Jack Lemmings To The Sea Analysis
Like Lemmings to the Sea
Civilization is a veil that through its rules and laws masks the evil within every individual. When the constraints of civilization vanish and raw human nature takes over, people draw away from reason toward savagery, ultimately leading to the downfall of society. In Lord of the Flies, author William Golding demonstrates the gradual breakdown of all civilized rules and order though a group of English schoolboys to fend for themselves on a remote jungle island. Henrik Ibsen, author of An Enemy of the People, portrays a small Norwegian town full of corrupt, self-interested characters, only interested in their own personal gratification rather than others. Both novels show how society begins to crumble; morally wrong …show more content…
choices are made, not contradicted. Actions are driven to extremes and inhibitions abandoned. Mob mentality is encouraged by the lack of external authority on the island in Lord of the Flies; it also leads the crowds in An Enemy of the People into believing whatever they are told, to act on instinct rather than rational thought.
In order for a civilization to collapse, that society must build itself up beforehand. The art canvas is blank, ready for Golding and Ibsen to illustrate and create beautiful societies built around order and discipline, only later to be ruined. In Golding’s Lord of the Flies, a group of innocent English schoolboys are trapped on a deserted island with no adult supervision. It is apparent in the first chapter that they are alone, when Ralph, a future leader, suggests, “Perhaps there aren’t any grownups anywhere” (Golding 8). These children are not fully developed; therefore, civilization is not fully forced upon their individual behaviors. Each boy is prone to savagery, sooner or later in the novel. However, the group of boys at first decide it is better to remain civilized than barbaric.
As Piggy and Ralph explore the beach, they stumble upon an object, “ever so valuable” (Golding 15). As piggy warns Ralph to be “careful”, Ralph holds up a cream colored conch shell, “ever so expensive” (Golding 16). This, “eighteen inches of shell with a slight spiral twist with a delicate, embossed pattern” (Golding 16), symbolized civilization and order in the novel. This shell had the ability to “call the others. Have a meeting” (Golding 16), a power to anyone wielding the object.
Said power is comparable to the mindset of Peter Stockmann, a devious mayor from the works of Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People. Stockmann states to his brother Doctor Stockmann, “I am entitled to request most emphatically that all arrangements shall be made in a business-like manner… and be dealt with by the legally constituted authorities” (Ibsen 137). To the Mayor, rules are everything. They give him power as well as a personal identity. Rules establish discipline and order, keeping a civilization in line and in tact, as they have for thousands of years. It is other factors that tear down a society. With the intention of keeping civilization alive on the island, the boys set out to recreate their own culture.
Civilization still dwindled inside the younglings, veritable by their obedient nature. “Piggy moved among the crowd, asking names and frowning to remember them. The children gave him the same simple obedience that they had given to the men with megaphones” (Golding 18). Jack, one of the older boys on the island, believes that in order for this civilization to thrive, “We’ve got have rules and obey them” (Golding 42). At this point in the story, the boys began to build up their culture by instituting laws and creating order.Henrik Ibsen portrays his own thriving society in a Norwegian village. The play is set in a small town in Norway that has just begun to develop the wings it needed to expand and become prosperous. This is in the most part due to The Baths; a business Dr. Stockmann and his brother Peter began, to cure the sick through spa treatments and rest. An Enemy of the People takes place in a town that has built a huge bathing complex crucial to the economy. All seems well to the Mayor of the city, Mr. Peter Stockmann, who claims “there is an excellent spirit of toleration in the town—an admirable municipal spirit. And it all springs from the fact of our having a great common interest to unite us” (Ibsen 132). Here the Mayor points out how the Baths unite the town. Having a common interest brings all the levels of society
together.
