Outline For Lord Of The Flies

Adolf Hitler. Alexander III of Macedon. Julius Caesar. These men were all leaders of great and powerful nations that crumbled due to them continuously craving more power and composing devastating decisions. The book, Lord of the Flies, begins with Ralph and Piggy waking up on an island after a devastating plane crash. The pilot is dead, but there are other boys that survived the crash with them. Ralph gathers them all together by blowing into the conch shell that he and Piggy found on the beach. All the boys must then figure out a way to survive and get off the isle before they die or the rest of civilization forgets about them. Societies fall due to flaws in their system which are caused by the bullying and poor decisions that tear down that

government from the inside out. Different ways these flaws can happen are: with two leaders that both want power, straight up bullying people in that group, and by making small separate groups that would work better together.
This strange community that Jack and Ralph crumbled because the two of them were both the leaders, and they could never work together. Ordinarily a two leader form of government could and would work, but since Ralph was elected chief, Jack thought that he had stolen his power so after that Jack utterly despises every aspect of Ralph. “Ralph raised a hand for silence. ‘All right. Who wants Jack for chief?’ With dreary obedience the choir raised their hands. ‘Who wants me?’ Every hand outside the coir except Piggy’s was raised immediately. Then Piggy, too, raised his hand grudgingly into the air. Ralph counted. ‘I’m chief then.’ The circle of boys broke into applause. Even the choir applauded; the freckles on Jack’s face disappeared under a blush of mortification. He started up, then changed his mind and sat down again while the air rang,” (Golding 22-23). Jack seems to be very frustrated with Ralph after he was not get elected chief of the boys, but he keeps his cool and does not do a move that would be considered arrogant and unwise. Even though Ralph got the position of chief, he still offered Jack the choir as a sort of army because he was being kind-hearted; “Ralph looked at him, eager to offer something. ‘The choir belongs to you, of course.’ ‘They could be the army -- or hunters,’” (Golding 23). Ralph tried to be nice to Jack by giving him control of the choir to act as a peace offering between the two boys, but Jack still only had one wish, to be in control of everybody that was on that island with him.
At the start, all of the boys on the isle, including Jack and Ralph, make fun of Piggy because of his weight, name, and glasses. Ralph teases and yells at Piggy for not being able to swim because of his asthma; “‘I can't swim. I wasn't allowed. My asthma--’ ‘Sucks to your ass-mar,’” (Golding 13). Later on , Ralph begins to realize that Piggy has feelings and is just trying to survive like the rest of the boys, so he starts to quit teasing and making fun of him. On the other hand, later on in the book Ralph cares more about Piggy and makes sure that he is alright after an attack from Jack; “ ‘So did I. How’s Piggy?’ They hauled Piggy clear of the wreckage and leaned him against a tree. The night was cool and purged of immediate terror. Piggy's breathing was a little easier. ‘Did you get hurt Piggy,’“ (Golding 167). Ralph really does care about Piggy at the end because he was always there for Ralph when it all went downhill, and Piggy never left his side no matter what happened. Ralph has a soft heart for Piggy; however, Jack is the complete opposite because Piggy infuriates him. Jack continues to make Piggy feel horrible throughout the entire book by calling him fat and teasing him about his glasses: “‘You’re no good on a job like this. We don't want you,’ said Jack, flatly. ‘Three’s enough,’“ (Golding 24). “Piggy began again. ‘You didn't ought to have let that fire out. You said you'd keep the smoke going--’ This from Piggy drove Jack to violence. He took a step, and able at last to hit someone, stuck his fist into Piggy’s stomach. Piggy sat down with a grunt. Jack stood over him. His voice was vicious with humiliation. ‘You would, would you? Fatty!’ Ralph made a step forward and Jack smacked Piggy’s head. Piggy’s glasses flew off and tinkled on the rocks,” (Golding 71). Jack despises Piggy because even though both Piggy and Ralph talk back to Jack and say he is wrong, Piggy is also overweight and easily made fun of so Jack can retaliate easier by beating him up and bullying him. Even if only one of many leaders wants more power so he resorts to bullying people to get it, that society has an extraordinary high chance of failing and being annihilated.
A smaller group may be able to strongly do one specific task such as hunt for meat in Lord of The Flies, but that same group will suffer in all other survival categories like shelter and fire.

Multiple small groups on the other hand can work simultaneously so they do not lack in any of those aspects of survival. This is the case in the book where Ralph’s tribe is separated from Jack’s and they both suffer in one aspect. Jack doesn't have a way to make or keep a fire, so he has to obtain it in some other manner: “‘We’ll take the meat along the beach. I'll go back to the platform and invite them to a feast. That should give us time.’ Roger spoke. ‘Chief--, How can we make a fire?’ Jack squatted and frowned at the pig. ‘We’ll raid them and take fire,’” (Golding 136). Jack knows that they are unable to make fire, but instead of doing the logical thing of working together, he decided to rob them instead. Ralph tries to convince his tribe that he is still the better leader and that they can get meat themselves because Jack is having a feast and invited all the boys on the island to it: “‘That must be fun like Bill says--and he's invited us--’ ‘--to a feast--’ ‘--meat--’ ‘--crackling--’ ‘--I could do with some meat--’ ‘Ralph held up his hand. ‘Why shouldn't we get our own meat?’ The twins looked at each other. Bill answered. ‘We don't want to go in the jungle.’ Ralph grimaced. ‘He--you know--goes.’ ‘He’s a hunter. They’re all hunters. That’s different,’” (Golding 142). Ralph may try to convince Jack that the two of them should work together again so they can guarantee survival on the isle, but Jack would ignore him and just take control of everybody. Since they both have a flaw, Jack with fire and Ralph with food, once one of the tribes falls, the other will also because they are dependent on one another since they steal food and fire. If they would work together, Jack would be in charge of hunting and gathering food for all the boys, and Ralph would control the

shelters, most other boys, and keeping the fire lit because it would be on the beach. That system would work, but it seems as if Jack and Ralph would rather quarrel than get off of the island alive.
This society of boys started as a strong government type system but then catastrophically fell due to multiple reasons: there were multiple leaders who all wished to have all power, bullying and sacrificing the intelligent people, and by separating a large community into several smaller and less effective groups. With multiple leaders in charge one civilization, the wish for power intensifies because control will never be split evenly and at least one leader will get jealous of another’s power. A single bully can tear a group of people apart because all others will retaliate against the single bully who is usually the person in charge and then all power and control will be forever lost. A larger group of people may be more of a challenge to keep control of, but it will be worth the hassle because with more boys equals moe hunters and builders which also means more food and better shelters to live in. Bullying may not seem like a very important issue to most people because they think it dissipates after people get out of school. The truth is there are bullies every place you look and they will tear apart societies and nations because they crave to be more powerful or because they may just hate that person for some reason. Overall, bullying is a very real issue that needs to be dealt with because it is getting out of hand in schools today.