Antonia Solar

Ms. Pahomov

English 2

25 March 2019

Power Through Fear

How is leadership established? There are different forms of leaders all around, some leaders with more power than others, but what should be done when people are ruled by the one they fear? At times, desperate followers can assist towards insecure people asserting fear-based leadership. The hopelessness of the followers leads to them not having the confidence to stand up to their leader due to the terror they have of the outcome if they can’t guide and support themselves. The coercive power of leaders keeps people in line by creating a sense of powerlessness, obedience, and dependency.

In William Golding’s, Lord of the Flies, Jack presses the group of boys to listen to him as he plays into the fear that they will be stuck on the island forever. As chief, Jack says he will “get more of the biguns away from the conch and all that" (133). Jack states  that when his tribe hunts they'll leave some of the kills for the beast so that it won't bother them. The conch, which represents a civilized society, illustrating how Jack did not think about long-term effects of staying on the island. Instead, he thought of what benefitted him and what he wanted, leading to him being able to come into rule as the uneasiness of what their future might hold giving Jack leeway to come into power. Ralph and Piggy try to tell Jack that the fire is their only way out, and throughout the book, it represents their only tie to society and their old life. As Jack becomes blinded with his greed and need for power, he blurs the goals of his tribe. The more Ralph loses his hold over the group of boys, they are left seeking for someone who will lead them in a more effective manner. Running wild becomes the only way they can stay in denial of the events that have happened.

Although it may seem almost from another world, government enforced disappearances exist as a way for leaders to establish their power over others. In an article from “Human Rights Watch,” it is pointed out that “It is impossible to determine the exact number of people jailed on politically motivated grounds due to the complete lack of transparency in the justice system, closed trials, and severe repression that precludes independent monitoring of these cases.”  In countries like Turkmenistan, where the government is very strict and the people living there have less freedom, fear of one’s family or friend being taken leads people to try to stay in line, reinforcing the government’s power. Governments can use their followers to their advantage and since they were given the power, the follower is left with nothing to do as they are unprotected by the law, which appears corrupt by the ones in power. This is revealed in the book, as Jack rules the group of boys by imposing the idea upon them that he is the only way they will survive, making them dependent of him.

Jack shows his ability to control others when he kidnaps the twins Sam and Eric to get them to be under his rule. Ralph tries to free them and they refuse to come, he says, "’Won't you come with me? Three of us--we'd stand a chance.’ After a moment's silence, Sam spoke in a strangled voice. ‘You don't know Roger. He's a terror.’ ‘And the chief--they're both--’ ‘--terrors--’" (189.) The description of Jack and Roger, who are the authority figures, by Sam and Eric who were forced to join their tribe, shows the fear that is instilled in them if they do one wrong move. It is shown that Sam and ric are too afraid to follow what they really believe and as there is no one who can challenge Jack and Roger, they are left helpless. This occurs too with government enforced disappearances as no one can help them as there is no one with enough power to overrule the leaders.

When it comes to government enforced disappearances, the fear is implanted in people by the fact that the ones who they trusted with keeping them safe are the ones hurting them, leaving the victims powerless. According to “Amnesty International,” an organization that focuses on human rights, “A disappeared person is also at a high risk of torture since they are placed completely outside the protection of the law.” Leaders can use their powers in negative ways as they are responsible and are able to influence the people who rely on them. This causes people to not be able to do much about the disappearances because they were already given control and power. Just like in Lord of the Flies, the mental hold that the leader has on the followers because of fear of being hurt, or not being able to go back to their lives, gives the leader the ability to do what they want.

Many of the events and characters can be connected to real-life events, and through this, we can understand the philosophy of humans and human behavior. Government enforced disappearances and Jack’s rule over the boys reveal the ideology that some people have where they are able to come into power through the vulnerability of the many followers. When Jack separates and creates his own tribe, his vision for the others becomes blurred with his own needs. This is apparent in government enforced disappearances as they as the government uses this technique for their convenience in a way to gain their best interest at heart. In Lord of the Flies, Jack even kidnaps Sam and Eric in a way to take what control Ralph had left. They are left without a way out as Jack’s show of strength keeps his followers loyal to him, haunting them with the fear that they too may be hurt if they do not do what they are told. Furthermore, when governments decide to enforced disappearances, they too show the control they have over their followers. As bystanders, the surrounding followers do not rebel and instead feed into the power of the leaders, helping them grow their influence. Books can be metaphors to people’s lives, leaving many lessons to be learned. Lord of the Flies can be seen as a reflection of the world, revealing the possible fear that can control people’s decisions, views, and can ultimately be the one to entrap one in their own self.