As the baths unite the small Norwegian town, the boys on the tropical island start coming together as well. This tropical paradise indeed puts out for the boys. “This is our island. It’s a good island. Until the grown ups come fetch us we’ll have fun” (Golding 35), says Ralph. The boys won’t lack in essential supplies and necessities, given that “There’s pigs…There’s food, and bathing water—and everything” (Golding 35). At first, the boys roam the island worry free, as the group unifies under Jack’s philosophy, “We’re English and the English are best at everything. So we got to do the right things” (Golding 42). As presented, there are some correlations between Lord of the Flies and An Enemy of the People while addressing coming together and living by rules and boundaries. Only later on will certain motives trigger the gradual downfall of societies in both works. Perfecting a society is nearly impossible in any scenario, whether in real life or a work of literature. No matter the rule set down in a civilization, the foundations of morality and virtue, a society will eventually begin to crumble underneath certain factors brought upon by those living in that culture. In both William Golding’s Lord of the Flies and Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People, we witness major characters from both works gradually turn away from their civilized and virtuous manner, exhibiting a more savage state of mind. As for the remaining members, their choices reflect their role models; choices not made in a civilized society. Like a flock of lemmings, or small rodents known for periodic mass migrations that sometimes end in drowning, individuals begin following whatever statement or ideas are most appealing. Individuality and distinctiveness loses all charm within mob of people, a characteristic of mob mentality. This phenomenon goes underway in both works of literature like a set of dominos: one bad situation leads to another, and another, up until the final outcome. In this context, the final scenario is the downfall of society. As evident throughout our history, humans succumb to the lies and corruptions of propaganda. As stated by Hannah Arendt, “Only the mob and the elite can be attracted by the momentum of totalitarianism itself. The mass have to be won by propaganda.” Here, Hannah explains the functionality of a mob, only propaganda ‒ information of a biased or misleading nature ‒ appeal to a brainwashed audience. In Golding’s Lord of the Flies, Jack leads a group of young school lads out to build a fire. Innocent and naive, these boys, “All at once swayed toward the island ‒ following Jack” (Golding 38). Golding also portrays this tiny group as “Acting like a group of kids” (Golding 38). Compare this to the play An Enemy of the People, in which following the leader is not an uncommon trait. In fact, Peter Stockmann encourages giving up one’s individualism, by saying, “the individual ought undoubtedly to acquiesce in subordinating himself to the community” (Ibsen 137). Quite apparent, individuality is diminishing in both books, and it is only a matter of time before things fall apart. The concept of mob mentality unfolds in An Enemy of the People and Lord of the Flies, as propaganda and misleading lies disguised as truths unravel new conflicts and tensions. From chapter one to chapter nine in Lord of the Flies, the boys transform from civilized young men into primitive killers deep in the jungles.
In the first chapter, the boys are presented with a “piglet caught in a curtain of creepers” (Golding 31). Jack aspires to kill the animal, as he “raised his arm in the air” (Golding 31). And yet, he came to a “pause, a hiatus”, hindering himself from slaying the pig. It isn’t much later where Jack and the boys commend killing living creatures. In chapter four, the Jack leads his group back to camp with a “gutted carcass of a pig that swung from the stake” (Golding 68). As Jack goes deep into details about the “lashings of blood” and how he “cut the pig’s throat” (Golding 69), the reader cannot help but realize just how savage these boys are becoming. “ Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!” (Golding 152), becomes a common chant among the clan. Evil overcomes goodness in these moments, and these innocent boys morph into little blood thirsty animals.
An Enemy of the People revolves around the idea of manipulating an audience with misleading statements in order to cause an upsurge against an opponent. Doctor Stockmann acknowledges this situation to be possible, saying “They [the young] are the people who are going to stir up the fermenting forces of the future, Peter” (Ibsen 135). While the Doctor acknowledges the idea that the people alone can change a society, peter understands how he can manipulate the people into believing in what he wants. In act four, Peter addresses an audience gathering to hear Doctor Stockmann’s report on the contamination of the baths in the town. He state, “I venture to presume that there is not a single one of our citizens present who considers it desirable that unreliable and exaggerated accounts of sanitary condition of the Baths and the town should be spread abroad…Therefore, I should like to propose that the meeting should not permit the Medical Officer either to read or to comment on his proposed lecture” (Ibsen 185). Notice how skillfully the Mayor manipulates the procedures of the meeting to his advantage. Without much effort he's able to use the established order to keep his brother from reading the article he's come to read. What makes it so absurd, it that the reading of the article was the whole purpose of the meeting to begin with? This is just one of many examples in the play where you can see the established order of things being used to silence the truth.
Chapter nine in Lord of the Flies played a crucial part in exhibiting the mentality of a crowd moving away from sanity. As the boys take more pride and pleasure in hunting and killing, each child becomes unaware of who they really are. An example is when Jack painted his face for the first time, “He looked in astonishment, no longer at himself but at an awesome stranger” (Golding 63). When the group loses a sense of who they really are, chaos reigns down as it seems there is no need to justify what they do. These “beasts” hurl themselves at whatever looks to be a meal, even at one of their own. As Simon enters the camp, the boys attack. “An instant later the noise was on them lie the blow of a gigantic whip” (Golding 152). The vicious and “sulphurous beat down” gets the best of Simon, as the “beast [Simon] struggled forward… and fell over the steep edge of the rock to the sand by the water” (Golding 153). The Children watch in horror the body of their ally drift off into the sea. Simon represented goodness. In this moment, evil has taken over the boys and they eliminate goodness from the island.
