Power and manipulation are evident in the novel Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, where boys are stranded on a tropical island in the Pacific, without any adults or authority figures. Jack Merridew abuses his power and emerges as their leader, using fear and torture as he sees fit. Similarly, in the film, The Power of One, directed by John G Alvidsen, set in South Africa, in a time where Apartheid was law, Dr. Marais and his government maintain power over the majority of black Africans, using fear and physical threats to do so. For some time power and manipulation are the foundation on which these societies are built, however, fortunately this does not last forever, and things change for the better.
Lord of the Flies shows how Jack abuses his power and manipulates others to become leader of a society that is based on these same themes.
Jack Bauer (24) checks the new iPhone for CTU
Lord of the Flies
English: Cottages, The Green, Marlborough William ...Jack gains much of his power through the manipulation of the boys' fear of the beast. So, after exploiting his role in the group he controls them by ousting the previous leader Ralph, who tries to convince the group there is no beast. Unfortunately, Jack's power allows him make him look substandard, so they think he is superior. This is shown when Jack is able to admit his wrongs: "'I'm sorry. About the fire, I mean. There... I apologize.' The buzz from the hunters was one of admiration at this handsome behaviour... Jack had done the decent thing, and put himself in the right by his generous apology and Ralph, obscurely in the wrong."
Similarly, Dr. Marais' Apartheid regime gives him power over his government and allows him to control the black Africans. Like Jack in Lord of the Flies, he controls them using physical violence, and it is their...