Works Cited

“Everything You Need to Know about Enforced Disappearances and Human Rights.”

Disappearances | Amnesty International, Amnesty International, www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/disappearances/.

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

Khazan, Olga. “Why You Shouldn't 'Go With Your Gut'.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company,

20 Sept. 2016, www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/09/the-best-headspace-for-making-decisions/500423/.

Sada, Michelle. “Psych 256: Cognitive Psychology FA16 – 002.” Powered by Sites at Penn State -

WordPress, Penn State, 20 Nov. 2016, www.sites.psu.edu/psych256fa1602/2016/11/20/the-effects-of-fear-on-decision-making/.

“World Report 2019: Rights Trends in Turkmenistan.” Human Rights Watch, Human Rights

Watch, 17 Jan. 2019, www.hrw.org/world-report/2019/country-chapters/turkmenistan.

Ethan Chen

Ms. Pahomov

English 2

21 March 2019

What happens when you put two leaders with different ideologies in the same environment?

Imagine you are on an island trapped with a group of people and you have to rebuild a society on but you have two potential leaders fighting over different concepts of how to run this island. Well, in William Golding’s, Lord of the Flies, a group of boys survive a plane crash and they have to rebuild and recreate a society on a deserted island with no adult authority. As the book goes on, their society progressively turns from civilized to chaotic which ends in an all-out war for power between Jack and Ralph. The reader can see real-world examples from history where two leaders with totally different opinions rise up to power causing tension and resulting in an outbreak of violence.    

North Korea and South Korea is a famous example of this. Both are well known for one of their most militarized and protected borders in the world. What once was a unified Korea living as one, whole country, fell into the split of North and South Korea. The Japanese had all control over Korea when they invaded in 1910, oppressing them and destroying their culture until the Japanese finally surrender during WW2. The Soviets started to take over Korea as well as the US had to make sure they did not take all of Korea. This was the chance for Korea to rebuild under a new government in which two people came into power, Kim II Sung and Syngman Rhee. The problem was, they had different ideas of how to run the country. In the article “Why North Korea and South Korea Are Separated” by Prableen Bajpai, she wrote about how the rise in power for the two leaders caused conflict as their political ideology differed about how to run the new era of Korea. Sung wanted a communist government while Rhee wanted a capitalist one. They both wanted to reunite Korea as a whole but the fight over which political idea is still being battelled out. This means that although the two emerging leaders wanted to agree on the objective to unite Korea as one nation again and rebuild their society after the Japanese conflict, they both had completely different views about how the government should be administered. This opposition created a lack of trust in each and the tensions between the two groups. Primarily, without an agreement from both parties of what to do, pressures from both sides can rise quickly which will ultimately lead to a call of action. Similar to the boys in Lord of the Flies, Ralph’s plans are challenged by Jack’s plans about what priorities should be set for their time on the island.   

In the early days of the island, there were already disagreements of what their intentions on the island should be. Jack and Ralph had already started to have a controversy about their differences in ideas of how the island should be governed and what is essential to their survival. In this scene, Jack came back after he failed to catch a pig as Ralph and Simon were trying to assemble living quarters for the boys to live in. Ralph got frustrated in their progress on the shelters. “’I was talking about smoke! Don’t you want to be rescued? All you can talk about is pig, pig, pig!’ ‘But we want meat!’ ‘And I work all day with nothing but Simon and you come back and don’t even notice the huts’” (54). In this tense interaction, Ralph is arguing with Jack about how building shelters and creating a fire is essential to their goal of surviving. On the other hand, Jack thinks that hunting is more important as they need food to avoid starvation. This shows how two people who are rising to power can cause conflict as they believe in completely different methods of how the island should be run and what they should prioritize for their survival. Even though they are in the same environment going through the same situation, there would always be a disagreement of what to achieve and to accomplish. It caused tension between Ralph and Jack’s relationship with each other which in turn caused the lack of effectivity on the island and issues later down the line, which will resulted in a split between the group.  

