Mob Mentality In Lord Of The Flies

Mob mentality is when a group of persons stimulate one another to a ridiculous level of excitement and lose ordinary, rational control over their activity. Mob mentality is often used to create evil symbolic cues that help the plot in many stories. For example in Lord of the Flies, written by William Golding, a plane full of British boys who are of ages of six to twelve get stranded on an island without any adult supervision. Without any directions, they are left to themselves and begin to drift naturally into two groups. One of the groups focuses on building shelters and collecting food, whereas the other group would rather hunt and have fun. This novel demonstrates that humans have a tendency to yield into mob mentality when trying to fit
As the only ones who tried to remain faithful to themselves, they sometimes lied to their conscience and each other. For example, they were both present the night Simon got killed, and that makes them part of the murder. Even though they didn’t join the dance and ritual, they still failed to stop it all together. Although seeming as though remaining on the outside of the circle isn’t participating, their lack of defiance against the mob mentality is a form of participation in the mob itself. As a result of the ritual, the next day Piggy was trying to justify his acts, but Ralph knew better; he knew that what they did was murder. However Ralph remained impartial, how they were afraid only being on the outside of the circle, but that doesn’t stop them from being part of it: “I wasn’t scared,” said Ralph slowly, “I was—I don’t know what I was.” (Golding, 233). Therefore, this shows that neither Ralph nor Piggy remained entirely true to their individuality and also began to succumb to mob mentality. If they had remained innocent and not became part of the crowd, no matter their perceived innocence, they would have stopped what was happening and Simon would still be alive. The children in Golding’s novel explore both the excitement and dangers of being part of a group. In the book “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding, it is evident how mob mentality overcomes a human being’s individuality and, in cases such as Jack’s, can only worsen as time passes. Summarizing, while the boys came to the island with their individual morals, they abandoned them and joined the mob mentality to be accepted, to be comforted, and, according to Jack, to “have