Civilization is a veil that through its rules and laws masks the evil within every individual. When the constraints of civilization vanish and raw human nature takes over, people draw away from reason toward savagery, ultimately leading to the downfall of society. In Lord of the Flies, author William Golding demonstrates the gradual breakdown of all civilized rules and order though a group of English schoolboys to fend for themselves on a remote jungle island. Henrik Ibsen, author of An Enemy of the People, portrays a small Norwegian town full of corrupt, self-interested characters, only interested in their own personal gratification rather than others. Both novels show how society begins to crumble; morally wrong …show more content…
choices are made, not contradicted. Actions are driven to extremes and inhibitions abandoned. Mob mentality is encouraged by the lack of external authority on the island in Lord of the Flies; it also leads the crowds in An Enemy of the People into believing whatever they are told, to act on instinct rather than rational thought.
In order for a civilization to collapse, that society must build itself up beforehand. The art canvas is blank, ready for Golding and Ibsen to illustrate and create beautiful societies built around order and discipline, only later to be ruined. In Golding’s Lord of the Flies, a group of innocent English schoolboys are trapped on a deserted island with no adult supervision. It is apparent in the first chapter that they are alone, when Ralph, a future leader, suggests, “Perhaps there aren’t any grownups anywhere” (Golding 8). These children are not fully developed; therefore, civilization is not fully forced upon their individual behaviors. Each boy is prone to savagery, sooner or later in the novel. However, the group of boys at first decide it is better to remain civilized than barbaric.
As Piggy and Ralph explore the beach, they stumble upon an object, “ever so valuable” (Golding 15). As piggy warns Ralph to be “careful”, Ralph holds up a cream colored conch shell, “ever so expensive” (Golding 16). This, “eighteen inches of shell with a slight spiral twist with a delicate, embossed pattern” (Golding 16), symbolized civilization and order in the novel. This shell had the ability to “call the others. Have a meeting” (Golding 16), a power to anyone wielding the object.
Said power is comparable to the mindset of Peter Stockmann, a devious mayor from the works of Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People. Stockmann states to his brother Doctor Stockmann, “I am entitled to request most emphatically that all arrangements shall be made in a business-like manner… and be dealt with by the legally constituted authorities” (Ibsen 137). To the Mayor, rules are everything. They give him power as well as a personal identity. Rules establish discipline and order, keeping a civilization in line and in tact, as they have for thousands of years. It is other factors that tear down a society. With the intention of keeping civilization alive on the island, the boys set out to recreate their own culture.
Civilization still dwindled inside the younglings, veritable by their obedient nature. “Piggy moved among the crowd, asking names and frowning to remember them. The children gave him the same simple obedience that they had given to the men with megaphones” (Golding 18). Jack, one of the older boys on the island, believes that in order for this civilization to thrive, “We’ve got have rules and obey them” (Golding 42). At this point in the story, the boys began to build up their culture by instituting laws and creating order.Henrik Ibsen portrays his own thriving society in a Norwegian village. The play is set in a small town in Norway that has just begun to develop the wings it needed to expand and become prosperous. This is in the most part due to The Baths; a business Dr. Stockmann and his brother Peter began, to cure the sick through spa treatments and rest. An Enemy of the People takes place in a town that has built a huge bathing complex crucial to the economy. All seems well to the Mayor of the city, Mr. Peter Stockmann, who claims “there is an excellent spirit of toleration in the town—an admirable municipal spirit. And it all springs from the fact of our having a great common interest to unite us” (Ibsen 132). Here the Mayor points out how the Baths unite the town. Having a common interest brings all the levels of society
together.
