Power In Lord Of The Flies

Swoosh! Pop! Crackle! The sounds of fire lighting up and burning. All that power for a substantial leader to possess. The novel Lord of the Flies is a powerful one, written by William Golding. Some of the main characters are Ralph, Jack, Piggy, Simon and Samneric. The theme power, is shown in many ways in the novel. One of the many ways power is shown in this novel is how the boys use Piggy's glasses to start a fire showing how powerful Piggy’s glasses really are. Some of the other ones are the power of hunting or being able to hunt something and the power of common sense or being able to make sense of the problem at hand and being able to do the right thing about it. Power is a major theme and a major role in the key to success in this
novel.

In many ways the power of fire is a major one.
You can kill people with fire, cook meat, send out signals, you can even hunt with fire. In this novel, fire becomes a really big deal to these boys. It is even stolen through the power of Piggy's glasses. The boys' ability to possess fire is a sign of leadership. A leadership of fire. In the beginning of the novel the boys quickly encounter a conflict. They realize they have nothing to start a fire with. After a little bit of thinking the boys come up with a solution. They figure out how to use Piggy’s glasses as a lighter. This quote from the novel shows how they came up with this idea of using the glasses as a fire starter, “His specs- use them as burning glasses”(40). This power of fire is a constant challenge to keep. It keeps on changing based on who needs it and who wants it. Later in the novel, Jack decides to steal this power right from Piggy. After the groups split up from different opinions the group without Piggy is without fire, and without fire, they can’t cook their meat which is a predicament. So Jack is forced to find a way to make a fire so he steals a branch that is on fire from the other group so he can have his own fire. This fire doesn't last long so he needs to find another way to get fire. So he decides to just go straight to the source of the fire. He steals Piggy’s glasses. He raids the other group’s camp early in the morning right when they get up. They make a huge commotion confusing them and
then they go right for the reason they go there for. Jack is the one that snags them and runs off. After he goes a ways away from their camp, he puts the glasses on and starts to mock piggy and laughs. At first Piggy’s group thinks they came for the conch, but they indeed did not. This quote from the book helps prove the point of jack stealing the glasses, ”I know they didn’t come for the conch. They came for something else... From (Jack) his left hand dangled Piggy’s glasses”(168). The boys have abused the power of fire and it lead them to go behind backs to obtain the fire.

The adrenaline is pumping in your veins, you’re get ready for the kill, the moment is upon you. You begin to focus in, you put all of your strength to the spear and throw it. It hits the animal, and you just think about how you took the life away from a living thing. This is commonly known as hunting and in this novel, there is a lot of it. This hunting starts to become a problem though. The boys think it is just a game, but in reality it is a very strong power that only a few people possess. Jack is the first to kill something and also is the first one to have the power of hunting. They need meat and the only way to get it is to hunt, and later in the novel jack begins to abuse this power by using it to obtain a separate group than Ralph's. He shows this through a line in the novel “I gave you food. Said Jack. and my hunters will protect you from the beast. Who will join my tribe”(150). This quote shows how Jack abused the power of hunting to gain followers. Jack also uses the power of hunting to over power Ralph by using the primal instinct. “I (Jack) painted my face-I stole up. Now you eat-all of you-and I-”(74). This quote from the novel shows how Jack does have the power of hunting. These examples show how quickly the power is shifted once one leader has obtained one of the ways of power. Common sense is the third way of power in this astonishing novel.
This form of power is shown by how some of the boys can develop the problem at hand in their head and come up with a sensible solution to it that benefits everybody. This power is used mostly by the two major characters of Ralph and Piggy. Piggy is more of the person in the background that is evaluating the situation and constantly trying to come up with a solution for it. Where Ralph is more of the leader type that comes up with solutions on a split decision based on his experience and knowledge. Jack on the other hand does not show this trait, because he does not come up with sensible solutions but more of risky and dumb solutions. This shows how Ralph is the more sensible leader with Piggy as his vice leader. One quote in the novel that helps prove this point is this one that states how Piggy says that the boys should be more like Ralph and less like Jack “Which is better- to be a pack of painted Indians like you are, or to be sensible like Ralph is”(180). Common sense is the line between civilization and savagery. Most of the boys have crossed this line because of their lack of common sense. In the lack of common sense the leaders use primal forms of leadership, like how some torture others just to show how powerful they are. In this next quote Jack shows how he has a little bit of common sense by saying how Piggy wouldn’t have the will or the drive to make it to the top of the mountain “Your (Piggy)
no good on a job like this...All the same...We don’t want you, said Jack, flatly. Three’s enough”(24). In the novel the boys are hesitant to come up with solutions, but with the power of common sense they can come up with great solutions. In conclusion, this novel has many themes, but the theme power is superior. Power is shown in many different ways throughout the novel. One of the ways is through the power of fire. The other forms are the ability to hunt and common sense. William Golding does an amazing job in showing how power can overturn a democracy and even change the personalities of the characters. Golding also does a great job on showing how the power of leadership can change easily. What is power? What form do you have?