In today’s society, there are still flaws in how people act under the influence of a collective mind. In Sigmund Freud’s “Le Bon’s Description of the Group Mind”, Freud explains how the collective mind, or mob mindset, is a mentality in which individuals receive when in a group. Similarly, in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, a novel where a group of boys are stranded on an island after the crashing of their plane, this is present for Jack, an untamable vicious character, who is antagonizing the authority of the voted ruler Ralph. Throughout the novel, Jack shows progress in developing power over Ralph’s rule, this is symbolized by through the conch shell which is used to control the group. Along with the conch regulating the boys, Jack’s violence influences the overall behaviors of his followers, making them more murderous. According to Freud's “Le bon’s description of the group mind” and the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, Jack’s progression is influenced by his collective mind in the way that, he is rebellious, lacks self-control, and becomes a depraved power figure on the island. Due to Jack’s Collective mind throughout Lord of the Flies he becomes a more rebellious character. During Jack's rise to power on Coral Island he shows his dominance by raiding the other groups camp and stealing their fire. This is shown when Piggy says that “When I saw Jack I was sure he’d go for the conch. Can’t think why.”(Golding 141). The growth of Jack’s collective mind
The Division of the Mind is the psychological structure of a human mind through the id, ego and superego. It was discovered and created by Sigmund Freud, a psychologist who analyzed the human mind. Freud’s Division of the Mind can be applied upon Jack Merridew of Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Jack can be viewed as the book’s antagonist, as his influential crave for meat starts the separation between the boys.
The information we have about psychology today differs from what we knew 75 years ago. The first theory of groupthink was not developed until 1972 in a book written by social psychologist Irving Janis. His theory is based on how pressure from a group could lead to careless judgement. There is now evidence to show how the sociology of groupthink affects a person’s judgement and morals. On the island, the group of boys did not have an adult to guide them, so they had to take matters into their own hands and choose their own leader. Each one of the boys is susceptible to blindly following any leader because they are not in a sound mental state to recall their morality and sense of judgement. One critical instance of groupthink in Lord of the Flies is when the boys ruthlessly attack and viciously cannibalize Simon, ridicule Piggy, and inhumanely slaughter a pig. Due to the events the boys have endured, it is clear that groupthink affected their reasoning and led to the murder of Simon, exploitation of Piggy, and slaying of the pig.
William Golding’s ‘Lord of the Flies’ is another text that shows how society and mob-mentality impact individuals. Set during a futuristic war; it's about a group of British boys who crash land on an uninhabited island, with no adults present they are left to fend for themselves. At first, they follow the rules of ordered society however as time passes on the island the boys become subject to mob mentality and drift into savagery. The author uses the novel as a microcosm of society and shows how mob mentality can cause humans to decent into savagery, he shows this through the boys in the novel, especially Jack who is first to decent into savagery and from him one by one the entire boys follow suit. Golding portrays society through the use of allegory in the text, with characters, setting, and objects as a symbol for an aspect of society in the wider world; hence the island they're stranded on is a miniature version of the world. Through the characters Golding represents different types of governments from today’s world; Ralph the protagonist of the novel represents democracy while the antagonist Jack represents dictatorship, which is established from the beginning. In the beginning of the text, the boys elect Ralph as chief, after having gathered all the boys with Piggy’s using a conch shell, “...we ought to have a chief to decide things.” Jack expects to be chief “I ought to be chief’, said Jack with simple arrogance, ‘because I’m chapter chorister and head boy. I can sing
more of what is going on. He says, ‘If only they could get a message
Jack was one whose personality caused the civilization to come tumbling down. When we first discover the boys on the island and get a mere glimpse of their personalities, it is quite apparent that Jack is going to be one who is power-hungry. He already has a group of followers, the choirboys, of whom he has the utmost power over. He has a very controlling personality that cannot be subsided by the obstacles that are shown in the novel. Jack suffers from wanting to be the best. When he is not chosen as the chief and supreme ruler in the very beginning, it is proven that he will find a way to claw up to the top and take the spot that in his opinion is his right. Jack has quite a reckless personality, and will risk all to be standing alone at the top as king or leader. Jack is also guilty of envy, which goes hand in hand with power. He is envious of everything that Ralph has. Ralph is the chief, and has much common sense. Jack senses this and is jealous of the fact that Ralph can command attention and a following that easily. I also believe, when reflecting back, that Jack is in a sense jealous of Piggy, without being aware of it. Piggy is the complete intellect on the island. While Jack is quite smart, he certainly is not as gifted as Piggy. Piggy can interpret any situation and be the lone voice of knowledge of the masses. Jack not only gets jealous
Francis B. Sayre once stated, “Unless man has the wit and the grit to build his civilization on something better than material power, it is surely idle to talk of plans for a stable peace.” People control society because people set the rules and inform others what is right and what is wrong in which the rest follow through their actions. On the other hand, one may believe society controls the people because they view society as the one who is in charge and supposes that society advises people what to do and how to do it. People assemble the choices of what is justifiable in society, therefore controlling how society is perceived., In Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies, a society is controlled by a select few: allowing the boys to develop their own society through their rules and decisions, and entitling their society to transform into savagery
People interact together to create a society. And within that society, a political system is formed to regulate and govern. However, when that society corrupts, who is to blame? The leader? Political system? Or the people? William Golding, the author of Lord of the Flies believes that the defects of society are caused by the defects of human nature, and the society must depend on ethical maturity of individuals. The novel demonstrates the defects of an individuals’ human nature corrupting society through Ralph’s failed civilization, Samneric’s fear, and Roger’s natural evil.
