It is human nature to fight and bicker with other people. In stressful situations, many people spend more time bickering then they do trying to think out and solve the issue. In The Lord of the Flies, William Golding addresses the human nature of bickering while under stress. In this book, a group of boys are stranded on a desert island with the oldest people being merely twelve years old. At first, the boys get along fine and come up with an intelligent plan to live on the island in peace and possibly get rescued. But because two of the boys have leadership qualities, they both assume this position, and the arguments between them cause the island to fall apart. In this text, one can see that time spent bickering is time that could be spent to put forth ideas, which would benefit everyone.
One of the largest wastes of time in solving a problem is the time spent discussing the problem itself.
Lord of the Flies
English: Cottages, The Green, Marlborough William ...
Lord of the FliesIt's important that everybody understands the conflict, of course, but when the discussion turns into a debate, the purpose of the understanding is defeated. In the novel Lord of the Flies, Ralph, the elected leader of the group, often calls meetings to discuss the current issues on the island. In this instance, the boys are separated into groups to do certain tasks, such as hunt for food or tend the fire. When the hunting group's leader, Jack, encourages the fire tenders to hunt, the flame is left unattended and it dies out. At the exact same time a ship passes the island without seeing the smoke signal, which should have been there. Ralph is not happy with the event as he expresses later in a meeting that day. "'Hasn't anyone got any sense? We've got to...