Lord Of The Flies Argumentative Essay

The Lord of the Flies is a story about a group of boys who were stranded on an island. Without any adults around to guide them, they have to overcome many trials in order to survive. It is a story about friendship, loyalty, leadership, diversity, and dominance. It depicts the struggles of young, adolescent boys having to go from being friends and enjoying the idea of not having any grownups around to enforce rules and make decisions, to the realization that in order for them to survive they must elect a leader and assign responsibilities . The question is posed that if girls were introduced into the story, how would it have been different, and would it have made things better or worse. I believe it would have been a bit of both.
If

there were girls and boys on the island together, there would be a completely different dynamic. Girls would have brought a more nurturing and compassionate side to the group. As well as they would have become the caretakers for the younger children instead of leaving them behind. The chaos would have been greater at times due to basic gender ideals. For girls, the need for one leader, having a final say, would not have been as important as a majority rules vote. I believe that girls would have been instrumental in organizing jobs suited to each person's strengths much sooner; however, this may cause resentment from the alpha males of the group who would view being in charge as their duty. This would have lead to greater disputes and even greater power struggles over what is best for the group as a whole.
Jealousy and sexual tension would have been the greatest obstacle for them to overcome. The addition of girls would have given yet another reason for conflict. In order for them to survive, they would have had to come together and form an alliance between genders, and given their age, this would have been a difficult thing to do. Typically, this is the age where girls stick with girls, and boys with boys. This probably would have lead to even more violence and a greater separation of the groups. Smaller cliques would have been inevitable to lessen the arguments and would have lead to failure to succeed.
In the end, the elders of the groups would have realized that the greatest chance for their rescue would be to come together as a type of family, everyone working together. The original idea of having one person in charge, making the final decisions, would have to now be implemented. There would be moments where their unfortunate circumstances would have been greatly improved with the addition of girls, especially in the areas of compassion and understanding. Though, the story would have taken on a new dimension of socialism and equality, I believe that the author's overall intention would have remained the same. The principles of order and chaos, friend and foe, loyalty and dishonor would continue to be the theme.