Lord of the Flies: Close Analysis Essay

Lord of the Flies: write a close analysis, with quotations and comments, of the implications in the extract from ‘The Shell and the Glasses’, starting on p 176: ‘He’s going to beat Wilfred..’ to the end of p178: ‘Then if he comes we’ll do our, our dance again.’ During this extract from ‘The Shell and the Glasses’ we see just to what extent the balance of power on the island has shifted in Jack’s favour. We now see him enjoying himself flexing and abusing his new found power as begins to rule his own savage kingdom. To highlight this, Golding no longer calls Jack by his name but instead calls him ‘Chief’. We are shown that the main element he uses to rule his tribe is fear. He starts having boys punished for no reason. A boy named Wilfred is tied up and beaten for no apparent reason, †He’s going to beat Wilfred’ ‘What for?’ ‘I don’t know, he didn’t say†. To further establish his status as the new chief, Jack demonises Ralph and his followers claiming that they are the enemy, ‘They’ll try to spoil things we do’. This parallels the method used by many 20th century dictators of creating a ‘common enemy’ of the state instilling fear and loyalty into its population. However the main ‘common enemy’ that Jack uses to control his tribe is of course the Beast. Jack claims that Simon was the beast (disguised) which shows he is implying that the boys have a better grasp of the truth during their violent frenzied state of mind than in their calmer moments of reflection. Jack has the ability to convince the other boys that this state of bloodlust and frenzy is a legitimate way to interact with their environment which erodes their sense of morality further and allows Jack to control and manipulate them even more. It would be a major blow to Jack’s leadership if the boys got the impression that they’d already killed the beast as for him the myth (though he believes it himself) is a major source of power. Jack implies to the boys that the beast is an immortal spectre capable of disguising itself. When one of the confused boys asks Jack if they’d already killed it he replies, ‘No! How could we – kill – it?’ To further enhance the effect of this myth on the boys, Jack implies that they give the Beast offerings in order to protect themselves, ‘We’d better keep on the right side of him, anyhow. You can’t tell what he might do.’ Jack wants them to fear and worship the Beast which will make them fear and worship him.