“The theme is an attempt to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature. The moral is that the shape of a society must depend on the ethical nature of the individual and not on any political system however apparently logical or respectable.” With this quote, William Golding simply justifies the theme and moral presented in his novel, Lord of the Flies. The characters portray a modern society and depict the cruelty of human disposition. The political system in the U.S., as a whole, is a prime example of the ignorance towards ethical nature and is definitely blameworthy of the ruthlessness of mankind as individuals. Change is needed!
In William Golding's Lord of the Flies a group of English school boys crash land onto an uninhabited island somewhere in the Mid Atlantic ocean. Ralph, the protagonist and also the elected leader, tries to maintain peace and avoid any calamity on the island. However, Jack is neither willing to contribute nor listen because he is jealous of Ralph and has a sickening obsession with killing boars. Ralph has some good traits that help him maintain peace and balance for a period of time. He is charismatic and has natural leader attributes. Gradually though some of the other characters are killed due to the irresponsibility and savagery of Jack's actions. In this novel, the author conveys a messege through Freud's theroy of Id, Ego, and
In Lord Of the Flies Jack is portrayed as an individual inclined to violence and power from the outset. This is because he states he “ought to be chief” and tells Piggy “We don't want you” when Piggy wanted to go exploring with him, Simon and Ralph. As the novel progresses he experiences crises and challenge revealing how savage he really is.
Two philosophers of different eras tackle the same topic, human nature, and a great argument breaks out. Is man inherently evil, like William Golding believes? Or is man good at heart but inevitably becomes corrupted by the society he lives in, as said by Jean Jacques Rousseau? Both philosophers have very strong opinions and well reasoning for what they believe. Golding’s views are displayed well throughout his novel, Lord of the Flies; a tale about strong minded, young boys stranded on an island who must find a way to survive on their own. After reading this novel, I found myself agreeing much with Rousseau’s views on human nature.
Gangs are considered a group of people that have a common link together. Gangs are typically ethnically, racially, economically or geographically based. In William Golding 's Lord of the Flies, gangs rise up within the group of boys. William Golding gives us a glimpse of the savagery that underlies even the most civilized human beings. The bullying and group mentality demonstrated in gangs has resemblances to the characters in Lord of the Flies.
Do you believe that you’re a better human being compared to the characters in the Lord of the Flies? Because you’re the same as them. Human nature is just inherently dark, with our “savage” instincts. To achieve happiness, we are to appease our desires to satisfy ourselves, and that is what the kids were doing in this book. Finding their definition of happiness trapped on that island. Consequently, because of primitive instincts being part of our human nature, their loss of civilization also triggered their revert back to savageness. With their newly converted primordial compulsion and search for contentment, violence, as well as barbarism, prevailed as their new version of happiness. Thus in the Lord of the Flies, William Golding conveys how man can relapse back to their primal instincts without the presence of civilization; even the supposed innocent, can descend into savagery with the darkness in our hearts. For this reason, we can also be considered the beast in the story.
In 1998, a Harvard University professor of Ethics told his class that their final that
Any created society has rules to stay mobile. Within this informative selection of words you'll see examples of how a society was and how it should be based on the novel "Lord Of The Flies" and how they fell apart within the journey. The examples are their rules and the other is unstable relations of the inhabitants, these cause the hindsight score to be perfected on the backtracking of the lost sensibility. Now follow the tale of words that give the sight of how this society should've rolled on with.