Knowledge Is Power

"Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less" (Marie Curie). Fear is a powerful emotion that can overtake logic, reason, and all sense of coherence, which brings the question: why do we fear things? Perhaps if we held a true understanding of the world and possessed concrete knowledge, we would not fear. The story of Lord of the Flies by William Golding presents children abruptly pushed into an unstructured environment of uncertainty. Golding symbolically illustrates through the characters of Piggy, Simon, and Jack, that knowledge can provide the power to either create or decimate the foundation for a civilized world.

The first character, Piggy, symbolically represents misunderstood knowledge which is made apparent by the lack of respect and appreciation for his intelligence and actual wisdom. The lack of respect stems primarily from his lack of powerful physique and attractive appearance; he is described as being overweight, having asthma, and wearing glasses. His true name is in fact never inquired about; the introduction of his nickname resulted out of cruel curiosity and insincerity. In the first encounter with Piggy, he emphasizes to Ralph that any name is adequate "so long as they don't call me what they used to call me at school." It is then that Ralph becomes truly curious and Piggy confides, "they used to call me Piggy." (Golding 7). Ralph finds hilarity at the revelation of the degrading nickname, thus beginning the belittling and degrading of Piggy - disregarding his potential to spread his profound intelligence. Lacking wisdom and knowledge, the children limit Piggy's power and build their civilization on a state of ignorance towards thing...

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...k’s voracious quest for power would never have come to fruition without knowledge of what precisely he could take advantage of. His only conquest was to destroy the civilization and democracy that would never put his tyrannous self into power.

The novel Lord of the Flies tragically illustrates the ardent warning against ignorance while living in a civilization or controlling one as well as how the possession of knowledge can be used against or for civilization. Jack has the knowledge to control and take advantage of uncertainties within the boys, but Simon and Piggy have the knowledge to deal with the fear or lies and thus grant themselves the means to resist blind indoctrination. Without knowledge, mankind as a whole will be drawn into acts of blind following, which will allow the power to be handled by the more knowledgeable puppet masters. Knowledge is power.