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Lord Of The Flies Democracy Vs Dictatorship Analysis

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Lord Of The Flies Democracy Vs Dictatorship Analysis
The Lord of the Flies author, William Goulding, represents his feelings about human nature and civilization through his characters. Jack and Ralph are used to portray democracy vs. dictatorship. Ralph tries to establish a democracy while Jack tries to establish a dictatorship. In Lord of the Flies, a democracy is more ideal than dictatorship because a democracy is a collaborative community, where citizens can choose their own leader: “Yes! Vote for chief” (Goulding 22). Most of the kids chose Ralph so he became chief. Ralph demonstrated a collaborative community by the way he organized meetings where everyone could speak freely and could help make decisions: “We can use this to call the others. Have a meeting” (Goulding 16). Most of the time, …show more content…
While Jack had complete power over them, in other words dictatorship, two of the children died. To put it simply, it was utter chaos: “Nobody killed, I hope? Any dead bodies?” “Only two. And they’ve gone” (Goulding 201). This demonstrates how with dictatorship, the value of life always seems to disappear. There will always be more blood shed under dictatorship than democracy. There will also always be jealousy: “I’m chief!” “Jack, with full intention, hurled his spear at Ralph. The point tore the skin and flesh over Ralph’s ribs, then sheared off and fell in the water. Ralph, not feeling pain but panic” (Goulding 181). There will also be loss of control and desperation for power: “You go away, Ralph. You keep at your end. This is my end and my tribe. You leave me alone” (Goulding 176). That is basically the definition of chaos. In Lord of the Flies, chaos mostly occurred while Jack was in control, and while he was, two of the boys were murdered. In the novel, Lord of the Flies, the use of examples of both democracy and dictatorship made for an excellent comparison between Ralph and Jack, two very different characters. Each character tried to establish their own type of government on the island but only one can truly work. In the end democracy won in terms of leadership and thoughtfulness. The author clearly supports this idea with his detailed descriptions of the characters thoughts and actions. He believes democracy

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