Primal Fear in Lord of the flies

Essay by Ankur KamdarA+, January 1996

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Primal Fear

In a society complete cooperation by all members must occur for any progress and construction to take place. When stuck on a deserted island in Golding's Lord of the Flies, Ralph, Piggy, and the rest of the choirboys have no choice open to them but to eke out a living and to attempt to survive while waiting for rescue. This can create a major burden for a group of grown men much less a group of children. Whether it be fear of a loss of power or of not having people to back him up, Jack's fear lays the eventual straw that breaks that society's back and which eventually halts the progression of the community. Fear in a society hinders its progress and construction in the long run.

Jack's fear of a loss of power incomparably impedes progress on the island. Stating, ''I ought to be chief, because I am chapter chorister and head boy.

I can sing C sharp.'' (Golding 22), Jack simply tries to find any kind of reason why power should be taken out of the deserving hands of Ralph and given to his own. Jack demonstrates his dread towards losing control and power. Ralph handles the situation very efficiently and in a well-organized manner. Because of Jack's greed for power

and his fear of losing it, the small community of young boys are

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not able to effectively and pragmatically plan ways to eventually be saved. When, having a gathering of all the children, Jack urges everyone not to listen to Ralph's reasoning but rather to listen to his own. This can be described as deleterious to all the children because now not only do they have to deal with how to survive, but also with extra internal conflicts.

As a result...