2005, Form B. One
of the strongest human drives seems to be a desire for power. Write an essay in
which you discuss how a character in a novel or a drama struggles to free
himself or herself from the power of others or seeks to gain power over others.
Be sure to demonstrate in your essay how the author uses this power struggle to
enhance the meaning of the work.
In Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a great example of a power struggle between characters. A group of schoolboys get stranded on an island and are forced to live without their parents and under no rules. At first it is all happy and everyone gets along, but as time goes by, the boys begin to bicker and fight and everything goes terribly wrong.
Ralph, the protagonist, is a smart young boy who is first elected to become the leader. Jack, the protagonist is a power hungry, jealous boy. Once Jack is not elected, his need and want for the power becomes worse. Ralph wants their to be equality and rules. He thinks there should be rules to help control the actions and believes it will make their situation better. Jack, on the other hand, is completely against this way of thinking. He thinks that being obnoxious, savages is the way to go. He believes that rules just ruin a society.
The whole novel revolves around these two boys power struggle. Every action that is made, and all action that takes place is dependent upon the power struggle. The boys splitting up into to groups and engaging in war against each other is the result of the power struggle between Jack and Ralph. When Simon tries to tell the other boys about the beast within everyone, he is murdered. This is caused by the power struggle because if Jack had not gotten mad and created a whole new tribe, Simon may have not run off the find out the truth of all mankind.
Without Ralph and Jack's power struggle, the role government plays in society would not be seen in this novel. Golding is showing how the government is in real society. Without a government and rules, we would all become savages. We would have no morals and kill other innocent people because every man is a savage inside. Government is what is controlling the savage inside all mankind. Without government, the human race would cease to exist.
Nicely done! I thought this was a good read! Just a couple minor grammar errors, like In the first sentence of the essay, the first word "In" shouldn't be there, just start out with the title of the book. Also, are Jack and Ralph both protagonists? I like how you connected the story to the real world now at the end.
ReplyDeleteMegan,
ReplyDeleteI really like how you related the power struggle in the book to real life. Overall, I think you just need a bit more variance in your words. Even though it is the topic of the essay, I feel like the words "power structure" were overused throughout. When I'm reading it out loud it sounds a little choppy.