With the disagreement of who should run Korea (more like communism vs. capitalism,) the USSR and the USA relationship barely holding on, the communist North decided to attack the whole Korean peninsula. In “Korea: A History Of The North-South Split” by Tim Marshall, the Foreign Affairs Editor wrote that “In 1950 the North launched a surprise attack across the 38th parallel and quickly took most of the South. The United Nations then backed what it called a "police action" to repulse the advance and the Korean War, which would last for three years, had begun.” This shows how the situation could escalate when two completely different ideologies are put down on the table. This real-life connection happens to take a violent path with an unexpected attack to dominate the other side. With the method of violence, it supports the one leader display dominance to the people and dominates the other party. This also gives the party leverage of power over the everyday people they are leading. Similar to Lord of the Flies, Jack’s tribe decided to attack Ralph’s tribe so they could obtain the power of the fire which in this case, the fire is the essential thing that keeps both parties at power.

After Jack left Ralph’s tribe, he established a new group which was made up of mostly the biguns who left Ralph as they believed in Jack’s ideas. They both ran alongside one another separately for a while until Jack planned an ambush against Ralph. His tribe needed a way to roast the pig so they decided it was best to steal Piggy’s glasses from Ralph’s tribe. Knowing that the glasses means fire and fire is the symbol of power, they wanted to fight to get it. As night fell, things started to unravel. Jack tribe ambushed Ralph’s group and invaded their sheatler. “He was torn and jolted, found fingers in his mouth and bit them. A fist withdrew and came back like a piston so that the whole shelter exploded…’ That was Jack and his hunters’ said Ralph bitterly.’Why can’t they leave us alone?’” (167). This section from the text shows how an outbreak of violence finally occurs between the two rivals with completely different ideas of how to run the island. With two separate groups on the island who highly oppose each other, there will always be conflict between the two groups in order to dominate the other side and belittle them. With two leaders who have very distinct ideas from one other, there was bound to be an outbreak or clash between the two parties.

By connecting Lord of the Flies to the real-life event of the split of North and South Korea, it is seen how two individuals with highly opposing ideas interact and lead a group of people in the same circumstances. With two rising leaders with two different beliefs and no solid agreement from both sides, there would definitely be a split between the group of people supporting the leaders that their ideas line up with, causing very high tension between the two parties which could ultimately lead into conflict like violence. When you place two leaders with different beliefs and standards, there would be immediate dispute between the two groups that could lead to serious difficulty later on.  

Work Cited

Bajpai, Prableen. “Why North Korea and South Korea Are Separated.” Investopedia  

Investopedia, 12 Mar. 2019, www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/040515/why-north-korea-south-korea-are-separated.asp.

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

Marshal, Tim. “Korea: A History Of The North-South Split.” Sky News,

https://news.sky.com/story/korea-a-history-of-the-north-south-split-10449691

Szczepanski, Kallie. “How Korea Split Into North Korea and South Korea.” ThoughtCo,

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

Isabella Torres

Ms. Pahomov

English 2

24 March 2019

Unity Within a Community

The difference of opinions are everywhere and there will be disagreements with every topic. Sometimes, they can be talked over and solved, but other times these opinions can escalate to new levels. In the novel, The Lord of The Flies written by William Golding, a group of young british boys crash on an island and they divide between two groups. One was civilized and they followed moral rules, while the other group was savage and did murderous things, the group as a whole was not on the same page. The separation of a unity of people will cause havoc for everyone involved.

When the boys first started to set up camp, only Ralph and Simon were making their huts on the beach and they felt like the only ones who were responsible. Everyone else was having fun and playing games and no one was helping out Simon and Ralph build huts. Ralph exclaimed to Simon, “‘The older ones aren’t much better. D’you see? All day I’ve been working with Simon. No one else. They’re off bathing, or eating, or playing.”” (50). From the beginning of the novel, the boys were disagreeing and they were not all there to help one another out. Ralph was voted chief of all the boys and Jack, the other candidate, didn’t agree with Ralph being leader. At this point in the book, all the boys are still together but Jack and his choir boys separated themselves from Ralph’s small party. Slowly but surely, tensions between Jack’s group and Ralph’s group began to grow. Jack and his group were more focused on having fun rather than being practical and help build shelters with Ralph. They had different agendas on what they planned to do on the island. when there is opposition within the group of boys, the bonds start to break and issue start to form.

