Lord of the Flies Essay - Sophia Paul

Sophia Paul

Ms. Pahomov

ENGL 2

21 March 2019

Lord of the Flies Essay

Human nature digs deep into the actions that someone takes and asks, What leads to people’s actions? In the novel  Lord of the Flies by William Golding, there are a group of boys that are stranded on an island without any adults. They start out civil, but after they started killing pigs for food, they became more savage. They killed the pigs and hunted the pigs in a very barbaric way. How the boys on the island act mirrors similar primitive tendencies that people still possess such as Black Friday shoppers. The pig hunt in the book is essential for survival  but it is also how they show their true colors. Jack wanted to kill the pig the most and more excited with the fact he killed the pig than the protein he could get from the pig. When Jack killed his first pig he says, “'I cut the pig's throat,’ said Jack, proudly, and yet twitched as he said it...said Jack, laughing and shuddering, ‘you should have seen it,’” (69). Jack’s reaction to this revealed a dark truth of how people are fulfilled with pride when they have the ability to dominate and slaughter another being. Furthermore, when he killed the pig, he felt so proud and he wanted to tell everyone about his “prize.” After killing the first pig the reader could see that Jack reveals how it is human nature to have a desire of domination. A modern phenomenon that mirrors this is Black Friday where people go drastic measures in the pursuit of getting a financial discount.  This reflects Jack’s outburst because, once a buyer gets the deal, it makes them feel accomplished. According to a website article, today.com, they stated, “‘This is how they win and they are proud of it. ...it’s a symbol of their prowess,’ ” Within this quote, it explains how good it feels when the buyer wins. When the guy gets 50% off his flat screen T.V. and he gets to bring it up and put it in his house, it is a symbol of pride. That buyer is able to show the world that he “won” Black Friday. And even if the buyer had to shove someone out of the way or push pass people to get to the television, the buyer does not care. The same ideas are in Lord of the Flies. When Jack kills the pig, he gets so excited and giddy like he just won the prize. He was laughing and couldn't wait to tell the other boys about the kill. He does not think about what he just did, he just celebrated. Both of these examples show that even after doing an evil deal, it doesn’t matter because the reward is so worth it.

Emotions play a role into the actions of what characters in the book do. At the beginning of the book, Jack was trying to kill a pig, but failed. Due to him being  unable to kill the pig, he got very upset and angry. In the book, it stated, “He snatched his knife out of the sheath and slammed it into a tree trunk. Next time there would be no mercy,” (31). Jack became  upset that he was unable to kill the pig. He was in front of all of the kids and he was not picked chief, so he wanted to prove himself. Due to his inability instead, he slammed his knife into the tree in frustration. The boys knew that next time he would not hold back; he would have no mercy. Moreover, felt that his inability reflected his lack of worth as a person due to the pig escaping, which lead to his wrath after killing it. Jack’s frustration with being unable to slaughter a pig also reflects Black Friday shoppers. During Black Friday, people can also be emotional. When they get their prize, they feel so proud and happy, but when they don’t they get enraged. In an article from pbs.org, “...participants ... who had an emotional response to the scenarios, whether negative or positive, were more likely to be willing to engage in consumer misbehavior,”. A study was done to see how different consumers acted during Black Friday. More customers that are emotional are more likely to do bad things. If a buyer went  into Walmart to buy a television 50% off and someone else took the t.v. from him, he got emotional. And once the customer gets mad, they will most respond with physical violence. If another consumer gets in the buyer's way, the buyer will have a higher chance to show the consumer out of the way. This concept is seen within Lord of the Flies. When Jack didn’t kill his pig, he got very enraged and that was one of the causes that led him to kill more pigs and kill two of the boys on the island. After the emotions come through and the control the person, genuine human nature of the person is seen.

After harsh events, people are exposed to how they will act next. Jack and his hunts showed how he had fun killing and taking the life out of creatures and how little he cares about what he did. Black Friday shoppers do not care about the safety of the other shoppers and are only trying to get their product by any means possible. The feeling of winning is strong, but the feeling of losing is even stronger because that feeling will grow and grow until they win. These events are revealing the brutal and crude side of man hide that lays just beneath our surface.

Works Cited

Lee, Jaeha. On Black Friday, the Psychology of Retail Rage. PBS, Public Broadcasting Service,  

24 Nov. 2017, www.pbs.org/newshour/science/why-black-friday-leads-shoppers-to-behave-bonkers.

Vivinetto, Gina. Why Do We Do It? The Psychology behind Black Friday Madness.  

TODAY.com, TODAY, 27 Nov. 2015, www.today.com/health/madness-crowds-psychology-behind-black-friday-t58096.

Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. Penguin Books, 2006