Children lacking parental guidance tend to act out of their normal human nature as seen in Golding’s Lord of the Flies and, the Columbine Shootings.
Children who are under the influence of parental guidance tend to have better behavior and can distinguish between right and wrong. “Children placed in situations lacking parental guidance are six times as likely than those with parental guidance to have a high level of overall difficulties including, emotional issues, conduct disorders, and peer problems” (McGuire 2014). Children do not have to worry about the weight of responsibility because their parents take on that responsibility for them. Kids brought up in normal, loving environments behave in a more civilized manner and exhibit better etiquette than those who are placed in negative, harsh environments such as...

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...mpared to the actions that Eric and Dylan take are completely opposite. However, they share the characteristic of savagery that exists not only in literature, but in modern day society as well.
Goldings Lord of the Flies, and the Columbine Shootings, are both notorious examples of endurance under severe circumstances. In Lord of the Flies and the Columbine Shootings the characters all descend into savagery in hopes of gaining power and feeling the evil sensation of barbarianism. In both of the stories, guidance and environment play a major role in the decision making process. Some of the actions portrayed positivity while others portrayed negativity. The results of all the events, however, are quite different. Although all of the stories take place during different times and places there is still one gruesome similarity, which is, the human decent towards savagery.