The Founding Fathers of the US government had some disagreements with how the government ran and who had the most power overall. Some of the founders wanted congress to have the most power while others preferred if the other central branches had more power.  On umbc.edu, they say “A debate thus ensued, between the Federalist side, led by Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, and the Anti Federalists, led by Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry, over exactly how much power and authority to give Congress and the other central branches of the new government.” They did not know how to make their decision. Soon after, the small disagreement the Founding Fathers came up with a solution that they agreed on, which resulted in our Bill of Rights and our Constitution. To this day, the American government is still run on this agreement made 200 years ago. Some disagreements work out for the best, while some result for the worse. Unfortunately, within the novel, the clashing of different ideas did not result in the well being of everyone on the island. Disagreements are very common and can either end peacefully or can end with even more bickering.

Towards the end of their time on the island, Jack decided to split himself from the main group because he disagreed with Ralph’s priorities. Ralph was not focused on killing another pig while that was the only thing Jack cared about. Jack said, “I’m going off by myself. He can catch his own pigs. Anyone who wants to hunt when I do can come too” (127). Jack was focused on killing the beast the boys claimed to see the night before on the mountains. Jack wanted to officially kill the beast so the boys could be safe and have nothing to worry about. Jack did not want to negotiate with Ralph and try to help the whole group out. Instead, Jack wanted to focus on himself and his goal to kill the pig.

In 1787, the founding fathers were deciding who would have the most power within the US government. Scholastic.com says the first ever political groups in America, “Hamilton and other leaders who wanted a strong central government banded together to put over their policies…. they began calling themselves the Federalists. This was the first United States political party… Anti-Federalists gathered … members of Jefferson's group called themselves Democratic-Republicans.” Some experts say that these extreme parties are not helping anyone and leave the entire country in a grip. Thehill.com says, “ Each side is more extreme, and each bases their political agenda on demonizing the other side” and the boys on the island do the same thing. Jack is reluctant to try and meet in the middle with Ralph, which turns Jack to go extremely savage and further from being civilized. Both of their situations would have ended drastically if things were different.

Splitting into separate idea groups can interfere with the unity of the whole community. Just as Jack went to the extremes of being in the wild, the political parties become extreme opposite ends of the spectrum. Sometimes groups don’t always hold and not everyone has the same goal in the end. They either pull through and have a common ground, or they fall apart and all humanity is lost.

Works Cited Page

Flanders, Stephen. "The Origins and Functions of Political Parties." Scholastic. 2007. 25 Mar. 2019 <https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/origins-and-functions-political-parties/>.

Berg, Sean. "Founding Fathers Essays (Examples)." Founding Fathers Essays: Examples, Topics, Titles, & Outlines. 25 Mar. 2019 <https://www.paperdue.com/topic/founding-fathers-essays>.

Williams Paredes

Ms. Pahovom

English 2

25, March 2019

Fear is something that everyone has, but it's not always rational. People often hear things that influence their mindset, causing them to overthink and make their fear stronger than it was in the first place. In Golding's novel, the idea of a mythical ´beast’ instilled fear into the boys of the island. They used the idea the beast to entertain themselves. Fear is something that everyone inevitably feels, but In ´Lord of the Flies´ they chose to have it.

Cops are known for pulling over people at traffic stops, and they would give the people tickets or they wouldn't, but in this case, there were no tickets envoy. The cops were reportedly trying to figure out if the passenger had a restraining order against the driver of the vehicle. The passenger that was 61 years old, named Paul Askins, would give his name or date of birth to the police officers and this made the cops worry and he was asked to step out of the vehicle. “This is how he engaged us," said the police officers. Paul Askins pulled out a pistol and fired at the cops, this caused the cops to fire back as they fear for their lives. As you can see this quote is telling us that the cops had a clear view of what was happening and with the fear of death the cops step back and fired as soon as they could. The cops weren't injured but the fear of death was what made them act as quick as possible, Paul askins was injured but he did survive.

As the kids were planning the kill the beast, their was feared in their eyes because they didn’t know what they were going up against and this made them feel weak. They had to bring hope to everyone in the island so that they  had a chance to live. To bring hope they started to say ‘’Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!’’(152). This quote is trying to show that the kids are trying to show that they are no longer scared of the beast. This is what brings hope to the kids in the island and to show that they have a chance to kill the beast and that they have hope to live for years to come without a problem. When Simon finds out the beast was not real, he tries to worn the rest of the kids, but when he got to the kids they thought he was the beast and that got him killed. The kids were scared and didn't even think because the fear took controller over them, so they acted as fast as they could.

