In Lord of the Flies, power corrupts
Jack. He becomes a savage. He cruelly kills a pig, cutting its head off to be put on a
stick as a sacrifice. Jack desires to have absolute control. He stirs up a savagery
dance, thus stirring up animal instincts in the other boys, until they attack Simon and
kill them with their bare hands and teeth.
Next, Piggy
becomes the target of Jack's beastly instincts. Roger throws rocks at Piggy, thus
causing him to fall forty feet and into the rocks below in the sea. Piggy is dead and
Simon is dead because of Jack's lust for power intertwined with his savagery
instincts...
The central concern of Lord of the
Flies is the conflict between two competing impulses that exist within all
human beings: the instinct to live by rules, act peacefully, follow moral commands, and
value the good of the group against the instinct to gratify one’s immediate desires, act
violently to obtain supremacy over others, and enforce one’s will. This conflict might
be expressed in a number of ways: civilization vs. savagery, order vs. chaos, reason vs.
impulse, law vs. anarchy, or the broader heading of good vs.
evil.
Julius Caesar could
learn a lesson from the tragedy that results from the savagery instincts in Jack. What
begins as a cruel act of a placing a pig's head on a stick ends with blood thirsty
instincts, thus Simon is brutally killed by the boys.
When
Ralph is rescued, all he can do now is weep for Simon and Piggy.
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