Voltaire Lord Of The Flies Critical Analysis

Having a government which makes impartial decisions that prioritize the best interests of all the residents in the area is extremely important as this ensures peace, prosperity, and unity among the people. Complete power and authority must not be in the hands of any one person; specialization of labor and a system of checks in the government is necessary to ensure a lack of corruption and optimum decision-making. Imagine a world where one is stripped of the opportunity to make one’s voice heard, and that they are given no say in contributing to decisions which directly affect them. The situation in Lord of the Flies is very similar to this scenario. The boys’ system of governing, right from the moment of their stranding in the island till the
Francois Marie Arouet or Voltaire, as he is commonly known, argued that freedom of speech is a necessity within an effective government. Voltaire believed that the freedom of speech is one of the main rights that one must have. He also believed that this was every individual's primary right (“Main ideas”). If each individual in a society did not have the right to share their opinions whenever they wished, society would not have advanced as much. Also if the leader ignored the others and lived in a world of make-belief that he had all the power to make the decisions, and others were powerless, he would bring misfortune upon himself and chaos upon the island. It is due to this progressive thinking of Voltaire, that every individual gets an opportunity to make a positive contribution to society. Unfortunately, the boys on the island from Lord of the Flies did not abide by this, which lead to complete destruction and turmoil. When the boys are going after the beast Jack says, “Conch Conch. We don’t need the conch anymore. We know who ought to say things. What good did Simon do speaking, or Bill, or Walter? It’s time some people knew that they’ve got to keep quiet and leave deciding things to the rest of us” (Golding 102). Piggy, one of the characters, is very sensible and he wants to share his opinion on how to thrive on the island. His suggestions are rejected by Jack who instead comes up with a nasty retort. Jack needed to give all the citizens a strong voice, and they needed to be heard. All the citizens have a need to speak and to be heard. Suppressing everyone’s voices other than the leader’s is not only oppressive but also foolish. This form of government will then transform into a dictatorship. All Jack had to do in this situation was to listen to Piggy’s comment and give him the opportunity to speak. Perhaps, if he had done that the boys might