In both of the book and real life example you can see that there is fear when the believe something is real and when they see someone pull out a weapon. They have fear no matter what but they choose to have it at this time, which made them over think over and over on what to do, this shows that they didn’t want to have fear they choose to have it so that they can be saved. In the Lord of the files, the kids thought they found a beast and they were thinking of what could it be and this is what Ralph said. ‘’But that’s littluns talk. We’ll get that straight. So the last part, the bit we can talk about, is kind of deciding on the fear’’(82).  When the old man got out of the truck this is what the cops started saying. ‘’ Get down, Get down’’. This show that that the kids had to show fear to overcome what that fear was and that is what made them stronger and what to keep that fear alway. When the cops said to get down they were trying to show that they can be save and to not try something stupid that will get them killed.

Towards the end of the book, Rock, Ralph, and piggy ventured into jack’s territory protesting that it wasn’t right for them to take piggy’s glasses. While they demand them to give it back, jack didn’t care and said no, and gets called a thief and reacted violently. Jack swung his spear at Ralph, but not in a menacing manner. In the quote, ‘’By common consent, they were using the spears as sabers now, no longer daring the lethal point’’ (177).  This is to use that they have power over people and that the kids should have fear for them because they have the weapon. They really don’t want to hurt one another, but the fear of losing power and scared of someone can cause them to fight.

In conclusion, The lord of the flies  tells us what fear is like if you were alone with kids and no adults. Lord  of the flies shows us that fear can bring power to kid, and they can’t do anything but just to go with it before it’s to late.  Lord of the flies show that kids need to learn to not be scared and to face your fears because if you don’t that can get you killed. Fear is something that people would never love to have because there are problems that come with it, but you have to choose it because fear can save you from all the problems that can come your way. Fear is something that everyone inevitably feels, but In ´Lord of the Flies´ they chose to have it.

Worked Cited-

Fedschun, Travis. “Man Pulls Gun on Colorado Deputies during Traffic Stop, Dramatic Body Camera Video Shows.” Fox News, FOX News Network, www.foxnews.com/us/man-pulls-gun-on-colorado-deputies-during-traffic-stop-dramatic-body-camera-video-shows.

Edition, Inside. “Cop Begs for Her Life After Fugitive Pulls Out Gun.” YouTube, YouTube, 9 Jan. 2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=4i86SUNFFzs.

Edition, Inside. “Cop Begs for Her Life After Fugitive Pulls Out Gun.” YouTube, YouTube, 9 Jan. 2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=4i86SUNFFzs.

Not everyone would be able to feel like they’re able to do what they want because the rules and people aren’t to their liking. In, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, most people decided to leave the group and made their own tribe because the previous one wasn’t working out for them. In America, people feel the same way since there’s a lot of criticism and misuse of power. If an entire civilization was able to adjust the rules to meet everyone’s standards, then no one would feel like they’re being exiled by the community or person in power because everyone is satisfied.

In, Lord of the Flies, Jack was the first person who decided to leave the group. At first, he held a meeting to see who wanted him to be the new leader but no one voted for him. The book states, “‘I’m not going to be apart of Ralph’s lot ... I’m going off by myself. He can catch his own pigs. Anyone who wants to hunt when I do can come too’” (127). Jack was so frustrated to the point where he had to separate himself from the others. Ralph was the voted leader of the entire group but couldn’t make any decisions on his own or be brave enough to lead everyone. Jack’s version of a leader at the time was for someone to be brave, a hunter, and ... , but Ralph felt the complete opposite. No one had stood up for Jack which could’ve made him feel like everything was unfair.

In Aditi Khorana’s article, she talked about the story of how her family came to America as immigrants and that she was born here. She also talked about how her life had changed after the election. She said, “In the aftermath of the election, after living in this country for thirty-something years, I truly felt like an exile in my own country. Whatever misgivings, hurt and outrage had till then, largely resided underneath the surface, coming to the fore now and then, now erupted in the form of an uncontrollable moral outrage”. This is saying that now someone in power wants to completely stop more illegal immigrants/refugees from coming in and sending them out, that her family is now in pain. Now that they had made a new home, it’s trying to be taken away from them since they aren’t like everyone else. This relates to the book because ever since Ralph was elected and wasn’t doing his job the right way, Ralph felt like he didn’t fit in and someone else should’ve been elected.

