Free will in "Lord of the Flies", by William Golding, and in "The Chocolate War", by Robert Cormier.

According to Webster's dictionary, free will is defined as, "the power of making free choices" (Webster 454). Humans, unlike any other creatures, have free will, or have the ability to make their own decisions. Inherent in the ability to choose, is the potential to make choices that perfect or even destroy the world. With good use of free will, the world can be beautiful and pleasing; however, with misuse of free will, evil takes root and has the power to destroy. It is a human venture to learn to properly use the gift of free will. In William Golding's novel, Lord of the Flies, a plane crashes and many of the children aboard flee to an island to survive. On this island, these children abuse their newfound freedom and lose sight of their need for rescue. Jack, the evil one on the island, tempts the other children and guides them away from Ralph, the one person who wants to focus on being saved. This temptation, which is only one of the many temptations throughout the novel, turns out to be successful. The influence of their savage and unsupervised living conditions lures them to become barbaric and ultimately changes the characters. All of the major characters in Lord of the Flies have some kind of character flaw or weakness in their personality that leads to the destruction and chaos that develops in the book. All humans have free will, and humans, especially children such as those in "Lord of the Flies", have the potential to misuse this independence in the face of temptation. In "Lord of the Flies", William Golding brilliantly illustrates how character flaws and weaknesses lead to the misuse of free will and result in chaos, destruction, and extreme consequences.

The protagonist of "Lord of the Flies", Ralph, is an essential character to the novel. Ralph, who is athletic and pleasant, is elected leader of the boys in the beginning of the story; he instills order and civilization through his leadership. Ralph has his sight set on being rescued and thinks of ways