Mob Mentality In Lord Of The Flies

This sample essay on Mob Mentality In Lord Of The Flies offers an extensive list of facts and arguments related to it. The essay’s introduction, body paragraphs, and the conclusion are provided below.

Second World War, where one sees the true nature of the human being, and gets Insight Into why they behave how they do. Lord of the Flies supports Schopenhauer notion that, “Man Is at bottom a wild and terrible animal. We know him [man] only as what civilization has trained him… But when the locks and chains of law and order are castoff… He shows himself for what he really is”.

This behavioral change is vivid in Jack, Ralph, and Piggy, where ACH one of them displays their true selves when society is suddenly stripped of all order and stability.

Jack, the boys’ choir leader, displays the largest leap towards savagery as soon as he is liberated from shame and self-consciousness. Soon after the boys were deserted on the island, Jack switches to his hidden annalistic traits to find food for the tribe.

Instinctively, Jack falls to his hands and knees, and smells the pigs’ feces. He tells the group that, “the droppings were warm. They lay piled up among the earth” (49). Jack’s qualities show how quickly he resorts to a preemptively uniting manner as soon as traditional authority Is abolished.

Jack also displays these Inner traits when he and his hunters ruthlessly kill a mother pig for nothing but game. As the other boys were chasing the mother pig, hoping to spear her to death, Jack was, “wedded to her lust, excited by the long chase and the dropped blood” (135).

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Jack detaches himself from all morals he gained in the outside world, and behaves so barbaric that one could relate his behavior to that of rape. Jacks inner beast is again shown is when he orders the litmus to be beaten by the begins, ND then thrown in a cave.

Lord Of The Flies Essay On Inner Beast

Though there are no reasons for their beatings, Jack feels the need to show his authority to the rest of his tribe, as well as to Ralph. For the first time, he feels empowered and unrestrained, and wastes no time using his newfound freedom. Ralph, the least expected to change towards being uncivilized, eventually fees the effect of liberation as well. The first time we see him behaving outside his personality Is when he goes pig hunting with the rest of the hunters. Here, Ralph successfully spears a pig to Its death right before It leapt onto Jack.

Ralph feels a sense of adrenaline rush through him, and he feels the need to retell the story to everyone, trying to keep this new feeling from disappearing. Even the most civilized person, the one who is supposed to be the order keeper can also have beast-like traits deep down inside him, waiting for the right time to surface. Another time Ralph shows his inner traits is when the group of boys murder Simon. As the boys were reciting their pig-killing chant, Simon stumbles upon their group trying to tell them the truth about the beast.

Though the boys have enough time to realize that their prey was actually Simon, they continue to kill the poor child. Ralph neglects all of civilizations’ teachings, and Is lured into the action by the anonymity provided by the dreaded circle. He Is later left to sit and think acknowledging that he too was a part of the slaughter. Towards the end of the novel, Ralph truly shows his Instinctive, annalistic behavior as he is being chased by Jack’s hunters. As he is running away, stumbling over tree Transcends Ana Dues, en called to e en en wonderer f a pig would agree”(197).

Ralph, though trying to escape the mob, reverts to his hidden annalistic instincts and trusts his life in the hands off pigs wit. Piggy’s response to having freedom and no rules is that of nervousness and panic. Although he does not react negatively at the lack of law, he is so used to the rules and straightforwardness of civilization, that when separated on this deserted island, he expresses his idealistic feelings about grown-ups. Near the beginning of the novel, Piggy brings up his auntie every time Ralph asks him to do something.

Piggy remains n the sidelines of the island’s activities because his auntie would not like him to participate. He feels that he cannot possibly continue to live on the island without guidance or assistance from adults. Also, when the laws were cast off, Piggy’s ideas of adults became so innocent. He thinks that adults could settle the island’s problems because, “They’d meet and have tea and discuss. Then things ‘du be all right”(94). Piggy’s ironic neglect towards the actuality of the adults’ behavior is that of a very innocent child.

Piggy, as we see through the beginning of the book, feels the need to ether all the children’s’ names, and strives to obtain the order that was once held in civilization. Piggy tries to make up for the loss of order by assuming responsibilities such as taking names for all the children, and monitoring over the litmus. He does this because he does not feel secure when there is nothing holding society together. Gildings novel emphasizes Schopenhauer idea that law and order are the locks and chains that hold people back from resorting to their actual personality.

Man’s true, inner person is released once the factors holding him accountable for his actions are moved. The idea of circle and mob mentality is prominent in the novel. As people form a larger group, and each person gains the comfort of anonymity, it allows them to become savage and cruel to a point where mob mentality controls everyone’s actions. Gilding also expresses the annalistic traits man shows when order is abolished. In a deserted setting, one does not have the influence of other people to guide him in a civilized manner. Rather, one can only revert to his primal nature, and assume responsibility for his actions.