In chapter 9 of the book, Jack held a feast for his tribe and whoever else wanted to join. Everyone in the original group besides a few people had left to go to his feast. The author says, “Even at that distance it was possible to see that most of the boys - perhaps all of the boys - were there” (147). Everyone had left Ralph because there wasn’t any meat and no one there were hunters. Jack’s tribe was filled with hunters and they had meat for everyone to eat. Even though Ralph was focused on getting off of the island, people still wanted to survive and have fun at the same time. This is connected to my thesis because once one person exploits the leader then whoever doesn’t like it would feel the need to leave.

In conclusion, if the rules were bent to benefit everyone, then no one would feel like they earned any power. In the book Jack was the first to leave the tribe because he wasn’t voted for. In my real life example, Aditi felt like she didn’t belong ever since Donald Trump got elected.

Karim mullen

Ms Pahomov

English 2

25, march 2019

The book Lord Of The Flies tells a story about how a plane crashed and the only survivors were young boys. The young boys came together and voted for a leader, ,Ralph. Initially, Ralph played his part as the leader, by calling meetings, giving positions, and even keeping everyone in order. However he let the leadership position inflate his ego job get to his head which results in poor decisions. Eventually this led to his peers overrule him and create chaos. When someone is given power they feel as though their power overrides the perspective of anyone that may be affected by their actions`.Savagery is reflected upon the rights or the wrongdoings of a meaningful altercation.

President Donald Trump of the United States signed a law ensuring the shutdown for the pay of all government workers. This is because Trump felt as though if he cuts government employees pay, he could focus more on building a wall so that Immigrants from Mexico cannot enter the country. In the CNN Politics article it talks about how the citizens of the US who works for the government are working for free, they don't have any way of paying bills or keeping there houses, cars, or kids together. They also are being forced to work because if they don't go to work they still will get fired. By doing so they will not only be unemployed but, for the days they worked, they will not  get the checks back when the shutdown is over. So many people would call out sick that they would make people come in anyway because they didn't have enough people to work. No One agrees with this shutdown, not even his own staff. He fired some of his employees because they spoke their opinion on some of the poor/self-centered decisions he made. For this example you can tell that Donald Trump obviously makes poor decisions.

In this scene, Ralph wasn't exactly being the best leader he could be. “Ralph didn't know what to do and he was captain, No one did” (15). In certain situation, Ralph didn't know what to do, and some of the reasons could be because of his age. This is important because towards the end when of the story when they needed a leader the most Ralph didn't have anything to offer. So Jack stepped up and got the other kids to gang up on Ralph because he persuaded the other boys that he would be the better leader. The kids didn't know that Jack would turn out to be the worst leader they could have. The only chance the boys have really of getting rescued was from a signal fire. “ We’ve got to have special people for looking after the fire”(42), those special people were Sam,Eric, and the Choir.“ There was a ship. Out there. You said you'll keep the fire going and you let it out”(70). Jack never wanted to leave the island, therefore he extinguished the fire so that the boat wouldn't see the smoke in the air. Throughout the book Jack made decisions that wasn't his place of making begins though Ralph was the actual leader. Jack was too comfortable because Ralph couldn't never take charge over jack so basically he did as he felt. “I was chief, and you were going to do what i said”(132). Ralph started to get furious at him, but Jack still did as he pleased “ All right. Light the fire”(120) said with sarcasm.

Donald trump is taking kids away from their families and locking them in cages due to the fact of them being illegal immigrants. In his eyes he feels as though immigrants are dirty and stealing people's jobs even though they are trying to make a living for a better. As stated in the USA Today newsletter it talks about how Trump compares immigrants to dirty filthy animals. This is important because he's splitting families up because they are living here illegally, some people have tried to become citizen. It can take years for you to become a citizen, not because they were not living in the US long enough but just because of the simple fact that their request could still be pending therefore not able to get there Green card. There are millions of people out there that still are waiting to be declared citizen and get their green card but because they are technically not citizens Trump is splitting there families up.

This is compared to the boys in the story due to them being separated in groups, and the older boys had more power than the younger boy. Which is reflected upon the actions of Trump being the division of the immigrants and the documented people. While the boys leaders felt that one was higher than the other due to the opportunities that they could pursue.”Seems to me we ought to have chief to decide things”(22). Throughout the story the leader role was played from both Ralph and Jack, the two would have problem with each other throughout the book because they both thought they were the best leader for the boys. “ Ralph is like piggy. He says things like piggy. He isn't a proper leader”(144). Not only did they not really like eachother but they would talk about each other to the other kids and each other. Ralph would talk about how he is the leader to the others, and Jack would try and persuade the others to pick him as the new leader.