As the baths unite the small Norwegian town, the boys on the tropical island start coming together as well. This tropical paradise indeed puts out for the boys. “This is our island. It’s a good island. Until the grown ups come fetch us we’ll have fun” (Golding 35), says Ralph. The boys won’t lack in essential supplies and necessities, given that “There’s pigs…There’s food, and bathing water—and everything” (Golding 35). At first, the boys roam the island worry free, as the group unifies under Jack’s philosophy, “We’re English and the English are best at everything. So we got to do the right things” (Golding 42). As presented, there are some correlations between Lord of the Flies and An Enemy of the People while addressing coming together and living by rules and boundaries. Only later on will certain motives trigger the gradual downfall of societies in both works. Perfecting a society is nearly impossible in any scenario, whether in real life or a work of literature. No matter the rule set down in a civilization, the foundations of morality and virtue, a society will eventually begin to crumble underneath certain factors brought upon by those living in that culture. In both William Golding’s Lord of the Flies and Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People, we witness major characters from both works gradually turn away from their civilized and virtuous manner, exhibiting a more savage state of mind. As for the remaining members, their choices reflect their role models; choices not made in a civilized society. Like a flock of lemmings, or small rodents known for periodic mass migrations that sometimes end in drowning, individuals begin following whatever statement or ideas are most appealing. Individuality and distinctiveness loses all charm within mob of people, a characteristic of mob mentality. This phenomenon goes underway in both works of literature like a set of dominos: one bad situation leads to another, and another, up until the final outcome. In this context, the final scenario is the downfall of society. As evident throughout our history, humans succumb to the lies and corruptions of propaganda. As stated by Hannah Arendt, “Only the mob and the elite can be attracted by the momentum of totalitarianism itself. The mass have to be won by propaganda.” Here, Hannah explains the functionality of a mob, only propaganda ‒ information of a biased or misleading nature ‒ appeal to a brainwashed audience. In Golding’s Lord of the Flies, Jack leads a group of young school lads out to build a fire. Innocent and naive, these boys, “All at once swayed toward the island ‒ following Jack” (Golding 38). Golding also portrays this tiny group as “Acting like a group of kids” (Golding 38). Compare this to the play An Enemy of the People, in which following the leader is not an uncommon trait. In fact, Peter Stockmann encourages giving up one’s individualism, by saying, “the individual ought undoubtedly to acquiesce in subordinating himself to the community” (Ibsen 137). Quite apparent, individuality is diminishing in both books, and it is only a matter of time before things fall apart. The concept of mob mentality unfolds in An Enemy of the People and Lord of the Flies, as propaganda and misleading lies disguised as truths unravel new conflicts and tensions. From chapter one to chapter nine in Lord of the Flies, the boys transform from civilized young men into primitive killers deep in the jungles.
In the first chapter, the boys are presented with a “piglet caught in a curtain of creepers” (Golding 31). Jack aspires to kill the animal, as he “raised his arm in the air” (Golding 31). And yet, he came to a “pause, a hiatus”, hindering himself from slaying the pig. It isn’t much later where Jack and the boys commend killing living creatures. In chapter four, the Jack leads his group back to camp with a “gutted carcass of a pig that swung from the stake” (Golding 68). As Jack goes deep into details about the “lashings of blood” and how he “cut the pig’s throat” (Golding 69), the reader cannot help but realize just how savage these boys are becoming. “ Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!” (Golding 152), becomes a common chant among the clan. Evil overcomes goodness in these moments, and these innocent boys morph into little blood thirsty animals.
An Enemy of the People revolves around the idea of manipulating an audience with misleading statements in order to cause an upsurge against an opponent. Doctor Stockmann acknowledges this situation to be possible, saying “They [the young] are the people who are going to stir up the fermenting forces of the future, Peter” (Ibsen 135). While the Doctor acknowledges the idea that the people alone can change a society, peter understands how he can manipulate the people into believing in what he wants. In act four, Peter addresses an audience gathering to hear Doctor Stockmann’s report on the contamination of the baths in the town. He state, “I venture to presume that there is not a single one of our citizens present who considers it desirable that unreliable and exaggerated accounts of sanitary condition of the Baths and the town should be spread abroad…Therefore, I should like to propose that the meeting should not permit the Medical Officer either to read or to comment on his proposed lecture” (Ibsen 185). Notice how skillfully the Mayor manipulates the procedures of the meeting to his advantage. Without much effort he's able to use the established order to keep his brother from reading the article he's come to read. What makes it so absurd, it that the reading of the article was the whole purpose of the meeting to begin with? This is just one of many examples in the play where you can see the established order of things being used to silence the truth.
Chapter nine in Lord of the Flies played a crucial part in exhibiting the mentality of a crowd moving away from sanity. As the boys take more pride and pleasure in hunting and killing, each child becomes unaware of who they really are. An example is when Jack painted his face for the first time, “He looked in astonishment, no longer at himself but at an awesome stranger” (Golding 63). When the group loses a sense of who they really are, chaos reigns down as it seems there is no need to justify what they do. These “beasts” hurl themselves at whatever looks to be a meal, even at one of their own. As Simon enters the camp, the boys attack. “An instant later the noise was on them lie the blow of a gigantic whip” (Golding 152). The vicious and “sulphurous beat down” gets the best of Simon, as the “beast [Simon] struggled forward… and fell over the steep edge of the rock to the sand by the water” (Golding 153). The Children watch in horror the body of their ally drift off into the sea. Simon represented goodness. In this moment, evil has taken over the boys and they eliminate goodness from the island.