Power And Manipulation In Lord Of The Flies By William Golding

The boys knew Ralph would do what is right and best and in the end what they truly wanted. The other boys would be happy that they got a say in what happened on the island as well. Ralph did not change much in the novel, he mostly stuck to his ways of civilization, law, order and rescue. He tasted the urge of savagery in the novel and understands why the other boys have acted so savagely. Although he realized he must stay civilized and did not change.

He approaches it with a very interesting mindset, he believes that it is something anyone can easily kill. Jack was not a hunter in England, but the island presented an opportunity to create a new persona for himself. Perhaps, the savagery is some sort of sanctuary for him, away from scrutiny and just decisions. On this island, with a tribe of his own, he is able to create his own rules. The boys that blindly follow Jack give him something very valuable.

The last part of the book is totally contrasted from the beginning, in which Ralph told the group, “We’ve got to have rules and obey them. After all, we’re not savages. We’re English, and the English are best at everything.” (Golding, 40). This quote definitely foreshadows in the fact that later in the story, the boys turn against Ralph, and his rules, and ultimately, turn

Every child comes into this world as a selfish, manipulative, cruel and stubborn being. It is the parents and society that teaches children how to function in a civilized world, and societal laws that keeps them under control. William Golding wrote this novel in the early years of the cold war and the atomic age. In William Golding's classic novel Lord of the Flies, Golding uses Jack, a young savage who looks to lead a group of stranded kids on an island with no food, no rules, and no adults. The effect freedom has on Jack has turned him into a savage because he does not have to listen to anyone since there are no adults on the island.

Ralph never wanted to make decisions, tackle tasks, or simply be in charge without the guidance and approval from the others. Once Jack left and created his own tribe, Ralph and the boys that stay could no longer fight against Jack’s tribe. Once Piggy was brutally murdered, Ralph was hunted down and Jack attempts to murder him. A person is taught from the time that they were little they would always have someone to rescue them or help them. Ralph in the beginning of the book believed his father would come and rescue the boys.

The reason Ralph is not violent is because his morality is still intact. This displays that as the violence increases in the boys, their sense of morality is

Manipulation to create power One powerful tool to gain power over an induvidual is minipulation. In goldings novel lord of the flies many characters are minipulated and power changes hand through many characters. The key character that creates power through manipulation is jack. The three ways he uses this manipulation is by violance , food and fear. One of the most powerful forms of manipulation that jack uses in the novel is fear.

Upon arriving, Ralph’s primary ambition is to get off the island safely, considering the expected immaturity in reaction to the boys’ sudden loss of authority. He manages to maintain this intention regardless of his job or worth in society among the boys. As evil challenges his capability to retain this quality by the irony of the fire, breaking of the conch, and overall destruction of civilization, demonstrates his level of mental strength considering all of the odds against his favor. Having the, “voice of someone who [knows their] own mind,” and instituting an independent attitude towards his goal, Ralph displays competence and trust in his capabilities rather than depending on that of others. As displayed in his immediate need for order, Ralph establishes a plan to get off of the island.

“Power is always dangerous. Power attracts the worst and corrupts the best” (Edward Abbey). Mirroring this statement by Abbey, William Golding conveys the dangers of power and how the corruption of mankind occurs. Golding validates that with free will, prevails iniquitous actions. In his novel, Lord of the Flies, Golding concentrates the use of symbols to portray the message of perverseness and man’s evil nature.

Ralph soon comes to a realization and can’t believe how powerful the evil that lives inside him is. It takes Ralph the loss of a true friend to realize who he has become “Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy” (202). While Ralph is only twelve years old he has been through a ton in the last few weeks on the island alot for a child his age to go through. Golding uses the Naval Officer to rescue them because of how savagely the boys were acting that any adult most likely wouldn’t be able to contain them. Prior to the arrival of the officer the whole island is set on fire trying to smoke out Ralph.

Which shows in the book, also how evil he turns out to be later on, killing his friends and commanding his tribe to attack and kill. In the book Jack says “I thought I might kill. ”(Golding 3) This is talking about the time Jack went off and tried to kill a pig for meat and disobeyed the rules set up by Ralph which then Jack's motivation switched on the island. Also another example from the book quotes “Bollocks to the rules!

Despite not actually knowing the identity of the beast, it is destroying the inside of the group and must figure out the truth. Ralph is growing mature as time goes on as now he believes he has to conquer a beast that is the center of terror. This shows Ralph’s change because of how determined he is to climb the mountain and face whatever he comes up against because he must defeat the beast before thinking about

Lord of the Flies dates back to 1954 when a famous novelist, William Golding decided to write a book which could show an unusual version of the human beings. Born into an environment where his mother was a suffragette and later experiencing World War II where human ruthlessness was at its peak, made him better inclined in to writing a piece where he could explain his readers how human beings react in different situations. The setting of the novel depicts a situation where the human behavior is rational. The novel hence persuades the readers to realize the importance of ethics and civilization and how their absence can disrupt the society .Furthermore, the novel shows a negative aspect of the mankind and explains the reason it develops savagery

Jack lost his sanity and civility and this changed him in more ways than imaginable. Jack was a natural leader when the boys first came onto the island, but as time continued he became a horrible dictator. On the first day on the island, Ralph and Jack competed for chief of the island. Ralph won. Jack was unhappy with this result, but it didn’t yet throw him into a spiral of craze and anger.

“They hate you, Ralph. They’re going to do you. They’re going to hunt you tomorrow.” (Golding, 170). After all the chaos from previous chapters of the novel, Ralph realizes that he’s completely isolated and lonely.