Related Community Lord Of The Flies Analysis

Trevor Harmon
Ms. Walsh
English, Period 3
October 17, 2016
Simulated Community
When Lord of the Flies was released in 1954, Golding described his point of publishing the book was to show “what a man does defiles him, not what is done by others”. Throughout the novel it is clear that Ralph and Jack have polar opposite ways to govern the boys. The boys elect Ralph as leader in Chapter 1, ‘elect’ being the important word. He decides a democracy is best, where all the boys share obligations and responsibilities. Ralph as the moderator of all the boys, would decide the rules and what can and cannot be done on the island. He knows how to get everything done on the island. Ralph even assigns Jack as head of the hunter, similar to a military leader.

Piggy and Simon are used for their ideas and developing a more substantial life on the island.

Jack uses fear and greed to scare the boys. He has no care for being rescued or getting off the island. Bribery is even used when he promised the boys meat and to kill the Beast. Jack is a dictator because he can’t be argued against and has complete control over the boys. He holds all the power in his dictatorship. Ralph makes a great attempt to prove the boys that rationality is what is needed for a good leader, but desires prevail over necessities. Jack overwhelms Ralph’s regime with his persuasion. Ralph represents the good in society, what is needed to have a functioning community. Jack illustrates the outlaws and people who disobey the law. In the end, craving to kill takes control over the boys, creating a beast within them all. Ralph in The Lord of the Flies makes unsuccessful efforts to improve island life because attempting to make a utopia out of a mock

version of society ends up questioning the boy’s morals and destroying the island.
Ralph makes failing efforts to create a utopia of a fake society because many boys disagree with the rules Ralph has set up for the island.

Ralph is elected leader as he calls the boys on the island with the conch. Immediately, it is clear that Ralph and Jack do not get along. Jack has his own group of boys, the choir. The two boys even argue who should be leader. Tension arises as Ralph is elected leader. Ralph has an exact idea of what the boys should do doing on the island. There is to be a constant fire, water in coconut shells, shelter builders and hunters. The only issue is no one is following the rules Ralph as constituted, destroying Ralphs democracy idea. Ralph conjured a meeting to discuss inefficiency on the island. Jack suddenly questioned how the leader was controlling the boys, why is there to be rules? This is when Ralph lost it, “Ralph summoned his wits. ‘Because rules are the only thing we’ve got’” (91). Ralph and Jack have extremely different personalities and ways of ruling over the boys. Ralph listens to everyone in meeting, and takes everything into consideration. He even uses Piggy and Simon for reason and support during meetings. Ralph treats each boy with respect. Even though he told everyone the fat boy’s name was Piggy, he was truly sorry for what he did. Jack, on the other side, is violent and uses intimidation to scare the boys. He thinks his ideas are the best, and values no other opinions. Nothing is up for consideration when Jack is leader of

the hunters. Also, Jack is very byas. He prefers Simon and Roger over Ralph and Piggy. He assigns these people to go hunt, form a new group, and go adventuring with him. Something else to notice is how the boys control each other. Ralph prefers to have meetings and have a set time where people can share opinions and suggestions. The civilized meetings are limited by the conch because one can only talk while holding the conch. Talking out of place shows rudeness and disrespect toward another. Ralph also appeals as he wants to give jobs to different boys based on their individual skill. Jack uses his barbaric and aggressive ways to scare the boys. At one point, Samneric claim that Jack will beat the boys if they disregard his rules. He also ends up cornering Ralph by setting fire to the brush he was in because Ralph was in an opposing group than Jack. Ralph needs rules in order to create a suitable island life for him and the rest of the boys. However, Jack decides rules are useless and influences mnany boys to stop working and following the rules. Jack’s only goals are to hunt and kill. Ralph represents the laws that are needed for a functioning society and Jack represents the lawbreakers and people that destroy the government.

