Ruled by Hate// BJC

Brooklin Johnson-Coles

Ms. Pahomov

English  2

26 March 2018

Ruled by Hate

What happens when a society is ruled by hate? In Lord of the Flies, William Golding writes about a group of boys stuck on an island. They go through all sorts of changes and do some awful things such as outcasting a fellow acquaintance, named Piggy. This demonstrates how in the real world hate escalates. This hate can develop into bullying or harassment, just as was seen in the treatment of Piggy and in the real world with bullying in the Philadelphia School District.  

Piggy was a character in Lord of the Flies that suffered at the hands of hate. He was an easy target to get picked on because he was heavy set and wore glasses. In Chapter One, he was targeted by Jack Merridew, the newly elected chief of the group. Jack states, “You're talking too much, said Jack Merridew. Shut up Fatty...He’s not Fatty cried Ralph...For the moment the boys were a closed circuit of sympathy with Piggy on the outside...” (21) Piggy is humiliated in front of everyone by their chief, which is setting him up to fail for the rest of his time on the island. He had nobody to stick up for him and the person who did just made the group laugh even more. Leaving no room for anybody change or fix the treatment Piggy received. Soon everyone follows after Jack and Piggy becomes one of the most unliked people on the island. Piggy’s reputation is tarnished before he could even introduce himself properly. Name calling is the first level of bullying. Ralph calling Piggy, “Fatty” made his name out to be a joke. Nobody respected him after that. It may not seem like a big deal at first but it can escalate into something worse. It’s like a warning sign for bullying.

This closely relates to bullying in the Philadelphia School District. Amanda Wible was a Philadelphia School Student that was bullied throughout her school experience. She was talked about because of the way she looked. She wore baggy clothes and everyone thought she dressed like a boy. The Inquirer states, "It was mostly name-calling; kids would talk about how I looked, and the fact that I dressed like a boy, said Wible.” This shows that students at her school talked about her physical appearance. The students disliked her because she was different she didn’t fit in and they hated her for it. Just like in Lord of the Flies, when the boys made fun of Piggy because of his weight. Amanda got talked about because she was different, she didn’t look like the other girls. Studies show that most bullying begins with name calling. In both instances, bullying starts with small degrading aspects. Often times, it results in hate and bullying towards another person.

Later on in Lord of the Flies, the boys lack of respect for Piggy grows and they get bolder. The text states, “‘His specs- use them as burning glasses!’ Piggy was surrounded before he could back away. ‘Here- let me go!’ His voice rose to a shriek of terror as Jack snatched the glasses off his face.”(40) This shows the boys turning their hate for Piggy into abuse. They treat him with no respect. They take his glasses without asking or even giving him a minute to process. They aren’t given any consent. Piggy couldn’t even defend himself. The boys think nothing of it, they just take what they need. Nobody ever stops and thinks about Piggy's feelings. This is a result of the boys having no consequence to the name calling. Since, the boys got a way with that, they believed they could just up the stakes. This clearly shows how Piggys bullying escalated. They put their hatred into action. The boys went from Shut up Fatty to taking his personal belongings.

The same goes for Amanda Wible, who’s school experience got worse the more she went to school. She states, “I'd be hit; I'd have things stolen from me, Wible said. ‘I'd report things all the time, and they'd tell me: 'Ignore them. It will stop. We'll talk to them.'" Amanda Wible suffers from physical abuse. The hate the students share for her has caused them to physically attack her. They continued to bully her because just like Piggy they were given no consequences for name calling. Bullying is something that escalates depending on what people are able to get away with. In Amanda's case, she never fought back and when she did speak up no actions took place. And in Piggys case nobody stood up for him or took his side.

To conclude, bullying is something that takes time. Some forms of hate comes from jealousy. There’s not always a reason for someone’s dislike for you. In Piggy and Amanda’s case, they were ostracized for being different. They can’t help their personality or how they look. In society today you can be outcasted for simply being you. Lord of the Flies showed that through Piggy. Hate can drive a person or society to do things without reason. It is the core of bullying and can change a society.

Works Cited

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

Graham, Kristen A. “Bullied in School, a Northeast Philly Woman Won a $500,000

Judgment. Her Case Could Ripple.” Https://Www.philly.com, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News and Philly.com, 27 Oct. 2018, www.philly.com/philly/education/northeast-philly-student-bullied-awarded-500000-philadelphia-school-district-20181027.html.

Schafer, John R. “The Seven-Stage Hate Model: The Psychopathology of Hate.” Psychology

Today, Sussex Publishers, 18 Mar. 2011, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/let-their-words-do-the-talking/201103/the-seven-stage-hate-model-the-psychopathology-hate.

“Warning Signs for Bullying.” StopBullying.gov, U.S Department of Health and Human

Services, 7 Feb. 2018, www.stopbullying.gov/at-risk/warning-signs/index.html.