Power In Lord Of The Flies

Power is very dangerous, as shown in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. The novel explores the use of power in both the hands of good and evil and for success and for failure. Also, how some characters respond to having power. An examination of William Golding’s LOTF will show how fear is powerful and how the characters use that to their advantage. Also, the power shifts between the characters and the aftermath of that.

Fear is very powerful and dangerous. Some characters use fear to gain authority over the littluns, so they do as they wish. Jack and Roger, use this method more than anyone else. Roger uses the power the fear holds to his advantage. He makes the littluns fear what he is capable of, so they will follow his order. He makes

it known that he is not afraid to hurt others. Roger has “stooped, picked up a stone, aimed, and threw it at Henry--threw it to miss” (#) to make the littluns, specifically Henry, think he would hurt them if need be. This causes fear within the littluns, and makes them more likely to do as Roger pleases. Similar to Roger, Jack uses the power that fear holds to establish authority over the others. He would speak with arrogance and would make the others feel as though their opinions didn’t matter. When others are speaking, he says “‘who cares what you think”’(90) to make them feel like it does not matter what they think

and that they are less than Jack. This establishes a fear to speak within them. Now when Jack speaks, the littluns will follow what he says because they are afraid to say their opinion. Jack makes the others fearful to speak to gain authority and get his way. Overall, the power that fear holds is extremely dangerous and powerful, and Roger and Jack both use the power that fear holds to their advantage to get as they wish throughout the novel.
As a result of some of the boys using fear and the power that it holds, it causes a power shifts happen. There are incidents where the power shifts between Ralph and Jack. The two fight for the power throughout the novel. From the start, most characters wanted Ralph
as chief. The littluns automatically looked to Ralph as a leader, as a person with authority because he is the one with ‘“the trumpet-thing”’(22). In addition, he is the oldest and the most
attractive out of the littluns, so they naturally look to him as an authority figure.

On the other hand, Jack believes that he should be chief “‘because I'm chapter chorister and head boy. I can sing C sharp.’’’(22). However, everyone naturally gravitates to Ralph as a leader over Jack because of his appearance and age. As the novel progresses, the littluns gravitate more to Jack. His philosophy is that hunting and having fun is more important than being safe and getting rescued. The littluns appeal more to his philosophy as novel progresses, because of this, they end up joining Jack’s side. This is the major power shift that happens. From here, Jack continues to have power over the littluns and keeps it until the end of the book. However, as the novel reaches an end, it appears that Roger would usurp Jack if they stay on the island. In conclusion, there

are
important power shifts between Jack and Ralph and they were a huge contribution to the theme (power) of LOTF.

All in all, the examination of power in Golding’s LOTF does show how fear is powerful and how the characters use that to their advantage. Also, the power shifts between the characters and the aftermath. Golding’s novel shows the power in many different ways. In both good ways and bad ways. For success and for failure. From beginning to end, it is a prominent theme throughout the novel and shows how power is a very dangerous when in the wrong

hands.