The downfall of Humanity due to cruel people.


“The pen is mightier than the sword”. This famous quote has been passed around through historians, authors and teachers. In the book, “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding, Jack and Ralph have many argumentative confrontations in which diplomacy never works. Jack whom is a bloodthirsty individual cannot be connected too when it comes to diplomacy. Jack is strictly a war like person. Throughout the course of history, society can see that bloodthirsty individuals cannot be diplomatic, and people like Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin could not be diplomatic and craved power through fear, and violence. A bloodthirsty person is someone who might resort to violence and killing rather than, a peaceful solution. Throughout time, history has seen its fare share of bloodthirsty people. Death is the result of power in a bloodthirsty person's hand.

Adolf Hitler was the leader of the Nazi party and began to take of Europe which led to World War II from 1934 to 1945. He came into power through a democracy and although he was voted into power his true intentions seemed to be hidden. As his time in power went on, war started due to his craving for power and the refusal to gain power in a diplomatic way. He put Germany’s problems on the Jews and used them as scapegoat so he could mask who he really was. As tensions grew, more and more people reached out to Adolf Hitler in a diplomatic way in order for him to stop his reign of terror. All of these attempts were futile because of Hitler’s bloodthirsty mindset. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a german pastor who vocally objected to Adolf Hitler’s movement and what he preached. He openly spoke out against Hitler and instead of being confronted by Hitler or Hitler’s followers, he was killed in 1945. Someone who resorts to killing and violence is someone who cannot see a diplomatic solution or a peaceful one.

In chapter 9 of “Lord of the Flies”, the boys have captured and feasted on a pig and are celebrating their accomplishments. Jack sits on his throne like a king while the boys wait on him hand and foot. Ralph attempts talking to him about the fact that they do not have a shelter and a storm is coming butthis does not seem to worry Jack. Instead, Jack and his followers started a war dance, in which they get very riled up. Simon then comes out of the forrest and Jack and his group begin to kill him in their crazy frenzy.  In the beginning of the book, Ralph attempted to calm down Jack and bring him back to his senses. He did this by calmly talking to him about shelters and the upcoming storm. This attempt at diplomacy was to no avail as Jack did not listen. Jack who has had a thirst for blood since arriving on the island, continues to show his savagery and lack of thought put into himself and his people. Then as he has instilled fear, and a false sense of power into his people much like how Hitler did to his people. They killed Simon, a defenseless person who had good news. Piggy and Ralph were not near and could not have stopped the onslaught, but Jack could have. But being the bloodthirsty individual that he is, he decided not too.

Joseph Stalin was the head of the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1952. In that time, he killed twenty million people. Essentially, Stalin create a dictatorship in the Soviet Union. He did this by eliminating his competition, controlling the media and pushing propaganda onto his people. As his power grew continue to increase, people were slaughtered. This person clearly was not capable of being diplomatic and having a good sense or morality was impossible to connect to in a diplomatic way. Only a savage could kill twenty million of his own people and continue to rule. Due to this,  Joseph Stalin could be defined as a bloodthirsty individual.

From what society can deduce through multiple examples of close minded, bloodthirsty and overall bad people is that those kinds of people are not capable of change nor capable of being diplomatic in any way. Both in “Lord of the Flies” and in the real world examples, people died because of these kinds of people, and not just a few but millions. Imagine how many more people would be alive today if Stalin and Hitler were capable of having reason and being diplomatic and not full of hatred. Imagine who would have come off of the island if Jack was reasonable and did not lead himself and his followers to violent solutions. The world would be better off with diplomacy and many examples show us this. Even, the Vietnam war. Society can clearly see that after attempting violence and war, millions of people died and still violence is not a solution. When dealing with bloodthirsty individuals violence is the answer, and diplomacy will not resonate with them.


Comments (4)

Nicholas Shaw (Student 2018)
Nicholas Shaw

1.) I agree with the comparison, because it worked out well with the rest of the essay. 2.) "Only a savage could kill twenty million of his own people and continue to rule." 3.) I like this because it puts history in a different perspective.

Cindy Chen (Student 2018)
Cindy Chen
  1. Yes I agree with the comparison. I feel like the comparison really works great because it made this essay stronger.

  2. Throughout the course of history, society can see that bloodthirsty individuals cannot be diplomatic, and people like Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin could not be diplomatic and craved power through fear, and violence.

  3. I like this part because this was presented in the introduction which gave us a overview of what real world example he is going to use and connects with the thesis making his thesis stronger.

Zahirah Poree (Student 2018)
Zahirah Poree

1.) I agree completely with this perspective and with this comparison. I really like how detailed your real world examples are.

  1. " This person clearly was not capable of being diplomatic and having a good sense or morality was impossible to connect to in a diplomatic way. Only a savage could kill twenty million of his own people and continue to rule."

3.) I like how in these two sentences, you clearly state your opinion, and you can clearly see the comparison between diplomacy and savagery.

Kimberly Barnes (Student 2018)
Kimberly Barnes
  1. Overall, I really enjoyed the essay. The comparison was perfect and made the essay argumentative and even interesting. I like how he connected historical figures that reflected the story. 2." Throughout the course of history, society can see that bloodthirsty individuals cannot be diplomatic, and people like Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin could not be diplomatic and craved power through fear, and violence. "
  2. I liked this sentence because it helped elaborate on the thesis, and make it an argumentative statement. It was also unique and it was worded very well.