Full Authority Over The Other Boys example essay topic
In the novel the lord of the flies by William Golding, leadership is important. When children are given the opportunity, they would rather envelop themselves in pleasure and play than in the stresses of work. The boys show enmity towards building the shelters, even though this work is important, to engage in trivial activities, after one of the shelters collapses while Simon. No one else, they " re off bathing or eating" (55).
Ralph and Simon though only children are more mature and adult like and stray to work on the shelters while the others aimlessly run off and play. The other boys avidly choose to eat, play, etc. than to continue to work with Ralph, which is very boring and uninteresting. The boys act typically of most children their age by being more interested in having fun than working. Secondly, all the boys leave Ralph's hard working group to join jacks group who just want to have fun, the day after the death of Simon when Piggy and Ralph are bathing, Piggy points beyond the platform and says, "that's were they " re gone.
Jacks party. Just for some meat, and for hunting and for pretending to be a tribe and putting on war paint" (163). Piggy realizes exactly why the boys have gone to jacks, which would be for fun and excitement. The need to play and have fun in jacks group, even thought the boys risk the tribes brutality and the chance of not being rescued, out weighs doing work with Ralph's group which increase their chances of being rescued.
Young children need to satisfy their amusement but playing fames instead of doing work. When children are without adults to look to for leadership they look for an adult like person for leadership. At the beginning of the novel, when the boys first realize they are all alone, they turn to Ralph fort leadership. After Ralph calls the first meeting, Golding writes, "there was a stillness about Ralph as he sat that marked him out: there was his size, and attractive appearance, a and obscurely, yet most powerfully, there was the conch. The being that had sat waiting for them" (24). The boys ate drawn to Ralph because of his physical characteristics and because he had blown the conch.
THE fact that there are no adults has caused the boys to be attracted to Ralph as a leader. The physical characters tics of Ralph remind the boys of their parents of other adult authority figures they may have had in their old lived back home. There is also the conch that Ralph holds which may remind the boys of school bell or a teacher's whistle. Finally, at the end of the novel, the boys ate feasting on the meat of a freshly killed sow, the narrator says: Jack spoke 'give me a drink. ' Henry brought himself and he drank. Jack was now has full authority over the other boys.
The boys took to jack for his daunting leadership, which intimidates them. Jack is very forceful and his ways most likely remind the boys of authoritative figures in their past who may have strapped, beaten or used other forms of violence when discipline the children. Therefore, the children when left without adult authority figure turn to others who can replace that adult authority figure. In addition to seeking adult like authority figures, children lose their innocence and stray towards savagery when not around adults that is why leadership is important. When the boys have been on the island for a short time, they start to show more violence, but when they realize what they have done they become embarrassed by their actions. After Maurice destroys Percival sandcastle and some sand gets in Percicals eye, the narrator writes: Percival before to whimper with an eyeful of sand and Maurice hurried away.
In his other life he would of had received punishment of filling a younger kids eye with sand. Though there were was no parent to let fall a heavy hand, Maurice still felt unease of wrong doing" (65). In conclusion, in the novel the lord of the flies, Golding succeeds in showing the actions, decisions and thinking of young children. Children would choose to play and have fun rather than work. When children need to look for leadership and there are no adults to provide them the boys look for another child who has adult like qualities for leadership.
A Childs life is as along and winding roars in which they can be sidetracked quite easily.