preview

William Golding 's Lord Of The Flies Essay

Decent Essays

In the past one hundred years, multiple events have led to people questioning the basis of human nature. The World Wars, 9/11, the Atomic bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, and the Vietnam War are all just a few instances that challenged the perception of the extent to which humans have the capacity to maliciously and savagely harm one another. William Golding’s Lord of the Flies serves as a perfect fictional example of such questioning. Set on an island during World War II, a group of British schoolchildren become stranded on an island and therefore manage to “escape” the savage war-time conditions at home. However, it quickly becomes evident that savagery abounds on the island as well. Famous and somewhat nihilistic thinker Friedrich Nietzsche would have had insightful analysis regarding the interactions in Golding’s Lord of the Flies, in particular with regard to some of the boys’ desire to obtain power, the assertion of different moralities onto the boys’ lives, and the power struggles that highlight the tale. One aspect of the Lord of the Flies which Nietzsche would have valuable insight into would be the boys desire to obtain power once they are stranded on the island. After being stranded, there is a power vacuum such that is rarely present in the real world. In this power vacuum, a few of the boys show immediate desire for power. The boys that wish to be the chief of the group are Jack, Ralph, and Piggy. Jack is described as “the most obvious leader,” in Piggy’s

Get Access