Lord of the Flies Theme Analysis
One of the main themes throughout the book Lord of the Flies is that the thirst to possess power can be blinding and lead people to do what can be considered morally wrong. In the book a group of young boys were stranded on an island following a plane crash. There were no adults on the island, but the young boys had to create some sort of order. Ralph was voted as leader.
In the first few days that boys are stranded on the island, they knew they were going to need some sort of food. They explored the island and found that the only source of food would be the wild pigs. This meant that they had to hunt. Jack and his choir were going to be the hunters for all the boys. At first they were very hesitant to kill the animal, they had never done anything like it in their life. In chapter three, the boys are putting more pressure on Jack because he has not killed a pig yet and they want meat. Jack says, "But I shall! Next time! I’ve got to get a barb on this spear! We wounded a pig and the spear fell out. If we could only make barbs” (Golding 51). Jack is determined to get his first kill. He doesn’t want the other boys to look at him in a bad way, he wants the boys to look up to him. As the story continues Jack begins to love the kill. He enjoys to hunt and kill pigs. Ralph was getting upset because the signal fire went out. In the story it says, “I cut the pig’s throat,” said Jack, proudly, and yet twitched as he said it” (Golding 69). Jack loves the feeling he gets when he kills pigs, Jack feels like hunting is the most important thing on the island so he believes by killing the most pigs the other boys will be proud of him. He is not hesitant anymore about killing, he is now getting more up close and personal with the pigs. Jack is seeking more power by killing the pigs in less humane ways, thinking the other boys will back him up and make him leader. Jack becomes obsessed with killing. He craves the power that Ralph has over the boys and continues to kill and slaughter the pigs. Singing chants, drinking their blood, doing other ritualistic acts with the pigs that in an actual society would be considered wrong or erroneous. He lets his anger and fury out on these pigs and is starting to do the same with the other boys. While the boys are having a conversation about whether the beast is real or not the story says, “ The words came from Jack viciously, as though they were a curse. He looked at Ralph, his thin body tensed, his spear held as if he threatened him” (Golding 119). Jack is now showing signs of taking things out on the boys in a threatening way. He is tired of being controlled and not being the leader of the boys and being able to do whatever he wants. Near the end of the book the society Ralph and the boys worked to create had fallen apart. Jack had become so captivated and preoccupied by killing that is all he wanted to do. He utilised hunting to let any anger that needed to be let out, out. After the argument between Ralph, Piggy, and Jack it says, “Then the sea breathed again in a long slow sigh, the water boiled white and pink over the rock; and when it went, sucking back again, the body of Piggy was gone.” Then Jack says, “See? See? That’s what you’ll get! I meant that! There isn’t a tribe for you anymore! The conch is gone” He ran forward, stooping. “I’m chief!”(Golding 181). Jack had killed Piggy. He reached the point where all he could think about was power and he would do anything to be leader of the boys. Jack is willing to do whatever he has to in order to be leader, if that means killing even more people than that's what he would do. Jack is violent and uncontrollable. Ralph is the only thing standing between himself and the power. It says, “ Viciously, with full intention, he hurled his spear at Ralph” (Golding 181). He is engrossed in his murderous acts and cannot stop himself from doing things he would’ve never done before. Jack shows throughout the text that because he wants the power over others so much, it leads him to kill. Killing is considered morally wrong and Jack is obsessed with it. As shown by Jack throughout Lord of the flies it is displayed that one can be led to execute acts that would be unacceptable in a normal society because of the yearning to acquire power. |
In this video it is shown that Hitler was seeking the power his country had lost during WW1 and he would do anything it took, even if it was morally wrong to get that power back. Hitler wanted war, he blamed and killed his own people, which can compare to how Jack would stop at nothing to become the leader of the boys on this island.
In the beginning of the story Jack was passionate about getting meat so the boys would be happy and have food to eat, but as the book went on, Jack's passion turned into an obsession and he could not stop himself from killing pigs, and even turning against people too.
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