Camren Jones

Ms. Pahomov

English 2

25 March 2019

In the novel Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, he tells a story about how a group of young boys are stranded on an island due to a plane crash and create their own society to create peace among them, or so they thought. As more and more time passes the young boys' structured society slowly begins to fall apart. Their society quickly becomes total chaos as violence and disputes are prevalent. As a result of their society quickly they divide themselves, which ended up backfiring Characters such as Piggy who appeared weak were often belittled leaving them to feel abandoned. While never explicitly being revealed, many scholars argue William Golding utilized symbolism through Lord of the Flies. Furthermore, upon reading this one can make the case Golding used the boys' interactions to draw comparisons to the real world such as Uzbekistan governed by Islam Karimov.

One of the earliest moments in Lord of the Flies introduction of a chubby young boy. He later was referred to as Piggy as an insult and called this for the rest of the novel. Piggy eventually grew close to Ralph, the original leader. They bonded over the feeling of alienation from their peers. However, once the boys began to form different opinions they drifted apart. The ridiculing of both Ralph and Piggy begins once Piggy says, “What are we? Humans? Or animals? Or savages? What’s grownups going to think?”(91). Following this, a hunter Jack created a division between the other boys and Ralph. Maintaining his loyalty Piggy stood his ground with Ralph despite what others thought. Compared to the others Piggy’s ideas weren’t as drastic. Piggy says “Just an ordinary fire. You’d think we could do that, wouldn’t you? Just a smoke signal so we can be rescued. Are we savages or what?”(174). Even though a lot of Piggy’s actions were motivated by the desire of being accepted it didn’t stop him from making valid points. He knew that they weren’t going to be able to stay on the island forever so he thought ahead. Piggy was very methodical with the way he moved and how he thought things out, and since many of them were young it stops them from looking at the bigger picture causing them to ridicule the first person who thought differently. Piggy and Ralph lost all power in their society because they didn’t agree with others which later led to his death.

Similar to Piggy and Ralph, a writer named Hamid Ismailov was cast out due to his debatable beliefs. Ismailov was a writer who lived in Uzbekistan once he was recruited for a controversial freelance job with BBC. He later was informed that the government wasn’t too happy with his choice of work. He knew he had to leave but what he didn’t know is that it would result in him never coming home again. He was aware of the vile acts committed by dictator Islam Karimov he understood in order to remain safe the best choice was to leave his home. After he left there was no trace of him ever being there. People were desensitized to Karimov’s cruel actions and neglected the injustice Ismailov had received. According to the Guardian, Hamid Ismailov was completely removed from the Uzbek culture. His work is no longer published nor are the people allowed to use the words “Hamid Ismailov” in print without suffering the consequences.

Both Piggy and Ismailov feared for their lives because of their choice to speak in opposition to their leadership. In Lord of the Flies, Piggy was killed and Ismailov would’ve been too if he had stayed. They weren’t afraid which caused their leadership to feel threatened and attempt an assassination. Without fear Jack and Islam Karimov were powerless and he knew which resulted in their resentment towards Ismailov and Piggy. It was their only leverage over the others. After the death of Piggy, the young boys' hands were no longer clean. Golding illustrates this by saying “Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy”. Unlike the death of Simon, which was accidental, the death of Piggy was done with intent to kill. Throughout the book, Piggy was somewhat a balance that kept them from turning completely savage.

The difference between the two societies is that Ismailov knew what his people were capable but in Piggy’s case, he didn’t.  Piggy was aware of the fact that not everyone on the island would be to avoid the temptations of savagery but he didn’t know that his death would also relate to the death of their humanity. The risky thoughts of both Piggy and Ismailov caused them misery because their leader felt challenged.
Many ideas emerged from the Lord of the Flies such as one not being allowed to express how they feel. In the real world scenario, I related it to Piggy’s death due to their similarities. They both were removed from their environment one more drastic than the other but it was because of their leader feeling challenged. The fact that their leaders weren’t fond of their beliefs they dismissed.

Works Cited

Golding, William. Lord of the Flies, New York: Penguin, 2006.

M., Morris. “10 Tragic Tales Of Modern People Forced Into Exile.” Listverse, 29 Dec. 2018,

listverse.com/2015/06/24/10-tragic-tales-of-modern-people-forced-into-exile/.

“Hamid Ismailov.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 8 Mar. 2019,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamid_Ismailov.