Ralph makes short lived efforts to create a utopia of a fake society because no one does their responsibilities, making Ralph’s leadership skills look bad. Ralphs point in making a democracy was to make jobs. He had assigned Samneric to keep watch of the fire and make sure it is always burning in case a bypasser saw the smoke. Jack is leader of everyone that wants to hunt. Simon and Piggy are used as moral support and for their ideas. Ralphs only concern was getting off the island and keeping the fire going. He had no interest in hunting or having fun, until everything they needed to do was done. Ralph boasted in order to comfort everyone, “‘My father’s in the Navy. He said there aren’t any unknown islands left. He says the Queen has a big room full of maps and all the islands in the world are drawn there. So the Queen’s got a picture of this island’” (37). Ralph’s optimism and hope for being rescued quickly keeps the boys busy and not worried about the island. Ralph claims that his dad will soon be there to rescue them, which makes the boys not want to work. Why work when a savior will soon be here? This keeps the buys away from doing their jobs, but in the end, it is a setback. This foreshadows the boys dependence on adults, and how experience has a huge impact on the way people act. How Ralph asserts his dominance is by telling the other boys about his father and how his father has taught him skills for the outdoors and survival. The boys are starting to get frustrated because there have been little to no signs of rescue, and when there is an opportunity, it isn’t utilized correctly. If each boy did their job, smoke might cause a plane or passing ship to go out of their way to seek the boys out on the island. Ralphs reasons for saying this make the boys feel more obligated to do their jobs, and more enticing. Knowing a Navy Seal is out to find the boys makes the boys realize they should have a little bit of fun before being brought back to safety. Making himself a more qualified leader proves his dominance over Jack, but in the end, Jack wins the boys over. Unfortunately, the boys did this to themselves. If they had done everything they needed to do from the start, there would be no hurt feelings over Ralph’s dad not being there soon enough. Ralph comforts the boys by telling them his dad is seeking them out, but each boy isn’t pulling their weight, making it seem like they will never get off the island.

Ralph makes worthless efforts to create a utopia of a fake society because Jack breaks off of the group, forming his own little group, opposing Ralph. Jack influences many kids from Ralphs group by promising meat. Meat is hugely important to the boys because fruit is the only thing most of them have been eating. This appeals to the boys because who wants to keep a fire ongoing and build shelters when meat will be provided in return for protecting the camp. The fact that Jack has to go to the point of bribery to get boys to join him shows what kind of person he is. He is a cold blooded killer. During a feast, Piggy and Jack had an interaction, “‘ [Piggy] I don’t agree with all Jack said, but with some. ‘Course there isn’t a beast in the forest. How could there be? What would a beast eat?’ ‘[Jack] Pig.’ ‘[Piggy] We eat pig.’ ‘[Jack] Piggy’” (83). Golding reveals Jack, Ralph, Simon, and the rest of the tribe with character actions and personality. The act of Jack leaving Ralph’s democracy and forming his own group that kill Simon and Piggy shows there is evil within everyone. Throughout the novel, their real fear is themselves. The boys are their own beast. When Jack fires at Piggy that the beast would eat Piggy, it foreshadows the death of Piggy later on in the story. The boys all succumb to evil as everyone participates in the killing of Simon. Also, Simon’s death was ignored by Ralph and Samneric. They all lied about leaving early or not rushing to Simon and killing him. Ralph and Samneric were stunned and is disbelief of what they did, so they blew it off. This shows that everyone is capable and has the capacity to do evil. Jack is successful as a leader because he realizes the boys want meat. He provides the boy’s meat, but it also unleashed their violent abilities. Eventually, the violence turns into a motivator, in which they need to kill. The fall of Ralph’s dynasty begins as Jack leaves the group with other big kids, and recruits other boys by promising their desires to become a reality on the island.

In summary, Ralph’s perfect vision of how the boys should go around on the island is destroyed by the boy’s innate desire for evil. Evil is anything that is profoundly immoral or malevolent. Eric Burdon once remarked, “Inside each of us, there is the seed of both good and evil. It’s a constant struggle as to which one will win. And one cannot exist without the other.” There has to be a balance of good and evil, and each person has to learn how to control both of them. Ralph’s democracy crashes and burns as the boys disregard the rules. In civilization rules are needed. Rules are there to provide fairness and safety. If rules are not followed, there is a punishment. In Ralph’s democracy, there is no punishment. Nothing to fear allowed the boys to do whatever they wanted to do, making Ralph’s ruling ineffective. With no one doing their jobs, it seems as if the boys have gone nowhere fast on the island. If nothing is done, there is no reward. The boys expected to be rescued by Ralph’s dad, but because they were so focused on the fact they would be rescued, the necessities were forgotten. Also, since Ralph didn’t force the boys to work, no one did. The final mark of Ralph’s dominance is when Jack forms his own group. The boys view hunting for meat and killing more important than producing smoke as a bee makes honey. Jack taps into the boy's’ desires and wins them over. William Golding’s view on mankind drastically changed over the course of World War II. He discovered the evils of men and how evil can’t be avoided. He was pessimistic after coming home from the war, and demonstrated his point well throughout the novel. Schoolboys stranded on an island shows that savagery and evil is can occur anywhere, and it is everywhere. Could the failure in Ralph's community be a foreshadowing of the fall ours as well? Evil is a temptation within us all, and however it is controlled defines each person's will and morals.