Thomas Hobbes In William Golding's Lord Of The Flies

In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, several boys ranging from age 6-12 are stranded on a tropical island in the Pacific Ocean. Everything seems to be set in favor of the kids, as the weather is nice and the island seems to provide food and water sources for them to take advantage of. Aside from Piggy’s asthma, everyone was in good health as well. Since there was no sign of civilization anywhere on the island, the boys’ first instinct was to get together and form a government system. This is a very Locke-esque way of thinking. However, this mindset does not stick for very long, as the paradise vision of the island quickly becomes a dark and cruel place for the boys to have to live in. As the days go by, more events that set up opportunities for a more Hobbes way of thinking occur. Piggy, Jack, and Ralph all show distinct characteristics based off of Thomas Hobbes’ theories throughout the novel.

Piggy portrays only a few qualities similar to the beliefs of Thomas Hobbes, yet they all reveal themselves towards the end of the novel as times are getting tense. Hobbes believed that mankind was inherently against authority and that if they felt necessary, they would overthrow it. Though Piggy had the conch that should have given him the power to speak, no one would listen to

In one instance, while the boys were holding a meeting, Jack talks over everyone even though he did not have the conch. The narrator states that, "Jack was the first to make himself heard. He had not got the conch and thus spoke against the rules" (Golding 87). In this scenario, he should not have spoken aloud until he got the conch, but the Hobbes side influenced him to do otherwise. Hobbes would have predicted someone to take control and be a single dominant speaker, completely bypassing the rules of the conch. This is exactly the action Jack chose to portray in the