'Lord Of The Flies' By William Golding: An Analysis

For ages, humans have been trying to maintain order through strict rules and regulations formed by the government. Most people follow these rules everyday without question as breaking them would surely cause some sort of punishment if caught. But what if there are no penalties for doing what is considered wrong? Will everyone naturally give in to their darkest desires? In Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, two of the oldest boys by the names of Ralph and Jack fight for power as they try to lead a group of boys after crash landing on a stray island. Due to major disagreements between the two, Jack, who is violent and obsessed with hunting, creates his own large tribe and loses the organized system Ralph enforces. In Lord of the Flies, Golding
For example, Jack commands his tribe to tie up a boy to beat him up. After someone asks why Jack is doing this another member of Jack’s tribe says, “I don’t know. He didn’t say. He got angry and made us tie Wilfred up….” (Golding 159). In this quote, Jack didn’t even care to state a valid reason to beat up Wilfred, yet the other boys still follow his command even if it leads to someone else being brutally hurt. If Golding thinks humans are inherently good, he could have at least added a reason for Jack, other than unexplained anger, to do something as cruel as beating someone up. Although this event is only mentioned for a few lines, Golding writes this to show how easy it is for humans with authority to abuse their power and just do whatever they want. From the time a person is born, his or her natural instinct is to survive, and dominating others, like other species, is just one of the many ways to do so. Like Jack, any other human, especially those working the government, can get blinded by the control they have and abuse their power just for their personal gain and