To what extent is Lord of the flies a warning to its readers? William Golding fought in world war two as a lieutenant in the Royal Navy, when he returned from war he said that he was disgusted by “What one man can do to another”. Some people say that lord of the flies is a warning to its readers as shows them how the ‘innocent children’ changed into savage animals. It shows that even the most kind hearted of people have the ability to kill if they in a certain environment or put under certain kinds of pressure.
An example of this happening to a character in Lord of the flies is Jack Merridrew. When he was introduced he said, “I ought to be chief,” said Jack with simple arrogance, “Because I’m chapter chorister and head boy. I can sing C sharp. ” This showed that he cared about what people thought of him and he wanted people to recognise him as the leader but later on in the book, whilst he is using camouflage to help him hunt it says, “He looked in astonishment, no longer at himself but at an awesome stranger. This shows that when he hunted he didn’t want to be Jack Merridrew, he wanted to be someone different and by using the word “stranger” it shows that he doesn’t belong there but by adding the word “awesome” in front of it shows that Jack enjoyed being different from the others and he enjoyed not belonging. This is a sudden change, as in the beginning all he wanted was to be the leader of the boys.
The Essay on Authoritarian And Democratic Jack People Ralph
... Germans under Adolf Hitler. In the lord of the flies the character that best describes authoritarianism is Jack. Jack, a tall, thin red-head, ... united states president Abraham Lincoln as Government of the people, by the people, for the people (World book Encyclopedia). In a democratic system, ... does, he knows right from wrong. Since the beginning Ralph wanted to create a society in which all of them ...
Golding also uses lines like, “He began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling” to show how Jack becomes more and more savage. The word “bloodthirsty” is very rarely used to describe children. This shows how the island has changed the “innocent children”. To add to this certain lines could be warnings. For example the comment made by Simon, “Maybe there is a beast, maybe it’s only us” shows that he was one of the only boys that realised how much the others were changing.
The other boys just went along with the majority whilst Simon, Ralph and Piggy stood up for what was right. This could be a warning for how easily people are led by what they see on the surface, which was also why Piggy was ridiculed. Also the island could also represent the Garden of Eden, as the garden was destroyed by human greed and the island was destroyed by the boys need for power.
