Lord Of The Flies 11 :: essays research papers

Normally, when we think of worlds, the planet Earth comes to mind. What we don’t often remember is that the word world can mean more than the Earth. Webster’s New World Dictionary states that the true definition of the word world is, "some part of the earth, or an individual experience, outlook.." Keeping that definition in mind, it is true to say that the boys in Lord of the Flies were in their own world, so to speak. And it is also true that every world has its problems. A contemporary psychiatrist wrote , "The problems of the world - and they are chronicled daily in headlines of violence and despair - essentially are the problems of individuals. If individuals can change, the course of the world can change. This is a hope worth sustaining." This quote can apply both to the larger world of the Earth, and the smaller world of the island. On the island, the boys had problems from the beginning. Both Ralph and Jack wanted to be chief and when the rest of the biguns and littluns voted for Ralph, it caused friction between Jack and Ralph. Ralph tried to deal with this problem by appointing Jack the leader of the hunters and keepers of the fire. He had hoped this would repair any damage that had been done to their short friendship. Ralph was doing his duty as the chief and tried to deal with their individual problems. However, this solution ended up doing more harm than good. The friction between Ralph and Jack flourished throughout the book. Jack soon became obsessed with savagery and killing pigs. The only thing he cared about was meat. And Jack does kill a pig; however killing that pig sacrificed the fire and the boys missed a rescue opportunity because the fire went out. But Jack doesn’t seem to care. "Jack, his face smeared with clays, reached the top first and hailed Ralph excitedly, with lifted spear. ‘Look! We’ve killed a pig-we stole up on them-we got in a circle-’ They seemed to share one wide ecstatic grin. Jack had too many things to tell Ralph at once. Instead he danced a step or two, then remembered his dignity and stood still, grinning. Ralph spoke. ‘You let the fire go out.’ Jack checked, vaguely irritated by this irrelevance but too happy to let it worry him. ‘There was lashings of blood,’ said Jack, laughing and shuddering.