Lord Of The Flies :: essays research papers

Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a novel that represents society and it’s components in a tale about a children stranded on an island. Of the group there are two who want to lead the boys for the duration of their stay, one of which is Jack Merridew. Although he doesn’t have any power at the beginning of the novel, he took every chance he had to try to take the position of chief which he eventually got. He ruled with an iron fist, allowing no one to question him or his leadership. Jack represented the wanting for a single, all powerful leader to guide the followers of society using any means he feels necessary. Golding grew up during a time when he was taught to believe that man was good at heart. Books like Tarzan, and Coral island showed him that it was indeed society that was evil and that man was good at heart. These views were demonstrated in some of his earlier writing, but that changed after his experiences in the war. After Golding returned from WWII, he had a different view on man. He saw a lot of action and destruction during his time with the navy, and this influenced his beliefs on man quite drastically. The mass destruction and killing pushed him to think that man can be evil, selfish and power hungry. Jack spawned out of these beliefs. Jack was a very power hungry young boy. He liked to be in command of things and when he wasn’t, he tried to put himself into that position. This desire for power was shown throughout the novel, as was the fact that he loved attention that accompanied it. He loved to be the centre of attention and would do anything to boost himself above other people. To make him more evil, he was not able to conceal any of these characteristics, he had to let them loose. Upon the arrival of the boys to the island Jack was put in the middle of a power struggle. Although the conflict was brief, there was still a very obvious confrontation between Jack and Ralph. Once the boys had assembled themselves there was an election to see who was to be chief. Dispite the fact that Ralph was voted leader, the wanting to be in command never left Jack, not for a minute. He already had some leadership skills, being head choir boy at his old school, and felt that he should be leader and continuously challenged Ralph. Among several things they argued about, the most common was the debate over the fire.